Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
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Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. / Okbay, Aysu; Beauchamp, Jonathan P; Fontana, Mark Alan; Lee, James J; Pers, Tune H; Rietveld, Cornelius A; Turley, Patrick; Chen, Guo-Bo; Emilsson, Valur; Meddens, S Fleur W; Oskarsson, Sven; Pickrell, Joseph K; Thom, Kevin; Timshel, Pascal Nordgren; de Vlaming, Ronald; Abdellaoui, Abdel; Ahluwalia, Tarun Veer Singh; Bacelis, Jonas; Baumbach, Clemens; Bjornsdottir, Gyda; Brandsma, Johannes H; Pina Concas, Maria; Derringer, Jaime; Furlotte, Nicholas A; Galesloot, Tessel E; Girotto, Giorgia; Gupta, Richa; Hall, Leanne M; Harris, Sarah E; Hofer, Edith; Horikoshi, Momoko; Huffman, Jennifer E; Kaasik, Kadri; Kalafati, Ioanna P; Karlsson, Robert; Kong, Augustine; Lahti, Jari; van der Lee, Sven J; deLeeuw, Christiaan; Lind, Penelope A; Lindgren, Karl-Oskar; Liu, Tian; Mangino, Massimo; Marten, Jonathan; Mihailov, Evelin; Miller, Michael B; Bønnelykke, Klaus; Waage, Johannes; Bisgaard, Hans; Sørensen, Thorkild I A; LifeLines Cohort Study.
In: Nature, Vol. 533, No. 7604, 26.05.2016, p. 539-42.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
AU - Okbay, Aysu
AU - Beauchamp, Jonathan P
AU - Fontana, Mark Alan
AU - Lee, James J
AU - Pers, Tune H
AU - Rietveld, Cornelius A
AU - Turley, Patrick
AU - Chen, Guo-Bo
AU - Emilsson, Valur
AU - Meddens, S Fleur W
AU - Oskarsson, Sven
AU - Pickrell, Joseph K
AU - Thom, Kevin
AU - Timshel, Pascal Nordgren
AU - de Vlaming, Ronald
AU - Abdellaoui, Abdel
AU - Ahluwalia, Tarun Veer Singh
AU - Bacelis, Jonas
AU - Baumbach, Clemens
AU - Bjornsdottir, Gyda
AU - Brandsma, Johannes H
AU - Pina Concas, Maria
AU - Derringer, Jaime
AU - Furlotte, Nicholas A
AU - Galesloot, Tessel E
AU - Girotto, Giorgia
AU - Gupta, Richa
AU - Hall, Leanne M
AU - Harris, Sarah E
AU - Hofer, Edith
AU - Horikoshi, Momoko
AU - Huffman, Jennifer E
AU - Kaasik, Kadri
AU - Kalafati, Ioanna P
AU - Karlsson, Robert
AU - Kong, Augustine
AU - Lahti, Jari
AU - van der Lee, Sven J
AU - deLeeuw, Christiaan
AU - Lind, Penelope A
AU - Lindgren, Karl-Oskar
AU - Liu, Tian
AU - Mangino, Massimo
AU - Marten, Jonathan
AU - Mihailov, Evelin
AU - Miller, Michael B
AU - Bønnelykke, Klaus
AU - Waage, Johannes
AU - Bisgaard, Hans
AU - Sørensen, Thorkild I A
AU - LifeLines Cohort Study
PY - 2016/5/26
Y1 - 2016/5/26
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Alzheimer Disease
KW - Bipolar Disorder
KW - Brain
KW - Cognition
KW - Computational Biology
KW - Educational Status
KW - Fetus
KW - Gene Expression Regulation
KW - Gene-Environment Interaction
KW - Genome-Wide Association Study
KW - Great Britain
KW - Humans
KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation
KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Journal Article
KW - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
U2 - 10.1038/nature17671
DO - 10.1038/nature17671
M3 - Letter
C2 - 27225129
VL - 533
SP - 539
EP - 542
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 7604
ER -
ID: 166943731