Displaying 1 - 21 of 21
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Doust, C., Fontanillas, P., Eising, E., Gordon, S. D., Wang, Z., Alagöz, G., Molz, B., 23andMe Research Team, Quantitative Trait Working Group of the GenLang Consortium, St Pourcain, B., Francks, C., Marioni, R. E., Zhao, J., Paracchini, S., Talcott, J. B., Monaco, A. P., Stein, J. F., Gruen, J. R., Olson, R. K., Willcutt, E. G., DeFries, J. C., Pennington, B. F. and 7 moreDoust, C., Fontanillas, P., Eising, E., Gordon, S. D., Wang, Z., Alagöz, G., Molz, B., 23andMe Research Team, Quantitative Trait Working Group of the GenLang Consortium, St Pourcain, B., Francks, C., Marioni, R. E., Zhao, J., Paracchini, S., Talcott, J. B., Monaco, A. P., Stein, J. F., Gruen, J. R., Olson, R. K., Willcutt, E. G., DeFries, J. C., Pennington, B. F., Smith, S. D., Wright, M. J., Martin, N. G., Auton, A., Bates, T. C., Fisher, S. E., & Luciano, M. (2022). Discovery of 42 genome-wide significant loci associated with dyslexia. Nature Genetics. doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01192-y.
Abstract
Reading and writing are crucial life skills but roughly one in ten children are affected by dyslexia, which can persist into adulthood. Family studies of dyslexia suggest heritability up to 70%, yet few convincing genetic markers have been found. Here we performed a genome-wide association study of 51,800 adults self-reporting a dyslexia diagnosis and 1,087,070 controls and identified 42 independent genome-wide significant loci: 15 in genes linked to cognitive ability/educational attainment, and 27 new and potentially more specific to dyslexia. We validated 23 loci (13 new) in independent cohorts of Chinese and European ancestry. Genetic etiology of dyslexia was similar between sexes, and genetic covariance with many traits was found, including ambidexterity, but not neuroanatomical measures of language-related circuitry. Dyslexia polygenic scores explained up to 6% of variance in reading traits, and might in future contribute to earlier identification and remediation of dyslexia. -
Eising, E., Mirza-Schreiber, N., De Zeeuw, E. L., Wang, C. A., Truong, D. T., Allegrini, A. G., Shapland, C. Y., Zhu, G., Wigg, K. G., Gerritse, M., Molz, B., Alagöz, G., Gialluisi, A., Abbondanza, F., Rimfeld, K., Van Donkelaar, M. M. J., Liao, Z., Jansen, P. R., Andlauer, T. F. M., Bates, T. C. and 70 moreEising, E., Mirza-Schreiber, N., De Zeeuw, E. L., Wang, C. A., Truong, D. T., Allegrini, A. G., Shapland, C. Y., Zhu, G., Wigg, K. G., Gerritse, M., Molz, B., Alagöz, G., Gialluisi, A., Abbondanza, F., Rimfeld, K., Van Donkelaar, M. M. J., Liao, Z., Jansen, P. R., Andlauer, T. F. M., Bates, T. C., Bernard, M., Blokland, K., Børglum, A. D., Bourgeron, T., Brandeis, D., Ceroni, F., Dale, P. S., Landerl, K., Lyytinen, H., De Jong, P. F., DeFries, J. C., Demontis, D., Feng, Y., Gordon, S. D., Guger, S. L., Hayiou-Thomas, M. E., Hernández-Cabrera, J. A., Hottenga, J.-J., Hulme, C., Kerr, E. N., Koomar, T., Lovett, M. W., Martin, N. G., Martinelli, A., Maurer, U., Michaelson, J. J., Moll, K., Monaco, A. P., Morgan, A. T., Nöthen, M. M., Pausova, Z., Pennell, C. E., Pennington, B. F., Price, K. M., Rajagopal, V. M., Ramus, F., Richer, L., Simpson, N. H., Smith, S., Snowling, M. J., Stein, J., Strug, L. J., Talcott, J. B., Tiemeier, H., Van de Schroeff, M. M. P., Verhoef, E., Watkins, K. E., Wilkinson, M., Wright, M. J., Barr, C. L., Boomsma, D. I., Carreiras, M., Franken, M.-C.-J., Gruen, J. R., Luciano, M., Müller-Myhsok, B., Newbury, D. F., Olson, R. K., Paracchini, S., Paus, T., Plomin, R., Schulte-Körne, G., Reilly, S., Tomblin, J. B., Van Bergen, E., Whitehouse, A. J., Willcutt, E. G., St Pourcain, B., Francks, C., & Fisher, S. E. (2022). Genome-wide analyses of individual differences in quantitatively assessed reading- and language-related skills in up to 34,000 people. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(35): e2202764119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2202764119.
Abstract
The use of spoken and written language is a fundamental human capacity. Individual differences in reading- and language-related skills are influenced by genetic variation, with twin-based heritability estimates of 30 to 80% depending on the trait. The genetic architecture is complex, heterogeneous, and multifactorial, but investigations of contributions of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were thus far underpowered. We present a multicohort genome-wide association study (GWAS) of five traits assessed individually using psychometric measures (word reading, nonword reading, spelling, phoneme awareness, and nonword repetition) in samples of 13,633 to 33,959 participants aged 5 to 26 y. We identified genome-wide significant association with word reading (rs11208009, P = 1.098 × 10−8) at a locus that has not been associated with intelligence or educational attainment. All five reading-/language-related traits showed robust SNP heritability, accounting for 13 to 26% of trait variability. Genomic structural equation modeling revealed a shared genetic factor explaining most of the variation in word/nonword reading, spelling, and phoneme awareness, which only partially overlapped with genetic variation contributing to nonword repetition, intelligence, and educational attainment. A multivariate GWAS of word/nonword reading, spelling, and phoneme awareness maximized power for follow-up investigation. Genetic correlation analysis with neuroimaging traits identified an association with the surface area of the banks of the left superior temporal sulcus, a brain region linked to the processing of spoken and written language. Heritability was enriched for genomic elements regulating gene expression in the fetal brain and in chromosomal regions that are depleted of Neanderthal variants. Together, these results provide avenues for deciphering the biological underpinnings of uniquely human traits. -
Neumann, A., Nolte, I. M., Pappa, I., Ahluwalia, T. S., Pettersson, E., Rodriguez, A., Whitehouse, A., Van Beijsterveldt, C. E. M., Benyamin, B., Hammerschlag, A. R., Helmer, Q., Karhunen, V., Krapohl, E., Lu, Y., Van der Most, P. J., Palviainen, T., St Pourcain, B., Seppälä, I., Suarez, A., Vilor-Tejedor, N. and 41 moreNeumann, A., Nolte, I. M., Pappa, I., Ahluwalia, T. S., Pettersson, E., Rodriguez, A., Whitehouse, A., Van Beijsterveldt, C. E. M., Benyamin, B., Hammerschlag, A. R., Helmer, Q., Karhunen, V., Krapohl, E., Lu, Y., Van der Most, P. J., Palviainen, T., St Pourcain, B., Seppälä, I., Suarez, A., Vilor-Tejedor, N., Tiesler, C. M. T., Wang, C., Wills, A., Zhou, A., Alemany, S., Bisgaard, H., Bønnelykke, K., Davies, G. E., Hakulinen, C., Henders, A. K., Hyppönen, E., Stokholm, J., Bartels, M., Hottenga, J.-J., Heinrich, J., Hewitt, J., Keltikangas-Järvinen, L., Korhonen, T., Kaprio, J., Lahti, J., Lahti-Pulkkinen, M., Lehtimäki, T., Middeldorp, C. M., Najman, J. M., Pennell, C., Power, C., Oldehinkel, A. J., Plomin, R., Räikkönen, K., Raitakari, O. T., Rimfeld, K., Sass, L., Snieder, H., Standl, M., Sunyer, J., Williams, G. M., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Boomsma, D. I., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Hartman, C. A., & Tiemeier, H. (2022). A genome-wide association study of total child psychiatric problems scores. PLOS ONE, 17(8): e0273116. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273116.
Abstract
Substantial genetic correlations have been reported across psychiatric disorders and numerous cross-disorder genetic variants have been detected. To identify the genetic variants underlying general psychopathology in childhood, we performed a genome-wide association study using a total psychiatric problem score. We analyzed 6,844,199 common SNPs in 38,418 school-aged children from 20 population-based cohorts participating in the EAGLE consortium. The SNP heritability of total psychiatric problems was 5.4% (SE = 0.01) and two loci reached genome-wide significance: rs10767094 and rs202005905. We also observed an association of SBF2, a gene associated with neuroticism in previous GWAS, with total psychiatric problems. The genetic effects underlying the total score were shared with common psychiatric disorders only (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, insomnia) (rG > 0.49), but not with autism or the less common adult disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or eating disorders) (rG < 0.01). Importantly, the total psychiatric problem score also showed at least a moderate genetic correlation with intelligence, educational attainment, wellbeing, smoking, and body fat (rG > 0.29). The results suggest that many common genetic variants are associated with childhood psychiatric symptoms and related phenotypes in general instead of with specific symptoms. Further research is needed to establish causality and pleiotropic mechanisms between related traits.Additional information
Full summary results -
Okbay, A., Wu, Y., Wang, N., Jayashankar, H., Bennett, M., Nehzati, S. M., Sidorenko, J., Kweon, H., Goldman, G., Gjorgjieva, T., Jiang, Y., Hicks, B., Tian, C., Hinds, D. A., Ahlskog, R., Magnusson, P. K. E., Oskarsson, S., Hayward, C., Campbell, A., Porteous, D. J. and 18 moreOkbay, A., Wu, Y., Wang, N., Jayashankar, H., Bennett, M., Nehzati, S. M., Sidorenko, J., Kweon, H., Goldman, G., Gjorgjieva, T., Jiang, Y., Hicks, B., Tian, C., Hinds, D. A., Ahlskog, R., Magnusson, P. K. E., Oskarsson, S., Hayward, C., Campbell, A., Porteous, D. J., Freese, J., Herd, P., 23andMe Research Team, Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, Watson, C., Jala, J., Conley, D., Koellinger, P. D., Johannesson, M., Laibson, D., Meyer, M. N., Lee, J. J., Kong, A., Yengo, L., Cesarini, D., Turley, P., Visscher, P. M., Beauchamp, J. P., Benjamin, D. J., & Young, A. I. (2022). Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals. Nature Genetics, 54, 437-449. doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01016-z.
Abstract
We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12–16% of EA variance and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases. Direct effects (i.e., controlling for parental PGIs) explain roughly half the PGI’s magnitude of association with EA and other phenotypes. The correlation between mate-pair PGIs is far too large to be consistent with phenotypic assortment alone, implying additional assortment on PGI-associated factors. In an additional GWAS of dominance deviations from the additive model, we identify no genome-wide-significant SNPs, and a separate X-chromosome additive GWAS identifies 57.Additional information
supplementary information -
Price, K. M., Wigg, K. G., Eising, E., Feng, Y., Blokland, K., Wilkinson, M., Kerr, E. N., Guger, S. L., Quantitative Trait Working Group of the GenLang Consortium, Fisher, S. E., Lovett, M. W., Strug, L. J., & Barr, C. L. (2022). Hypothesis-driven genome-wide association studies provide novel insights into genetics of reading disabilities. Translational Psychiatry, 12: 495. doi:10.1038/s41398-022-02250-z.
Abstract
Reading Disability (RD) is often characterized by difficulties in the phonology of the language. While the molecular mechanisms underlying it are largely undetermined, loci are being revealed by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In a previous GWAS for word reading (Price, 2020), we observed that top single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were located near to or in genes involved in neuronal migration/axon guidance (NM/AG) or loci implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A prominent theory of RD etiology posits that it involves disturbed neuronal migration, while potential links between RD-ASD have not been extensively investigated. To improve power to identify associated loci, we up-weighted variants involved in NM/AG or ASD, separately, and performed a new Hypothesis-Driven (HD)–GWAS. The approach was applied to a Toronto RD sample and a meta-analysis of the GenLang Consortium. For the Toronto sample (n = 624), no SNPs reached significance; however, by gene-set analysis, the joint contribution of ASD-related genes passed the threshold (p~1.45 × 10–2, threshold = 2.5 × 10–2). For the GenLang Cohort (n = 26,558), SNPs in DOCK7 and CDH4 showed significant association for the NM/AG hypothesis (sFDR q = 1.02 × 10–2). To make the GenLang dataset more similar to Toronto, we repeated the analysis restricting to samples selected for reading/language deficits (n = 4152). In this GenLang selected subset, we found significant association for a locus intergenic between BTG3-C21orf91 for both hypotheses (sFDR q < 9.00 × 10–4). This study contributes candidate loci to the genetics of word reading. Data also suggest that, although different variants may be involved, alleles implicated in ASD risk may be found in the same genes as those implicated in word reading. This finding is limited to the Toronto sample suggesting that ascertainment influences genetic associations. -
Schlag, F., Allegrini, A. G., Buitelaar, J., Verhoef, E., Van Donkelaar, M. M. J., Plomin, R., Rimfeld, K., Fisher, S. E., & St Pourcain, B. (2022). Polygenic risk for mental disorder reveals distinct association profiles across social behaviour in the general population. Molecular Psychiatry, 27, 1588-1598. doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01419-0.
Abstract
Many mental health conditions present a spectrum of social difficulties that overlaps with social behaviour in the general population including shared but little characterised genetic links. Here, we systematically investigate heterogeneity in shared genetic liabilities with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), bipolar disorder (BP), major depression (MD) and schizophrenia across a spectrum of different social symptoms. Longitudinally assessed low-prosociality and peer-problem scores in two UK population-based cohorts (4–17 years; parent- and teacher-reports; Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children(ALSPAC): N ≤ 6,174; Twins Early Development Study(TEDS): N ≤ 7,112) were regressed on polygenic risk scores for disorder, as informed by genome-wide summary statistics from large consortia, using negative binomial regression models. Across ALSPAC and TEDS, we replicated univariate polygenic associations between social behaviour and risk for ADHD, MD and schizophrenia. Modelling variation in univariate genetic effects jointly using random-effect meta-regression revealed evidence for polygenic links between social behaviour and ADHD, ASD, MD, and schizophrenia risk, but not BP. Differences in age, reporter and social trait captured 45–88% in univariate effect variation. Cross-disorder adjusted analyses demonstrated that age-related heterogeneity in univariate effects is shared across mental health conditions, while reporter- and social trait-specific heterogeneity captures disorder-specific profiles. In particular, ADHD, MD, and ASD polygenic risk were more strongly linked to peer problems than low prosociality, while schizophrenia was associated with low prosociality only. The identified association profiles suggest differences in the social genetic architecture across mental disorders when investigating polygenic overlap with population-based social symptoms spanning 13 years of child and adolescent development. -
Vogelezang, S., Bradfield, J. P., the Early Growth Genetics Consortium, Grant, S. F. A., Felix, J. F., & Jaddoe, V. W. V. (2022). Genetics of early-life head circumference and genetic correlations with neurological, psychiatric and cognitive outcomes. BMC Medical Genomics, 15: 124. doi:10.1186/s12920-022-01281-1.
Abstract
Background
Head circumference is associated with intelligence and tracks from childhood into adulthood.
Methods
We performed a genome-wide association study meta-analysis and follow-up of head circumference in a total of 29,192 participants between 6 and 30 months of age.
Results
Seven loci reached genome-wide significance in the combined discovery and replication analysis of which three loci near ARFGEF2, MYCL1, and TOP1, were novel. We observed positive genetic correlations for early-life head circumference with adult intracranial volume, years of schooling, childhood and adult intelligence, but not with adult psychiatric, neurological, or personality-related phenotypes.
Conclusions
The results of this study indicate that the biological processes underlying early-life head circumference overlap largely with those of adult head circumference. The associations of early-life head circumference with cognitive outcomes across the life course are partly explained by genetics. -
Ho, Y. Y. W., Evans, D. M., Montgomery, G. W., Henders, A. K., Kemp, J. P., Timpson, N. J., St Pourcain, B., Heath, A. C., Madden, P. A. F., Loesch, D. Z., McNevin, D., Daniel, R., Davey-Smith, G., Martin, N. G., & Medland, S. E. (2016). Common genetic variants influence whorls in fingerprint patterns. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 136(4), 859-862. doi:10.1016/j.jid.2015.10.062.
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Fan, Q., Guo, X., Tideman, J. W. L., Williams, K. M., Yazar, S., Hosseini, S. M., Howe, L. D., St Pourcain, B., Evans, D. M., Timpson, N. J., McMahon, G., Hysi, P. G., Krapohl, E., Wang, Y. X., Jonas, J. B., Baird, P. N., Wang, J. J., Cheng, C. Y., Teo, Y. Y., Wong, T. Y. and 17 moreFan, Q., Guo, X., Tideman, J. W. L., Williams, K. M., Yazar, S., Hosseini, S. M., Howe, L. D., St Pourcain, B., Evans, D. M., Timpson, N. J., McMahon, G., Hysi, P. G., Krapohl, E., Wang, Y. X., Jonas, J. B., Baird, P. N., Wang, J. J., Cheng, C. Y., Teo, Y. Y., Wong, T. Y., Ding, X., Wojciechowski, R., Young, T. L., Parssinen, O., Oexle, K., Pfeiffer, N., Bailey-Wilson, J. E., Paterson, A. D., Klaver, C. C. W., Plomin, R., Hammond, C. J., Mackey, D. A., He, M. G., Saw, S. M., Williams, C., Guggenheim, J. A., & Cream, C. (2016). Childhood gene-environment interactions and age-dependent effects of genetic variants associated with refractive error and myopia: The CREAM Consortium. Scientific Reports, 6: 25853. doi:10.1038/srep25853.
Abstract
Myopia, currently at epidemic levels in East Asia, is a leading cause of untreatable visual impairment. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in adults have identified 39 loci associated with refractive error and myopia. Here, the age-of-onset of association between genetic variants at these 39 loci and refractive error was investigated in 5200 children assessed longitudinally across ages 7-15 years, along with gene-environment interactions involving the major environmental risk-factors, nearwork and time outdoors. Specific variants could be categorized as showing evidence of: (a) early-onset effects remaining stable through childhood, (b) early-onset effects that progressed further with increasing age, or (c) onset later in childhood (N = 10, 5 and 11 variants, respectively). A genetic risk score (GRS) for all 39 variants explained 0.6% (P = 6.6E-08) and 2.3% (P = 6.9E-21) of the variance in refractive error at ages 7 and 15, respectively, supporting increased effects from these genetic variants at older ages. Replication in multi-ancestry samples (combined N = 5599) yielded evidence of childhood onset for 6 of 12 variants present in both Asians and Europeans. There was no indication that variant or GRS effects altered depending on time outdoors, however 5 variants showed nominal evidence of interactions with nearwork (top variant, rs7829127 in ZMAT4; P = 6.3E-04).Additional information
srep25853-s1.pdf -
Fan, Q., Verhoeven, V. J., Wojciechowski, R., Barathi, V. A., Hysi, P. G., Guggenheim, J. A., Höhn, R., Vitart, V., Khawaja, A. P., Yamashiro, K., Hosseini, S. M., Lehtimäki, T., Lu, Y., Haller, T., Xie, J., Delcourt, C., Pirastu, M., Wedenoja, J., Gharahkhani, P., Venturini, C. and 83 moreFan, Q., Verhoeven, V. J., Wojciechowski, R., Barathi, V. A., Hysi, P. G., Guggenheim, J. A., Höhn, R., Vitart, V., Khawaja, A. P., Yamashiro, K., Hosseini, S. M., Lehtimäki, T., Lu, Y., Haller, T., Xie, J., Delcourt, C., Pirastu, M., Wedenoja, J., Gharahkhani, P., Venturini, C., Miyake, M., Hewitt, A. W., Guo, X., Mazur, J., Huffman, J. E., Williams, K. M., Polasek, O., Campbell, H., Rudan, I., Vatavuk, Z., Wilson, J. F., Joshi, P. K., McMahon, G., St Pourcain, B., Evans, D. M., Simpson, C. L., Schwantes-An, T.-H., Igo, R. P., Mirshahi, A., Cougnard-Gregoire, A., Bellenguez, C., Blettner, M., Raitakari, O., Kähönen, M., Seppälä, I., Zeller, T., Meitinger, T., Ried, J. S., Gieger, C., Portas, L., Van Leeuwen, E. M., Amin, N., Uitterlinden, A. G., Rivadeneira, F., Hofman, A., Vingerling, J. R., Wang, Y. X., Wang, X., Boh, E.-T.-H., Ikram, M. K., Sabanayagam, C., Gupta, P., Tan, V., Zhou, L., Ho, C. E., Lim, W., Beuerman, R. W., Siantar, R., Tai, E.-S., Vithana, E., Mihailov, E., Khor, C.-C., Hayward, C., Luben, R. N., Foster, P. J., Klein, B. E., Klein, R., Wong, H.-S., Mitchell, P., Metspalu, A., Aung, T., Young, T. L., He, M., Pärssinen, O., Van Duijn, C. M., Wang, J. J., Williams, C., Jonas, J. B., Teo, Y.-Y., Mackey, D. A., Oexle, K., Yoshimura, N., Paterson, A. D., Pfeiffer, N., Wong, T.-Y., Baird, P. N., Stambolian, D., Bailey-Wilson, J. E., Cheng, C.-Y., Hammond, C. J., Klaver, C. C., Saw, S.-M., & Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM) (2016). Meta-analysis of gene–environment-wide association scans accounting for education level identifies additional loci for refractive error. Nature Communications, 7: 11008. doi:10.1038/ncomms11008.
Abstract
Myopia is the most common human eye disorder and it results from complex genetic and environmental causes. The rapidly increasing prevalence of myopia poses a major public health challenge. Here, the CREAM consortium performs a joint meta-analysis to test single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) main effects and SNP × education interaction effects on refractive error in 40,036 adults from 25 studies of European ancestry and 10,315 adults from 9 studies of Asian ancestry. In European ancestry individuals, we identify six novel loci (FAM150B-ACP1, LINC00340, FBN1, DIS3L-MAP2K1, ARID2-SNAT1 and SLC14A2) associated with refractive error. In Asian populations, three genome-wide significant loci AREG, GABRR1 and PDE10A also exhibit strong interactions with education (P<8.5 × 10−5), whereas the interactions are less evident in Europeans. The discovery of these loci represents an important advance in understanding how gene and environment interactions contribute to the heterogeneity of myopiaAdditional information
Fan_etal_2016sup.pdf -
Hugh-Jones, D., Verweij, K. J. H., St Pourcain, B., & Abdellaoui, A. (2016). Assortative mating on educational attainment leads to genetic spousal resemblance for causal alleles. Intelligence, 59, 103-108. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2016.08.005.
Abstract
We examined whether assortative mating for educational attainment (“like marries like”) can be detected in the genomes of ~ 1600 UK spouse pairs of European descent. Assortative mating on heritable traits like educational attainment increases the genetic variance and heritability of the trait in the population, which may increase social inequalities. We test for genetic assortative mating in the UK on educational attainment, a phenotype that is indicative of socio-economic status and has shown substantial levels of assortative mating. We use genome-wide allelic effect sizes from a large genome-wide association study on educational attainment (N ~ 300 k) to create polygenic scores that are predictive of educational attainment in our independent sample (r = 0.23, p < 2 × 10− 16). The polygenic scores significantly predict partners' educational outcome (r = 0.14, p = 4 × 10− 8 and r = 0.19, p = 2 × 10− 14, for prediction from males to females and vice versa, respectively), and are themselves significantly correlated between spouses (r = 0.11, p = 7 × 10− 6). Our findings provide molecular genetic evidence for genetic assortative mating on education in the UK -
Middeldorp, C. M., Hammerschlag, A. R., Ouwens, K. G., Groen-Blokhuis, M. M., St Pourcain, B., Greven, C. U., Pappa, I., Tiesler, C. M. T., Ang, W., Nolte, I. M., Vilor-Tejedor, N., Bacelis, J., Ebejer, J. L., Zhao, H., Davies, G. E., Ehli, E. A., Evans, D. M., Fedko, I. O., Guxens, M., Hottenga, J.-J. and 31 moreMiddeldorp, C. M., Hammerschlag, A. R., Ouwens, K. G., Groen-Blokhuis, M. M., St Pourcain, B., Greven, C. U., Pappa, I., Tiesler, C. M. T., Ang, W., Nolte, I. M., Vilor-Tejedor, N., Bacelis, J., Ebejer, J. L., Zhao, H., Davies, G. E., Ehli, E. A., Evans, D. M., Fedko, I. O., Guxens, M., Hottenga, J.-J., Hudziak, J. J., Jugessur, A., Kemp, J. P., Krapohl, E., Martin, N. G., Murcia, M., Myhre, R., Ormel, J., Ring, S. M., Standl, M., Stergiakouli, E., Stoltenberg, C., Thiering, E., Timpson, N. J., Trzaskowski, M., van der Most, P. J., Wang, C., EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) Consortium, Psychiatric Genomics Consortium ADHD Working Group, Nyholt, D. R., Medland, S. E., Neale, B., Jacobsson, B., Sunyer, J., Hartman, C. A., Whitehouse, A. J. O., Pennell, C. E., Heinrich, J., Plomin, R., Smith, G. D., Tiemeier, H., Posthuma, D., & Boomsma, D. I. (2016). A Genome-Wide Association Meta-Analysis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Population-Based Paediatric Cohorts. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 55(10), 896-905. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2016.05.025.
Abstract
Objective To elucidate the influence of common genetic variants on childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, to identify genetic variants that explain its high heritability, and to investigate the genetic overlap of ADHD symptom scores with ADHD diagnosis. Method Within the EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortium, genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and ADHD symptom scores were available for 17,666 children (< 13 years) from nine population-based cohorts. SNP-based heritability was estimated in data from the three largest cohorts. Meta-analysis based on genome-wide association (GWA) analyses with SNPs was followed by gene-based association tests, and the overlap in results with a meta-analysis in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) case-control ADHD study was investigated. Results SNP-based heritability ranged from 5% to 34%, indicating that variation in common genetic variants influences ADHD symptom scores. The meta-analysis did not detect genome-wide significant SNPs, but three genes, lying close to each other with SNPs in high linkage disequilibrium (LD), showed a gene-wide significant association (p values between 1.46×10-6 and 2.66×10-6). One gene, WASL, is involved in neuronal development. Both SNP- and gene-based analyses indicated overlap with the PGC meta-analysis results with the genetic correlation estimated at 0.96. Conclusion The SNP-based heritability for ADHD symptom scores indicates a polygenic architecture and genes involved in neurite outgrowth are possibly involved. Continuous and dichotomous measures of ADHD appear to assess a genetically common phenotype. A next step is to combine data from population-based and case-control cohorts in genetic association studies to increase sample size and improve statistical power for identifying genetic variants. -
Okbay, A., Beauchamp, J. P., Fontana, M. A., Lee, J. J., Pers, T. H., Rietveld, C. A., Turley, P., Chen, G. B., Emilsson, V., Meddens, S. F. W., Oskarsson, S., Pickrell, J. K., Thom, K., Timshel, P., De Vlaming, R., Abdellaoui, A., Ahluwalia, T. S., Bacelis, J., Baumbach, C., Bjornsdottir, G. and 236 moreOkbay, A., Beauchamp, J. P., Fontana, M. A., Lee, J. J., Pers, T. H., Rietveld, C. A., Turley, P., Chen, G. B., Emilsson, V., Meddens, S. F. W., Oskarsson, S., Pickrell, J. K., Thom, K., Timshel, P., De Vlaming, R., Abdellaoui, A., Ahluwalia, T. S., Bacelis, J., Baumbach, C., Bjornsdottir, G., Brandsma, J., Pina Concas, M., Derringer, J., Furlotte, N. A., Galesloot, T. E., Girotto, G., Gupta, R., Hall, L. M., Harris, S. E., Hofer, E., Horikoshi, M., Huffman, J. E., Kaasik, K., Kalafati, I. P., Karlsson, R., Kong, A., Lahti, J., Lee, S. J. V. D., DeLeeuw, C., Lind, P. A., Lindgren, K.-.-O., Liu, T., Mangino, M., Marten, J., Mihailov, E., Miller, M. B., Van der Most, P. J., Oldmeadow, C., Payton, A., Pervjakova, N., Peyrot, W. J., Qian, Y., Raitakari, O., Rueedi, R., Salvi, E., Schmidt, B., Schraut, K. E., Shi, J., Smith, A. V., Poot, R. A., St Pourcain, B., Teumer, A., Thorleifsson, G., Verweij, N., Vuckovic, D., Wellmann, J., Westra, H.-.-J., Yang, J., Zhao, W., Zhu, Z., Alizadeh, B. Z., Amin, N., Bakshi, A., Baumeister, S. E., Biino, G., Bønnelykke, K., Boyle, P. A., Campbell, H., Cappuccio, F. P., Davies, G., De Neve, J.-.-E., Deloukas, P., Demuth, I., Ding, J., Eibich, P., Eisele, L., Eklund, N., Evans, D. M., Faul, J. D., Feitosa, M. F., Forstner, A. J., Gandin, I., Gunnarsson, B., Halldórsson, B. V., Harris, T. B., Heath, A. C., Hocking, L. J., Holliday, E. G., Homuth, G., Horan, M. A., Hottenga, J.-.-J., De Jager, P. L., Joshi, P. K., Jugessur, A., Kaakinen, M. A., Kähönen, M., Kanoni, S., Keltigangas-Järvinen, L., Kiemeney, L. A. L. M., Kolcic, I., Koskinen, S., Kraja, A. T., Kroh, M., Kutalik, Z., Latvala, A., Launer, L. J., Lebreton, M. P., Levinson, D. F., Lichtenstein, P., Lichtner, P., Liewald, D. C. M., Cohert Study, L., Loukola, A., Madden, P. A., Mägi, R., Mäki-Opas, T., Marioni, R. E., Marques-Vidal, P., Meddens, G. A., McMahon, G., Meisinger, C., Meitinger, T., Milaneschi, Y., Milani, L., Montgomery, G. W., Myhre, R., Nelson, C. P., Nyholt, D. R., Ollier, W. E. R., Palotie, A., Paternoster, L., Pedersen, N. L., Petrovic, K. E., Porteous, D. J., Räikkönen, K., Ring, S. M., Robino, A., Rostapshova, O., Rudan, I., Rustichini, A., Salomaa, V., Sanders, A. R., Sarin, A.-.-P., Schmidt, H., Scott, R. J., Smith, B. H., Smith, J. A., Staessen, J. A., Steinhagen-Thiessen, E., Strauch, K., Terracciano, A., Tobin, M. D., Ulivi, S., Vaccargiu, S., Quaye, L., Van Rooij, F. J. A., Venturini, C., Vinkhuyzen, A. A. E., Völker, U., Völzke, H., Vonk, J. M., Vozzi, D., Waage, J., Ware, E. B., Willemsen, G., Attia, J. R., Bennett, D. A., Berger, K., Bertram, L., Bisgaard, H., Boomsma, D. I., Borecki, I. B., Bültmann, U., Chabris, C. F., Cucca, F., Cusi, D., Deary, I. J., Dedoussis, G. V., Van Duijn, C. M., Eriksson, J. G., Franke, B., Franke, L., Gasparini, P., Gejman, P. V., Gieger, C., Grabe, H.-.-J., Gratten, J., Groenen, P. J. F., Gudnason, V., Van der Harst, P., Hayward, C., Hinds, D. A., Hoffmann, W., Hyppönen, E., Iacono, W. G., Jacobsson, B., Järvelin, M.-.-R., Jöckel, K.-.-H., Kaprio, J., Kardia, S. L. R., Lehtimäki, T., Lehrer, S. F., Magnusson, P. K. E., Martin, N. G., McGue, M., Metspalu, A., Pendleton, N., Penninx, B. W. J. H., Perola, M., Pirastu, N., Pirastu, M., Polasek, O., Posthuma, D., Power, C., Province, M. A., Samani, N. J., Schlessinger, D., Schmidt, R., Sørensen, T. I. A., Spector, T. D., Stefansson, K., Thorsteinsdottir, U., Thurik, A. R., Timpson, N. J., Tiemeier, H., Tung, J. Y., Uitterlinden, A. G., Vitart, V., Vollenweider, P., Weir, D. R., Wilson, J. F., Wright, A. F., Conley, D. C., Krueger, R. F., Davey Smith, G., Hofman, A., Laibson, D. I., Medland, S. E., Meyer, M. N., Yang, J., Johannesson, M., Visscher, P. M., Esko, T., Koellinger, P. D., Cesarini, D., & Benjamin, D. J. (2016). Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. Nature, 533, 539-542. doi:10.1038/nature17671.
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 -
Pappa, I., St Pourcain, B., Benke, K., Cavadino, A., Hakulinen, C., Nivard, M. G., Nolte, I. M., Tiesler, C. M. T., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Davies, G. E., Evans, D. M., Geoffroy, M.-C., Grallert, H., Groen-Blokhuis, M. M., Hudziak, J. J., Kemp, J. P., Keltikangas-Järvinen, L., McMahon, G., Mileva-Seitz, V. R., Motazedi, E. and 23 morePappa, I., St Pourcain, B., Benke, K., Cavadino, A., Hakulinen, C., Nivard, M. G., Nolte, I. M., Tiesler, C. M. T., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Davies, G. E., Evans, D. M., Geoffroy, M.-C., Grallert, H., Groen-Blokhuis, M. M., Hudziak, J. J., Kemp, J. P., Keltikangas-Järvinen, L., McMahon, G., Mileva-Seitz, V. R., Motazedi, E., Power, C., Raitakari, O. T., Ring, S. M., Rivadeneira, F., Rodriguez, A., Scheet, P. A., Seppälä, I., Snieder, H., Standl, M., Thiering, E., Timpson, N. J., Veenstra, R., Velders, F. P., Whitehouse, A. J. O., Smith, G. D., Heinrich, J., Hypponen, E., Lehtimäki, T., Middeldorp, C. M., Oldehinkel, A. J., Pennell, C. E., Boomsma, D. I., & Tiemeier, H. (2016). A genome-wide approach to children's aggressive behavior: The EAGLE consortium. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 171(5), 562-572. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32333.
Abstract
Individual differences in aggressive behavior emerge in early childhood and predict persisting behavioral problems and disorders. Studies of antisocial and severe aggression in adulthood indicate substantial underlying biology. However, little attention has been given to genome-wide approaches of aggressive behavior in children. We analyzed data from nine population-based studies and assessed aggressive behavior using well-validated parent-reported questionnaires. This is the largest sample exploring children's aggressive behavior to date (N = 18,988), with measures in two developmental stages (N = 15,668 early childhood and N = 16,311 middle childhood/early adolescence). First, we estimated the additive genetic variance of children's aggressive behavior based on genome-wide SNP information, using genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA). Second, genetic associations within each study were assessed using a quasi-Poisson regression approach, capturing the highly right-skewed distribution of aggressive behavior. Third, we performed meta-analyses of genome-wide associations for both the total age-mixed sample and the two developmental stages. Finally, we performed a gene-based test using the summary statistics of the total sample. GCTA quantified variance tagged by common SNPs (10–54%). The meta-analysis of the total sample identified one region in chromosome 2 (2p12) at near genome-wide significance (top SNP rs11126630, P = 5.30 × 10−8). The separate meta-analyses of the two developmental stages revealed suggestive evidence of association at the same locus. The gene-based analysis indicated association of variation within AVPR1A with aggressive behavior. We conclude that common variants at 2p12 show suggestive evidence for association with childhood aggression. Replication of these initial findings is needed, and further studies should clarify its biological meaning.Additional information
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/ajmg.b.32333/asset/supinfo/ajmgb32… -
Robinson, E. B., St Pourcain, B., Anttila, V., Kosmicki, J. A., Bulik-Sullivan, B., Grove, J., Maller, J., Samocha, K. E., Sanders, S. J., Ripke, S., Martin, J., Hollegaard, M. V., Werge, T., Hougaard, D. M., i Psych- S. S. I. Broad Autism Group, Neale, B. M., Evans, D. M., Skuse, D., Mortensen, P. B., Borglum, A. D., Ronald, A. and 2 moreRobinson, E. B., St Pourcain, B., Anttila, V., Kosmicki, J. A., Bulik-Sullivan, B., Grove, J., Maller, J., Samocha, K. E., Sanders, S. J., Ripke, S., Martin, J., Hollegaard, M. V., Werge, T., Hougaard, D. M., i Psych- S. S. I. Broad Autism Group, Neale, B. M., Evans, D. M., Skuse, D., Mortensen, P. B., Borglum, A. D., Ronald, A., Smith, G. D., & Daly, M. J. (2016). Genetic risk for autism spectrum disorders and neuropsychiatric variation in the general population. Nature Genetics, 48, 552-555. doi:10.1038/ng.3529.
Abstract
Almost all genetic risk factors for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) can be found in the general population, but the effects of this risk are unclear in people not ascertained for neuropsychiatric symptoms. Using several large ASD consortium and population-based resources (total n > 38,000), we find genome-wide genetic links between ASDs and typical variation in social behavior and adaptive functioning. This finding is evidenced through both LD score correlation and de novo variant analysis, indicating that multiple types of genetic risk for ASDs influence a continuum of behavioral and developmental traits, the severe tail of which can result in diagnosis with an ASD or other neuropsychiatric disorder. A continuum model should inform the design and interpretation of studies of neuropsychiatric disease biology.Additional information
ng.3529-S1.pdf -
Stock, N. M., Humphries, K., St Pourcain, B., Bailey, M., Persson, M., Ho, K. M., Ring, S., Marsh, C., Albery, L., Rumsey, N., & Sandy, J. (2016). Opportunities and Challenges in Establishing a Cohort Study: An Example From Cleft Lip/Palate Research in the United Kingdom. Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, (3), 317-325. doi:10.1597/14-306.
Abstract
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Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal
Volume 53, Issue 3, May 2016, Pages 317-325
Opportunities and challenges in establishing a cohort study: An example from cleft lip/palate research in the United Kingdom (Article)
Stock, N.M.a ,
Humphries, K.b,
St. Pourcain, B.b,
Bailey, M.b,
Persson, M.a,
Ho, K.M.b,
Ring, S.b,
Marsh, C.c,
Albery, L.c,
Rumsey, N.a,
Sandy, J.b
a Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, United Kingdom
b Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
c South West Cleft Service, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
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Abstract
Background: Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) is one of the most common birth conditions in the world, but little is known about its causes. Professional opinion remains divided as to which treatments may be the most beneficial for patients with CL/P, and the factors that contribute to psychological adjustment are poorly understood. The use of different methodological approaches and tools plays a key role in hampering efforts to address discrepancies within the evidence base. A new UK-wide program of research, The Cleft Collective, was established to combat many of these methodological challenges and to address some of the key research questions important to all CL/P stakeholders. Objective: To describe the establishment of CL/P cohort studies in the United Kingdom and to consider the many opportunities this resource will generate. Results: To date, protocols have been developed and implemented within most UK cleft teams. Biological samples, environmental information, and data pertaining to parental psychological well-being and child development are being collected successfully. Recruitment is currently on track to meet the ambitious target of approximately 9800 individuals from just more than 3000 families. Conclusions: The Cleft Collective cohort studies represent a significant step forward for research in the field of CL/P. The data collected will form a comprehensive resource of information about individuals with CL/P and their families. This resource will provide the basis for many future projects and collaborations, both in the United Kingdom and around the world. -
van den Berg, S. M., de Moor, M. H. M., Verweij, K. J. H., Krueger, R. F., Luciano, M., Arias Vasquez, A., Matteson, L. K., Derringer, J., Esko, T., Amin, N. F., Gordon, S. D., Hansell, N. K., Hart, A. B., Seppälä, I., Huffman, J. E., Konte, B., Lahti, J., Lee, M., Miller, M., Nutile, T. and 101 morevan den Berg, S. M., de Moor, M. H. M., Verweij, K. J. H., Krueger, R. F., Luciano, M., Arias Vasquez, A., Matteson, L. K., Derringer, J., Esko, T., Amin, N. F., Gordon, S. D., Hansell, N. K., Hart, A. B., Seppälä, I., Huffman, J. E., Konte, B., Lahti, J., Lee, M., Miller, M., Nutile, T., Tanaka, T., Teumer, A., Viktorin, A., Wedenoja, J., Abdellaoui, A., Abecasis, G. R., Adkins, D. E., Agrawal, A., Allik, J., Appel, K., Bigdeli, T. B., Busonero, F., Campbell, H., Costa, P., Smith, G. D., Davies, G., de Wit, H., Ding, J., Engelhardt, B. E., Eriksson, J. G., Fedko, I. O., Ferrucci, L., Franke, B., Giegling, I., Grucza, R., Hartmann, A. M., Heath, A. C., Heinonen, K., Henders, A. K., Homuth, G., Hottenga, J.-J., Iacono, W. G., Janzing, J., Jokela, M., Karlsson, R., Kemp, J., Kirkpatrick, M. G., Latvala, A., Lehtimäki, T., Liewald, D. C., Madden, P. F., Magri, C., Magnusson, P. E., Marten, J., Maschio, A., Mbarek, H., Medland, S. E., Mihailov, E., Milaneschi, Y., Montgomery, G. W., Nauck, M., Nivard, M. G., Ouwens, K. G., Palotie, A., Pettersson, E., Polasek, O., Qian, Y., Pulkki-Råback, L., Raitakari, O., Realo, A., Rose, R. J., Ruggiero, D., Schmidt, C. O., Slutske, W. S., Sorice, R., Starr, J. M., St Pourcain, B., Sutin, A. R., Timpson, N. J., Trochet, H., Vermeulen, S., Vuoksimaa, E., Widen, E., Wouda, J., Wright, M. J., Zgaga, L., Porteous, D., Minelli, A., Palmer, A. A., Rujescu, D., Ciullo, M., Hayward, C., Rudan, I., Metspalu, A., Kaprio, J., Deary, I. J., Räikkönen, K., Wilson, J. F., Keltikangas-Järvinen, L., Bierut, L. J., Hettema, J. M., Grabe, H. J., Penninx, B. W. J. H., van Duijn, C. M., Evans, D. M., Schlessinger, D., Pedersen, N. L., Terracciano, A., McGue, M., Martin, N. G., & Boomsma, D. I. (2016). Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion: Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium. Behavior Genetics, 46, 170-182. doi:10.1007/s10519-015-9735-5.
Abstract
Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion. © 2015 The Author(s)Additional information
10519_2015_9735_MOESM1_ESM.docx -
Glaser, B., Gunnell, D., Timpson, N. J., Joinson, C., Zammit, S., Smith, G. D., & Lewis, G. (2011). Age- and puberty-dependent association between IQ score in early childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 41(2), 333-343. doi:10.1017/S0033291710000814.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lower cognitive functioning in early childhood has been proposed as a risk factor for depression in later life but its association with depressive symptoms during adolescence has rarely been investigated. Our study examines the relationship between total intelligence quotient (IQ) score at age 8 years, and depressive symptoms at 11, 13, 14 and 17 years. METHOD: Study participants were 5250 children and adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and their Children (ALSPAC), UK, for whom longitudinal data on depressive symptoms were available. IQ was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III, and self-reported depressive symptoms were measured with the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ). RESULTS: Multi-level analysis on continuous SMFQ scores showed that IQ at age 8 years was inversely associated with depressive symptoms at age 11 years, but the association changed direction by age 13 and 14 years (age-IQ interaction, p<}0.0001; age squared-IQ interaction, p{<}0.0001) when a higher IQ score was associated with a higher risk of depressive symptoms. This change in IQ effect was also found in relation to pubertal stage (pubertal stage-IQ interaction, 0.00049{Additional information
S0033291710000814sup001.docMunafò, M. R., Freathy, R. M., Ring, S. M., St Pourcain, B., & Smith, G. D. (2011). Association of COMT Val108/158Met Genotype and Cigarette Smoking in Pregnant Women. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 13(2), 55-63. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntq209.Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Smoking behaviors, including heaviness of smoking and smoking cessation, are known to be under a degree of genetic influence. The enzyme catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) is of relevance in studies of smoking behavior and smoking cessation due to its presence in dopaminergic brain regions. While the COMT gene is therefore one of the more promising candidate genes for smoking behavior, some inconsistencies have begun to emerge. METHODS: We explored whether the rs4680 A (Met) allele of the COMT gene predicts increased heaviness of smoking and reduced likelihood of smoking cessation in a large population-based cohort of pregnant women. We further conducted a meta-analysis of published data from community samples investigating the association of this polymorphism with heaviness of smoking and smoking status. RESULTS: In our primary sample, the A (Met) allele was associated with increased heaviness of smoking before pregnancy but not with the odds of continuing to smoke in pregnancy either in the first trimester or in the third trimester. Meta-analysis also indicated modest evidence of association of the A (Met) allele with increased heaviness of smoking but not with persistent smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest a weak association between COMT genotype and heaviness of smoking, which is supported by our meta-analysis. However, it should be noted that the strength of evidence for this association was modest. Neither our primary data nor our meta-analysis support an association between COMT genotype and smoking cessation. Therefore, COMT remains a plausible candidate gene for smoking behavior phenotypes, in particular, heaviness of smoking.Paternoster, L., Evans, D. M., Aagaard Nohr, E., Holst, C., Gaborieau, V., Brennan, P., Prior Gjesing, A., Grarup, N., Witte, D. R., Jørgensen, T., Linneberg, A., Lauritzen, T., Sandbaek, A., Hansen, T., Pedersen, O., Elliott, K. S., Kemp, J. P., St Pourcain, B., McMahon, G., Zelenika, D. and 5 morePaternoster, L., Evans, D. M., Aagaard Nohr, E., Holst, C., Gaborieau, V., Brennan, P., Prior Gjesing, A., Grarup, N., Witte, D. R., Jørgensen, T., Linneberg, A., Lauritzen, T., Sandbaek, A., Hansen, T., Pedersen, O., Elliott, K. S., Kemp, J. P., St Pourcain, B., McMahon, G., Zelenika, D., Hager, J., Lathrop, M., Timpson, N. J., Davey Smith, G., & Sørensen, T. I. A. (2011). Genome-Wide Population-Based Association Study of Extremely Overweight Young Adults – The GOYA Study. PLoS ONE, 6(9): e24303. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024303.Abstract
Background Thirty-two common variants associated with body mass index (BMI) have been identified in genome-wide association studies, explaining ∼1.45% of BMI variation in general population cohorts. We performed a genome-wide association study in a sample of young adults enriched for extremely overweight individuals. We aimed to identify new loci associated with BMI and to ascertain whether using an extreme sampling design would identify the variants known to be associated with BMI in general populations. Methodology/Principal Findings From two large Danish cohorts we selected all extremely overweight young men and women (n = 2,633), and equal numbers of population-based controls (n = 2,740, drawn randomly from the same populations as the extremes, representing ∼212,000 individuals). We followed up novel (at the time of the study) association signals (p<}0.001) from the discovery cohort in a genome-wide study of 5,846 Europeans, before attempting to replicate the most strongly associated 28 SNPs in an independent sample of Danish individuals (n = 20,917) and a population-based cohort of 15-year-old British adolescents (n = 2,418). Our discovery analysis identified SNPs at three loci known to be associated with BMI with genome-wide confidence (P{<}5×10−8; FTO, MC4R and FAIM2). We also found strong evidence of association at the known TMEM18, GNPDA2, SEC16B, TFAP2B, SH2B1 and KCTD15 loci (p{<}0.001), and nominal association (p{<0.05) at a further 8 loci known to be associated with BMI. However, meta-analyses of our discovery and replication cohorts identified no novel associations. Significance Our results indicate that the detectable genetic variation associated with extreme overweight is very similar to that previously found for general BMI. This suggests that population-based study designs with enriched sampling of individuals with the extreme phenotype may be an efficient method for identifying common variants that influence quantitative traits and a valid alternative to genotyping all individuals in large population-based studies, which may require tens of thousands of subjects to achieve similar power.Additional information
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0024303#s5St Pourcain, B., Mandy, W. P., Heron, J., Golding, J., Davey Smith, G., & Skuse, D. H. (2011). Links between co-occurring social-communication and hyperactive-inattentive trait trajectories. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 50(9), 892-902.e5. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2011.05.015.Abstract
OBJECTIVE: There is overlap between an autistic and hyperactive-inattentive symptomatology when studied cross-sectionally. This study is the first to examine the longitudinal pattern of association between social-communication deficits and hyperactive-inattentive symptoms in the general population, from childhood through adolescence. We explored the interrelationship between trajectories of co-occurring symptoms, and sought evidence for shared prenatal/perinatal risk factors. METHOD: Study participants were 5,383 singletons of white ethnicity from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Multiple measurements of hyperactive-inattentive traits (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) and autistic social-communication impairment (Social Communication Disorder Checklist) were obtained between 4 and 17 years. Both traits and their trajectories were modeled in parallel using latent class growth analysis (LCGA). Trajectory membership was subsequently investigated with respect to prenatal/perinatal risk factors. RESULTS: LCGA analysis revealed two distinct social-communication trajectories (persistently impaired versus low-risk) and four hyperactive-inattentive trait trajectories (persistently impaired, intermediate, childhood-limited and low-risk). Autistic symptoms were more stable than those of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behaviors, which showed greater variability. Trajectories for both traits were strongly but not reciprocally interlinked, such that the majority of children with a persistent hyperactive-inattentive symptomatology also showed persistent social-communication deficits but not vice versa. Shared predictors, especially for trajectories of persistent impairment, were maternal smoking during the first trimester, which included familial effects, and a teenage pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Our longitudinal study reveals that a complex relationship exists between social-communication and hyperactive-inattentive traits. Patterns of association change over time, with corresponding implications for removing exclusivity criteria for ASD and ADHD, as proposed for DSM-5.
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