| 1. |
- Smith, Jennifer A, et al.
(författare)
-
Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Nature (London). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 533:7604, s. 539-542
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.
|
|
| 2. |
- Pattaro, Cristian, et al.
(författare)
-
Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways.
|
|
| 3. |
- Ried, Janina S., et al.
(författare)
-
A principal component meta-analysis on multiple anthropometric traits identifies novel loci for body shape
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large consortia have revealed hundreds of genetic loci associated with anthropometric traits, one trait at a time. We examined whether genetic variants affect body shape as a composite phenotype that is represented by a combination of anthropometric traits. We developed an approach that calculates averaged PCs (AvPCs) representing body shape derived from six anthropometric traits (body mass index, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio). The first four AvPCs explain >99% of the variability, are heritable, and associate with cardiometabolic outcomes. We performed genome-wide association analyses for each body shape composite phenotype across 65 studies and meta-analysed summary statistics. We identify six novel loci: LEMD2 and CD47 for AvPC1, RPS6KA5/C14orf159 and GANAB for AvPC3, and ARL15 and ANP32 for AvPC4. Our findings highlight the value of using multiple traits to define complex phenotypes for discovery, which are not captured by single-trait analyses, and may shed light onto new pathways.
|
|
| 4. |
- Darrow, Sabrina M., et al.
(författare)
-
The Association Between Psychiatric Disorders and Telomere Length : A Meta-Analysis Involving 14,827 Persons
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Psychosomatic Medicine. - 0033-3174. ; 78:7, s. 776-787
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a marker of cell aging, and psychiatric disorders in adults compared with controls using meta-analytic methods. METHODS: Data were abstracted from studies examining the relationship between LTL and adult psychiatric disorders. In addition to an overall estimate of effect size, subgroup analyses and meta-regression were performed to examine whether covariates (including psychiatric diagnoses) moderated the estimate. RESULTS: A significant overall effect size showing LTL shortening was found across all psychiatric disorders (Hedge g = −0.50, p <.001). Subgroup analyses did not demonstrate significant differences in effect size based on individual covariates (psychiatric disorder, sex, age, or assay method). The meta-regression indicated that although type of disorder and, likely, age moderate the overall effect size, the heterogeneity between studies could not be explained by a model that included these variables as well as sex and assay method. Although not significantly different, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders had comparatively larger effect sizes (−1.27, −0.53, and −0.55), and psychotic and bipolar disorders had comparatively smaller ones (−0.23 and −0.26). CONCLUSIONS: We observed a robust effect size of LTL shortening for psychiatric disorders as a whole compared with controls. The results were less straightforward regarding relative differences in the strength of this association by specific disorder. Future studies should focus on mechanisms explaining accelerated cell aging with psychiatric illness, defining directions (if any) of causality and elucidating possible differences in this association between disorders.
|
|
