The glycine receptor consists of two subunits, alpha and beta, and acts as a pentamer. The protein encoded by this gene is an alpha subunit and can bind strychnine. Several transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.[provided by RefSeq, Jan 2010]
Forensic Context
A study in rhesus macaques demonstrated that chronic ethanol self-administration correlates with broad transcriptomic changes, where the GLRA2 was identified as a positively correlated gene associated with synaptic signaling in the central amygdala [Iancu et al. DOI:10.1111/Adb.12501]. Cross-species research integrating human, mouse, and invertebrate models found that the GLRA2 showed significant connectivity changes in network analyses of mice selected for high ethanol drinking and was also detected in the macaque transcriptome associated with consumption, indicating conserved molecular pathways related to excessive alcohol use [Farris et al. DOI:10.1016/J.Alcohol.2017.11.036].