Editorial: Genetics and epigenetics of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Citation: Mason S and Zhou FC (2015) Editorial: Genetics and epigenetics of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Children born to mothers who drink during pregnancy are at risk for growth retardation, memory, learning, and cognitive deficits under a lifelong disability known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), which occurs at a high rate in the US (∼1/100 live births) and worldwide. There are three outstanding features of FASD. (a) Humans have been associated with alcohol consumption dated as far back as 7000 BC (McGovern et al., 2004) and there is no sign of waning. (b) FASD can range across a large spectrum of severity, from the more severe Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) (encompassing facial, brain, and gross deformity) to the hard to detect, subtle mental dysfunctions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that approximately 7–8% of pregnant women consume alcohol in US, but diagnosed FASD occurs in a much smaller percentage (CDC, 2012). There is strong evidence to indicate that genetic makeup is a major contributing factor to the differential vulnerability to FASD. (c) Alcohol's deleterious effect has recently been found to go beyond cellular toxicity, to affect epigenetics. The epigenetic chemical code, methylation and acetylation written on top of genomic base elements (e.g., DNA cytosine and histone tails), can confer 3D DNA packaging and fundamentally alter gene transcription. Alcohol has recently been recognized to have strong influences on methylation and acetylation (see Resendiz et al., 2014a) via alcohol metabolism. Furthermore, current evidence points to alcohol's influence on the interaction of genetic and epigenetic factors. These fascinating new views are the center of this eBook, which includes new data and an in-depth discussion of the recent findings and expert opinions. It is hoped that by elucidating the genetic x epigenetic (GxE) interaction at the center of fetal alcohol exposure, new insight will lead the community of scientists toward a greater understanding of this disease, and lay a foundation for prospective new treatments and interventions. FASD is, theoretically, an avoidable disease. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions and a lack of general public awareness of the profound causality of alcohol on developmental dysfunction. This eBook includes a public awareness effort with an Opinion from Singh et al. (2014), challenging the research community to convey the message that " at no time during pregnancy is alcohol 100% safe to drink. " Is the differential vulnerability of mother and offspring to alcohol …