Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment

David A. Bennett; Klaus Berger; Lars Bertram; Hans Bisgaard; Dorret I. Boomsma; Ingrid B. Borecki; Ute Bültmann; Christopher F. Chabris; Francesco Cucca; Daniele Cusi; Ian J. Deary; George V. Dedoussis; Cornelia M. Van Duijn; Johan G. Eriksson; Barbara Franke; Lude Franke; Paolo Gasparini; Pablo V. Gejman; Christian Gieger; Hans-Jörgen Grabe; Jacob Gratten; Patrick J. F. Groenen; Vilmundur Gudnason; Pim van Der Harst; Caroline Hayward; David A. Hinds; Wolfgang Hoffmann; Elina Hyppönen; William G. Iacono; Bo Jacobsson; Marjo-Riitta Järvelin; Karl-Heinz Jöckel; Jaakko Kaprio; Sharon L. R. Kardia; Terho Lehtimäki; Steven F. Lehrer; Patrik K. E. Magnusson; Nicholas G. Martin; Matt Mcgue; Andres Metspalu; Neil Pendleton; Brenda W. J. H. Penninx; Markus Perola; Nicola Pirastu; Mario Pirastu; Ozren Polasek; Danielle Posthuma; Christine Power; Michael A. Province; Nilesh J. Samani; David Schlessinger; Reinhold Schmidt; Thorkild I. A. Sørensen; Tim D. Spector; Kari Stefansson; Unnur Thorsteinsdottir; A. Roy Thurik; Nicholas J. Timpson; Henning Tiemeier; Joyce Y. Tung; André G. Uitterlinden; Veronique Vitart; Peter Vollenweider; David R. Weir; James F. Wilson; Alan F. Wright; Dalton C. Conley; Robert F. Krueger; George Davey Smith; Albert Hofman; David I. Laibson; Sarah E. Medland; Michelle N. Meyer; Jian Yang; Magnus Johannesson; Peter M. Visscher; Tõnu Esko; Philipp D. Koellinger; David Cesarini; Daniel J. Benjamin; Aysu Okbay; Jonathan P. Beauchamp; Mark Alan Fontana; James J. Lee; Tune H. Pers; Cornelius A. Rietveld; Patrick Turley; Guo-Bo Chen; Valur Emilsson; S. Fleur W. Meddens; Sven Oskarsson; Joseph K. Pickrell; Kevin Thom; Pascal Timshel; Ronald De Vlaming; Abdel Abdellaoui; Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia; Jonas Bacelis; Clemens Baumbach; Gyda Bjornsdottir; Johannes H. Brandsma; Maria Pina Concas; Jaime Derringer; Nicholas A. Furlotte; Tessel E. Galesloot; Giorgia Girotto; Richa Gupta; Leanne M. Hall; Sarah E. Harris; Edith Hofer; Momoko Horikoshi; Jennifer E. Huffman; Kadri Kaasik; Ioanna P. Kalafati; Robert Karlsson; Augustine Kong; Jari Lahti; Sven J. van Der Lee; Christiaan Deleeuw; Penelope A. Lind; Karl-Oskar Lindgren; Tian Liu; Massimo Mangino; Jonathan Marten; Evelin Mihailov; Michael B. Miller; Peter J. van Der Most; Christopher Oldmeadow; Antony Payton; Natalia Pervjakova; Wouter J. Peyrot; Yong Qian; Olli Raitakari; Rico Rueedi; Erika Salvi; Börge Schmidt; Katharina E. Schraut; Jianxin Shi; Albert V. Smith; Raymond A. Poot; Beate St Pourcain; Alexander Teumer; Gudmar Thorleifsson; Niek Verweij; Dragana Vuckovic; Juergen Wellmann; Harm-Jan Westra; Jingyun Yang; Wei Zhao; Zhihong Zhu; Behrooz Z. Alizadeh; Najaf Amin; Andrew Bakshi; Sebastian E. Baumeister; Ginevra Biino; Klaus Bønnelykke; Patricia A. Boyle; Harry Campbell; Francesco P. Cappuccio; Gail Davies; Jan-Emmanuel de Neve; Panos Deloukas; Ilja Demuth; Jun Ding; Peter Eibich; Lewin Eisele; Niina Eklund; David M. Evans; Jessica D. Faul; Mary F. Feitosa; Andreas J. Forstner; Ilaria Gandin; Bjarni Gunnarsson; Bjarni V. Halldórsson; Tamara B. Harris; Andrew C. Heath; Lynne J. Hocking; Elizabeth G. Holliday; Georg Homuth; Michael A. Horan; Jouke-Jan Hottenga; Philip L. De Jager; Peter K. Joshi; Astanand Jugessur; Marika A. Kaakinen; Mika Kähönen; Stavroula Kanoni; Liisa Keltigangas-Järvinen; Lambertus A. L. M. Kiemeney; Ivana Kolcic; Seppo Koskinen; Aldi T. Kraja; Martin Kroh; Zoltan Kutalik; Antti Latvala; Lenore J. Launer; Maël P. Lebreton; Douglas F. Levinson; Paul Lichtenstein; Peter Lichtner; David C. M. Liewald; Lifelines Cohort Study; Anu Loukola; Pamela A. Madden; Reedik Mägi; Tomi Mäki-Opas; Riccardo E. Marioni; Pedro Marques-Vidal; Gerardus A. Meddens; George Mcmahon; Christa Meisinger; Thomas Meitinger; Yusplitri Milaneschi; Lili Milani; Grant W. Montgomery; Ronny Myhre; Christopher P. Nelson; Dale R. Nyholt; William E. R. Ollier; Aarno Palotie; Lavinia Paternoster; Nancy L. Pedersen; Katja E. Petrovic; David J. Porteous; Katri Räikkönen; Susan M. Ring; Antonietta Robino; Olga Rostapshova; Igor Rudan; Aldo Rustichini; Veikko Salomaa; Alan R. Sanders; Antti-Pekka Sarin; Helena Schmidt; Rodney J. Scott; Blair H. Smith; Jennifer A. Smith; Jan A. Staessen; Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen; Konstantin Strauch; Antonio Terracciano; Martin D. Tobin; Sheila Ulivi; Simona Vaccargiu; Lydia Quaye; Frank J. A. Van Rooij; Cristina Venturini; Anna A. E. Vinkhuyzen; Uwe Völker; Henry Völzke; Judith M. Vonk; Diego Vozzi; Johannes Waage; Erin B. Ware; Gonneke Willemsen; John R. Attia

doi:10.1038/nature17671

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Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment

Journal article

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Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment

David A. Bennett, Klaus Berger, Lars Bertram, Hans Bisgaard, Dorret I. Boomsma, Ingrid B. Borecki, Ute Bültmann, Christopher F. Chabris, Francesco Cucca, Daniele Cusi, …

Nature, Vol.533(7604), pp.539-542

2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17671

PMCID: PMC4883595

Abstract

Learning and memory

Psychiatric disorders

Genome-wide association studies

Behavioural genetics

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 individuals1. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample1,2 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.

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Title: Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
Creators - without role: David A. Bennett - Rush University Medical Center
Klaus Berger - University of Groningen
Lars Bertram - Institute for Integrative and Experimental Genomics
Hans Bisgaard - University of Copenhagen
Dorret I. Boomsma - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Ingrid B. Borecki - Washington University in St. Louis
Ute Bültmann - University of Groningen
Christopher F. Chabris - Union College
Francesco Cucca - Institute of Genetic and Biomedical Research
Daniele Cusi - University of Milan
Ian J. Deary - University of Edinburgh
George V. Dedoussis - Harokopio University of Athens
Cornelia M. Van Duijn - Department of Epidemiology [Rotterdam]
Johan G. Eriksson - Folkhälsans Forskningscentrum
Barbara Franke
Lude Franke - University Medical Center Groningen
Paolo Gasparini - University of Trieste
Pablo V. Gejman - NorthShore University HealthSystem
Christian Gieger - Helmholtz Zentrum München
Hans-Jörgen Grabe - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Jacob Gratten - University of Queensland
Patrick J. F. Groenen - Erasmus University Rotterdam
Vilmundur Gudnason
Pim van Der Harst
Caroline Hayward - University of Edinburgh
David A. Hinds - 23andMe
Wolfgang Hoffmann - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Elina Hyppönen - University of South Australia
William G. Iacono - Twin Cities Orthopedics
Bo Jacobsson - Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Marjo-Riitta Järvelin
Karl-Heinz Jöckel - Institut für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie
Jaakko Kaprio - Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Sharon L. R. Kardia - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Terho Lehtimäki - Fimlab
Steven F. Lehrer - New York University Shanghai
Patrik K. E. Magnusson - Karolinska Institutet
Nicholas G. Martin - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Matt Mcgue - Twin Cities Orthopedics
Andres Metspalu - University of Tartu
Neil Pendleton - Salford Royal Hospital
Brenda W. J. H. Penninx - GGZ inGeest
Markus Perola - Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Nicola Pirastu - University of Trieste
Mario Pirastu - National Research Council
Ozren Polasek - University of Edinburgh
Danielle Posthuma - Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc
Christine Power - University College London
Michael A. Province - Washington University in St. Louis
Nilesh J. Samani - NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit
David Schlessinger - National Institute on Aging
Reinhold Schmidt - Medical University of Graz
Thorkild I. A. Sørensen - University of Bristol
Tim D. Spector - King's College London
Kari Stefansson - University of Iceland
Unnur Thorsteinsdottir - University of Iceland
A. Roy Thurik - Erasmus University Rotterdam
Nicholas J. Timpson - University of Bristol
Henning Tiemeier - Erasmus MC
Joyce Y. Tung - 23andMe
André G. Uitterlinden - Erasmus MC
Veronique Vitart - University of Edinburgh
Peter Vollenweider - University of Lausanne
David R. Weir - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
James F. Wilson
Alan F. Wright - University of Edinburgh
Dalton C. Conley - New York University
Robert F. Krueger - Twin Cities Orthopedics
George Davey Smith - University of Bristol
Albert Hofman - Erasmus MC
David I. Laibson - Harvard University
Sarah E. Medland - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Michelle N. Meyer - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Jian Yang - University of Queensland
Magnus Johannesson - Stockholm School of Economics
Peter M. Visscher - University of Queensland
Tõnu Esko - University of Tartu
Philipp D. Koellinger - University of Amsterdam
David Cesarini - Research Institute of Industrial Economics
Daniel J. Benjamin - University of Southern California
Aysu Okbay - Erasmus University Rotterdam
Jonathan P. Beauchamp - Harvard University
Mark Alan Fontana - University of Southern California
James J. Lee - Twin Cities Orthopedics
Tune H. Pers - Boston Children's Hospital
Cornelius A. Rietveld - Erasmus MC
Patrick Turley - Harvard University
Guo-Bo Chen
Valur Emilsson - Icelandic Heart Association
S. Fleur W. Meddens - Erasmus University Rotterdam
Sven Oskarsson - Uppsala University
Joseph K. Pickrell - New York Genome Center
Kevin Thom - New York University
Pascal Timshel - Broad Institute
Ronald De Vlaming
Abdel Abdellaoui - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia - University of Copenhagen
Jonas Bacelis - University of Gothenburg
Clemens Baumbach - Helmholtz Zentrum München
Gyda Bjornsdottir
Johannes H. Brandsma - Erasmus MC
Maria Pina Concas
Jaime Derringer - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Nicholas A. Furlotte - 23andMe
Tessel E. Galesloot - Radboud University Medical Center
Giorgia Girotto - University of Trieste
Richa Gupta - University of Helsinki
Leanne M. Hall - University of Leicester
Sarah E. Harris - University of Edinburgh
Edith Hofer - Medical University of Graz
Momoko Horikoshi - University of Oxford
Jennifer E. Huffman - University of Edinburgh
Kadri Kaasik - University of Helsinki
Ioanna P. Kalafati - Harokopio University of Athens
Robert Karlsson - Karolinska Institutet
Augustine Kong - deCODE Genetics
Jari Lahti - University of Helsinki
Sven J. van Der Lee
Christiaan Deleeuw
Penelope A. Lind - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Karl-Oskar Lindgren
Tian Liu - Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Massimo Mangino - King's College London
Jonathan Marten - University of Edinburgh
Evelin Mihailov - University of Tartu
Michael B. Miller - Twin Cities Orthopedics
Peter J. van Der Most
Christopher Oldmeadow - Hunter Medical Research Institute
Antony Payton - University of Manchester
Natalia Pervjakova - University of Tartu
Wouter J. Peyrot - GGZ inGeest
Yong Qian - National Institute on Aging
Olli Raitakari - University of Turku
Rico Rueedi - University of Lausanne
Erika Salvi - University of Milan
Börge Schmidt - Institut für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie
Katharina E. Schraut - University of Edinburgh
Jianxin Shi - Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
Albert V. Smith - Icelandic Heart Association
Raymond A. Poot - Erasmus MC
Beate St Pourcain
Alexander Teumer - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Gudmar Thorleifsson - deCODE Genetics
Niek Verweij - University Medical Center Groningen
Dragana Vuckovic - University of Trieste
Juergen Wellmann - University of Münster
Harm-Jan Westra - Broad Institute
Jingyun Yang - Rush University Medical Center
Wei Zhao - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Zhihong Zhu - University of Queensland
Behrooz Z. Alizadeh - University Medical Center Groningen
Najaf Amin - Erasmus MC
Andrew Bakshi - University of Queensland
Sebastian E. Baumeister - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Ginevra Biino - National Research Council
Klaus Bønnelykke - University of Copenhagen
Patricia A. Boyle - Rush University Medical Center
Harry Campbell - University of Edinburgh
Francesco P. Cappuccio - University of Warwick
Gail Davies - University of Edinburgh
Jan-Emmanuel de Neve - University of Oxford
Panos Deloukas - Queen Mary University of London
Ilja Demuth - Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Jun Ding - National Institute on Aging
Peter Eibich - German Institute for Economic Research
Lewin Eisele - Institut für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie
Niina Eklund - Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
David M. Evans - University of Bristol
Jessica D. Faul - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Mary F. Feitosa - Washington University in St. Louis
Andreas J. Forstner - University of Bonn
Ilaria Gandin - University of Trieste
Bjarni Gunnarsson - deCODE Genetics
Bjarni V. Halldórsson - deCODE Genetics
Tamara B. Harris - National Institutes of Health
Andrew C. Heath - Washington University in St. Louis
Lynne J. Hocking - University of Aberdeen
Elizabeth G. Holliday - Hunter Medical Research Institute
Georg Homuth - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Michael A. Horan - University of Manchester
Jouke-Jan Hottenga - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Philip L. De Jager
Peter K. Joshi - University of Edinburgh
Astanand Jugessur - Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Marika A. Kaakinen - Genomics England
Mika Kähönen - Tampere University
Stavroula Kanoni - Queen Mary University of London
Liisa Keltigangas-Järvinen - University of Helsinki
Lambertus A. L. M. Kiemeney
Ivana Kolcic - University of Split
Seppo Koskinen - Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Aldi T. Kraja - Washington University in St. Louis
Martin Kroh - German Institute for Economic Research
Zoltan Kutalik - University of Lausanne
Antti Latvala - University of Helsinki
Lenore J. Launer - National Institutes of Health
Maël P. Lebreton - University of Amsterdam
Douglas F. Levinson - Stanford University
Paul Lichtenstein - Karolinska Institutet
Peter Lichtner - Helmholtz Zentrum München
David C. M. Liewald - University of Edinburgh
Lifelines Cohort Study
Anu Loukola - University of Helsinki
Pamela A. Madden - Washington University in St. Louis
Reedik Mägi - University of Tartu
Tomi Mäki-Opas - Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Riccardo E. Marioni - University of Edinburgh
Pedro Marques-Vidal - University of Lausanne
Gerardus A. Meddens
George Mcmahon - University of Bristol
Christa Meisinger - Helmholtz Zentrum München
Thomas Meitinger - Helmholtz Zentrum München
Yusplitri Milaneschi - GGZ inGeest
Lili Milani - University of Tartu
Grant W. Montgomery - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Ronny Myhre - Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Christopher P. Nelson - NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit
Dale R. Nyholt - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
William E. R. Ollier - University of Manchester
Aarno Palotie - Broad Institute
Lavinia Paternoster - University of Bristol
Nancy L. Pedersen - Karolinska Institutet
Katja E. Petrovic - Medical University of Graz
David J. Porteous - University of Edinburgh
Katri Räikkönen - Folkhälsans Forskningscentrum
Susan M. Ring - University of Bristol
Antonietta Robino - IRCCS Materno Infantile Burlo Garofolo
Olga Rostapshova - Harvard University
Igor Rudan - University of Edinburgh
Aldo Rustichini - University of Minnesota
Veikko Salomaa - Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Alan R. Sanders - NorthShore University HealthSystem
Antti-Pekka Sarin
Helena Schmidt - Medical University of Graz
Rodney J. Scott - University of Newcastle Australia
Blair H. Smith - University of Dundee
Jennifer A. Smith - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Jan A. Staessen - KU Leuven
Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen - Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Konstantin Strauch - Helmholtz Zentrum München
Antonio Terracciano - Florida State University
Martin D. Tobin - University of Leicester
Sheila Ulivi - IRCCS Materno Infantile Burlo Garofolo
Simona Vaccargiu - National Research Council
Lydia Quaye - King's College London
Frank J. A. Van Rooij
Cristina Venturini - Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Anna A. E. Vinkhuyzen - University of Queensland
Uwe Völker - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Henry Völzke - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Judith M. Vonk - University of Groningen
Diego Vozzi - Community Impact
Johannes Waage - Steno Diabetes Centers
Erin B. Ware - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Gonneke Willemsen - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
John R. Attia - University of Newcastle Australia
Publication Details: Nature, Vol.533(7604), pp.539-542
Identifiers: 9935940309311
Academic Unit: Montpellier Recherche en Management - MRM
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Local Fields: hal-02017372