A major influence of sex-specific loci on alcohol preference in C57Bl/6 and DBA/2 inbred mice

C57B1/6 mice reproducibly prefer to ingest more 10% ethanol in a two-bottle choice paradigm than do DBA/2J mice. In this paper we report the identific ation of two new sex-specific alcohol preference (Alcp) loci. Melo and asso ciates (1996) identified two loci: Alcp1, a male-specific locus on Chromoso me (Chr) 2, and Alcp2, a female- and cross-specific locus on Chr ll. We hav e additionally identified Alcp3, a male-specific locus on Chr 3, and Alcp4 a female-specific locus on Chr I. We have also performed a statistical anal ysis to exclude the possibility of undiscovered major alcohol preference lo ci that are not sex-specific in our backcross paradigm. Our results indicat e that alcohol preference in C57BL/6 mice, as measured in our backcross, is largely controlled in a sex-specific manner.