This is a revised application for a project which will be done primarily in Tanzania by Dr. Sylvester L.B. Kajuna, of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Hubert Kairuki Memorial University Faculty of Medicine, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is an extension of an existing collaboration related to NIH grant R01AA09379-09, 5/1/03-4/30/08 but also relates to P01GM57672-06 (3/1/04-2/28/09). The overall project involves studying the genetic variation in the primary ethanol metabolizing genes and the relationships of those variants to susceptibility to alcoholism. Previous studies on this project have shown that one functional variant of the ADH1B gene (ADH1B*369Cys, previously named ADH2*3)is African-specific and occurs in several African populations, including the Chagga studied in collaboration with Dr. Kajuna. This proposal is designed to provide Dr. Kajuna with operation supplies so that his laboratory in Dar es Salaam can be more directly involved in the molecular work and can study additional populations in Tanzania for this known functional variant and can look for addition! variants that might exist in the highly diverse populations of Tanzania. In addition, with local facilities and supplies it will be possible to test directly whether the ADH1B*369Cys allele is associated with a protective effect against alcoholism. As in most countries, alcoholism is a significant public health problem in Tanzania. The research will be coordinated with the ongoing studies at Yale (under AA09379) with training and protocol development taking place at Yale for laboratory studies to be undertaken in Dr. Kajuna's laboratory at The Hubert Kairuki Memorial Univeristy. An additional benefit of a functioning laboratory at HKMU is that it will allow laboratory training for student and junior researchers in molecular methodology that is not otherwise present.
