AddictGene

AddictGene aggregates and integrates addiction-related gene expression and annotation data to support investigation of molecular mechanisms of substance-induced changes in gene activity across human, mouse, and rat.

Key Features:

• Extensive Gene Database: Contains 70,156 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with seven commonly abused substances: alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, morphine, heroin, methamphetamine, and amphetamine, across human, mouse, and rat.
• Experimental Validation: Includes 1,141 addiction-related genes experimentally validated by RT-PCR, northern blot, and in situ hybridization.
• Integration of High-throughput Data: Integrates high-throughput sequencing data with expression profiles and annotations from original studies.
• Gene-specific Annotation: Provides detailed gene-specific information from original studies alongside basic gene information sourced from NCBI databases.
• Genetic Variation and Psychiatric Links: Catalogs single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to substance dependence and other psychiatric disorders.
• Expression across Conditions and Tissues: Reports expression alterations across psychiatric conditions and gene expression patterns across 31 primary and 54 secondary human tissues.
• Functional and Epigenetic Annotations: Annotates involvement of epigenetic regulators including histone modifications and DNA methylation, protein-protein interactions, and drug-gene interaction data.
• Interaction Data: Includes gene-gene and gene-drug interaction information to contextualize functional relationships and potential druggability.

Scientific Applications:

• Mechanistic studies of addiction: Enables analysis of how alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, morphine, heroin, methamphetamine, and amphetamine alter gene expression and brain-related molecular pathways.
• Identification of therapeutic targets: Supports prioritization of candidate genes using integrated protein-protein interactions, drug-gene interactions, and epigenetic annotations.
• Genetic association and comorbidity analysis: Facilitates studies linking SNPs to substance dependence and other psychiatric disorders and comparing expression alterations across psychiatric conditions.
• Cross-species translational research: Allows comparison of DEGs and expression patterns across human, mouse, and rat for translational inference.
• Tissue-specific expression analysis: Permits investigation of tissue-specific gene expression across 31 primary and 54 secondary human tissues.

Methodology:

AddictGene was developed by integrating diverse datasets, combining gene expression profiles and high-throughput sequencing data with gene-gene interactions, gene-drug interactions, and epigenetic modification annotations.