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1. Introduction to the Virtual Issue Alcohol and Epigenetic Regulation: Do the Products of Alcohol Metabolism Drive Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression in Alcohol‐Related Disorders?

   https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13630  

   Vadigepalli, Rajanikanth ; Hoek, Jan B. ( April 2018 , Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research)
2. Different genetic basis for alcohol dehydrogenase activity and plasticity in a novel alcohol environment for Drosophila melanogaster

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-020-0323-y  

   Wang, Sheng Pei ; Althoff, David M. ( September 2020 , Heredity)
3. Supramolecular Maleate Adducts of Copper(II) 12-Metallacrown-4: Magnetism, EPR, and Alcohol Sorption Properties: Supramolecular Maleate Adducts of Copper(II) 12-Metallacrown-4: Magnetism, EPR, and Alcohol Sorption Properties

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.201700976  

   Pavlishchuk, Anna V. ; Kolotilov, Sergey V. ; Zeller, Matthias ; Lofland, Samuel E. ; Kiskin, Mikhail A. ; Efimov, Nikolay N. ; Ugolkova, Elena A. ; Minin, Vadim V. ; Novotortsev, Vladimir M. ; Addison, Anthony W. ( November 2017 , European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry)
4. Fatty alcohol oxidase 3 (FAO3) and FAO4b connect the alcohol- and alkane-forming pathways in Arabidopsis stem wax biosynthesis

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab532  

   Yang, Xianpeng ; Cui, Lili ; Li, Shipeng ; Ma, Changle ; Kosma, Dylan K. ; Zhao, Huayan ; Lü, Shiyou ; Nakamura, ed., Yuki ( December 2021 , Journal of Experimental Botany)

   The alcohol- and alkane-forming pathways in cuticular wax biosynthesis are well characterized in Arabidopsis. However, potential interactions between the two pathways remain unclear. Here, we reveal that mutation of CER4, the key gene in the alcohol-forming pathway, also led to a deficiency in the alkane-forming pathway in distal stems. To trace the connection between the two pathways, we characterized two homologs of fatty alcohol oxidase (FAO), FAO3 and FAO4b, which were highly expressed in distal stems and localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. The amounts of waxes from the alkane-forming pathway were significantly decreased in stems of fao4b and much lower in fao3 fao4b plants, indicative of an overlapping function for the two proteins in wax synthesis. Additionally, overexpression of FAO3 and FAO4b in Arabidopsis resulted in a dramatic reduction of primary alcohols and significant increases of aldehydes and related waxes. Moreover, expressing FAO3 or FAO4b led to significantly decreased amounts of C18–C26 alcohols in yeast co-expressing CER4 and FAR1. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that FAO3 and FAO4b are functionally redundant in suppressing accumulation of primary alcohols and contributing to aldehyde production, which provides a missing and long-sought-after link between these two pathways in wax biosynthesis.

    

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5. Transcriptomic changes due to early, chronic intermittent alcohol exposure during forebrain development implicate WNT signaling, cell‐type specification, and cortical regionalization as primary determinants of fetal alcohol syndrome

   https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.14590  

   Fischer, Máté ; Chander, Praveen ; Kang, Huining ; Mellios, Nikolaos ; Weick, Jason P. ( April 2021 , Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research)

   Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) due to gestational alcohol exposure represents one of the most common causes of nonheritable lifelong disability worldwide. In vitro and in vivo models have successfully recapitulated multiple facets of the disorder, including morphological and behavioral deficits, but far less is understood regarding the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying FAS.

   In this study, we utilized an in vitro human pluripotent stem cell‐based (hPSC) model of corticogenesis to probe the effects of early, chronic intermittent alcohol exposure on the transcriptome of first trimester‐equivalent cortical neurons.

   We used RNA sequencing of developing hPSC‐derived neurons treated for 50 days with 50 mM ethanol and identified a relatively small number of biological pathways significantly altered by alcohol exposure. These included cell‐type specification, axon guidance, synaptic function, and regional patterning, with a notable upregulation of WNT signaling‐associated transcripts observed in alcohol‐exposed cultures relative to alcohol‐naïve controls. Importantly, this effect paralleled a shift in gene expression of transcripts associated with regional patterning, such that caudal forebrain‐related transcripts were upregulated at the expense of more anterior ones. Results from H9 embryonic stem cells were largely replicated in an induced pluripotent stem cell line (IMR90‐4), indicating that these patterning alterations are not cell line‐specific.

   We found that a major effect of chronic intermittent alcohol on the developing cerebral cortex is an overall imbalance in regionalization, with enrichment of gene expression related to the production of posterodorsal progenitors and a diminution of anteroventral progenitors. This finding parallels behavioral and morphological phenotypes observed in animal models of high‐dose prenatal alcohol exposure, as well as patients with FAS.

    

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