'Binge-drinking gene' fuels addiction

People seek out situations which fulfil their sense of reward and make them happy, so if your brain is wired to find alcohol rewarding, you will seek it out.

We now understand the chain of action: how our genes shape this function in our brains and how that, in turn, leads to human behaviour.

We found that the RASGRF2 gene plays a crucial role in controlling how alcohol stimulates the brain to release dopamine (a nerve signalling molecule), and hence trigger the feeling of reward.

So, if people have a genetic variation of the RASGRF2 gene, alcohol gives them a stronger sense of reward, making them more likely to be heavy drinkers.