Evolution
Despite
what some cannabis proponents will tell you, it is well established
that people can become dependent on it. Research had previously
suggested a genetic component, and now an already-known gene has emerged
as a possible cause.
The first stage of the experiment was
linkage analysis in a group of African-Americans. The strongest signal
obtained indicated an effect from chromosome 8p21. A gen
ome-wide
association study was then conducted on African-Americans and
European-Americans. Consistent variation was seen in NRG1, demonstrating
evidence for association between this gene and cannabis dependence.
This association was seen again in another African-American sample.
NRG1 is a gene that codes for the ErbB4 receptor, a protein understood
to a role in synaptic development and function. What is of great
interest about this result - aside from the probable role of NRG1 in
susceptibility to cannabis dependence - is that NRG1 has been implicated
in the heritable risk of schizophrenia. This finding may help
understand the documented link between cannabis and schizophrenia -
rather than a direct effect of cannabis on the brain, it may be that a
variant of NRG1 plays a role in both conditions.
Image credit: HowStuffWorks (2001). Image is of a THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis) molecule.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
For an explanation of linkage analysis: http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/
For an explanation of genome-wide association studies: http://www.genome.gov/20019523
Despite
what some cannabis proponents will tell you, it is well established
that people can become dependent on it. Research had previously
suggested a genetic component, and now an already-known gene has emerged
as a possible cause.
The first stage of the experiment was linkage analysis in a group of African-Americans. The strongest signal obtained indicated an effect from chromosome 8p21. A gen
The first stage of the experiment was linkage analysis in a group of African-Americans. The strongest signal obtained indicated an effect from chromosome 8p21. A gen
ome-wide
association study was then conducted on African-Americans and
European-Americans. Consistent variation was seen in NRG1, demonstrating
evidence for association between this gene and cannabis dependence.
This association was seen again in another African-American sample.
NRG1 is a gene that codes for the ErbB4 receptor, a protein understood to a role in synaptic development and function. What is of great interest about this result - aside from the probable role of NRG1 in susceptibility to cannabis dependence - is that NRG1 has been implicated in the heritable risk of schizophrenia. This finding may help understand the documented link between cannabis and schizophrenia - rather than a direct effect of cannabis on the brain, it may be that a variant of NRG1 plays a role in both conditions.
Image credit: HowStuffWorks (2001). Image is of a THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis) molecule.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
For an explanation of linkage analysis: http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/
For an explanation of genome-wide association studies: http://www.genome.gov/20019523
NRG1 is a gene that codes for the ErbB4 receptor, a protein understood to a role in synaptic development and function. What is of great interest about this result - aside from the probable role of NRG1 in susceptibility to cannabis dependence - is that NRG1 has been implicated in the heritable risk of schizophrenia. This finding may help understand the documented link between cannabis and schizophrenia - rather than a direct effect of cannabis on the brain, it may be that a variant of NRG1 plays a role in both conditions.
Image credit: HowStuffWorks (2001). Image is of a THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis) molecule.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
For an explanation of linkage analysis: http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/
For an explanation of genome-wide association studies: http://www.genome.gov/20019523
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