A pair of new animal studies demonstrate that genes related to cell structure play a role in determining how sensitive an individual is to alcohol, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Oct. 6.

In separate studies, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco studied gene links to alcoholism in fruit flies, while scientists at the Fondazione Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare in Milan, Italy did similar research on mice.

The California group found that fruit flies that were most resistant to alcohol lacked a regulatory protein encoded by a gene that also shapes brain cells during learning and memory formation. The Italian group bred mice that lacked a gene involved in nerve-cell remodeling and found that they also got less intoxicated than normal mice when given alcohol.

The study is thought to be the first to demonstrate that genes involved in basic cell architecture may play a role in alcoholism. Researchers speculate that humans who have certain gene variants also may be more resistance to the effects of alcohol.

The researchers uncovered some "intriguing leads that open some new lines of research," said Marc Schuckit, an addiction expert and professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego.

The research was published in the Oct. 5, 2006 issue of the journal Cell.