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.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 539-542 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 533 |
| Issue number | 7604 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 11 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
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In: Nature, Vol. 533, No. 7604, 11.05.2016, p. 539-542.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
AU - Okbay, Aysu
AU - Beauchamp, Jonathan P.
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AU - Shi, Jianxin
AU - Smith, Albert V.
AU - Poot, Raymond A.
AU - St Pourcain, Beate
AU - Teumer, Alexander
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AU - Verweij, Niek
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AU - Westra, Harm Jan
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AU - Faul, Jessica D.
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AU - Horan, Michael A.
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AU - De Jager, Philip L.
AU - Joshi, Peter K.
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AU - Keltigangas-Järvinen, Liisa
AU - Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M
AU - Kolcic, Ivana
AU - Koskinen, Seppo
AU - Kraja, Aldi T.
AU - Kroh, Martin
AU - Kutalik, Zoltan
AU - Latvala, Antti
AU - Launer, Lenore J.
AU - Lebreton, Maël P.
AU - Levinson, Douglas F.
AU - Lichtenstein, Paul
AU - Lichtner, Peter
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AU - Mäki-Opas, Tomi
AU - Marioni, Riccardo E.
AU - Marques-Vidal, Pedro
AU - Meddens, Gerardus A.
AU - Mcmahon, George
AU - Meisinger, Christa
AU - Meitinger, Thomas
AU - Milaneschi, Yusplitri
AU - Milani, Lili
AU - Montgomery, Grant W.
AU - Myhre, Ronny
AU - Nelson, Christopher P.
AU - Nyholt, Dale R.
AU - Ollier, William E R
AU - Palotie, Aarno
AU - Paternoster, Lavinia
AU - Pedersen, Nancy L.
AU - Petrovic, Katja E.
AU - Porteous, David J.
AU - Raïkkönen, Katri
AU - Ring, Susan M.
AU - Robino, Antonietta
AU - Rostapshova, Olga
AU - Rudan, Igor
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AU - Salomaa, Veikko
AU - Sanders, Alan R.
AU - Sarin, Antti Pekka
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AU - Smith, Blair H.
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AU - Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth
AU - Strauch, Konstantin
AU - Terracciano, Antonio
AU - Tobin, Martin D.
AU - Ulivi, Sheila
AU - Vaccargiu, Simona
AU - Quaye, Lydia
AU - Van Rooij, Frank J A
AU - Venturini, Cristina
AU - Vinkhuyzen, Anna A E
AU - Völker, Uwe
AU - Völzke, Henry
AU - Vonk, Judith M.
AU - Vozzi, Diego
AU - Waage, Johannes
AU - Ware, Erin B.
AU - Willemsen, Gonneke
AU - Attia, John R.
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AU - Bertram, Lars
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AU - Borecki, Ingrid B.
AU - Bültmann, Ute
AU - Chabris, Christopher F.
AU - Cucca, Francesco
AU - Cusi, Daniele
AU - Deary, Ian J.
AU - Dedoussis, George V.
AU - Van Duijn, Cornelia M.
AU - Eriksson, Johan G.
AU - Franke, Barbara
AU - Franke, Lude
AU - Gasparini, Paolo
AU - Gejman, Pablo V.
AU - Gieger, Christian
AU - Grabe, Hans Jörgen
AU - Gratten, Jacob
AU - Groenen, Patrick J F
AU - Gudnason, Vilmundur
AU - Van Der Harst, Pim
AU - Hayward, Caroline
AU - Hinds, David A.
AU - Hoffmann, Wolfgang
AU - Hyppönen, Elina
AU - Iacono, William G.
AU - Jacobsson, Bo
AU - Järvelin, Marjo Riitta
AU - Jöckel, Karl Heinz
AU - Kaprio, Jaakko
AU - Kardia, Sharon L R
AU - Lehtimäki, Terho
AU - Lehrer, Steven F.
AU - Magnusson, Patrik K E
AU - Martin, Nicholas G.
AU - Mcgue, Matt
AU - Metspalu, Andres
AU - Pendleton, Neil
AU - Penninx, Brenda W J H
AU - Perola, Markus
AU - Pirastu, Nicola
AU - Pirastu, Mario
AU - Polasek, Ozren
AU - Posthuma, Danielle
AU - Power, Christine
AU - Province, Michael A.
AU - Samani, Nilesh J.
AU - Schlessinger, David
AU - Schmidt, Reinhold
AU - Sørensen, Thorkild I A
AU - Spector, Tim D.
AU - Stefansson, Kari
AU - Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur
AU - Thurik, A. Roy
AU - Timpson, Nicholas J.
AU - Tiemeier, Henning
AU - Tung, Joyce Y.
AU - Uitterlinden, André G.
AU - Vitart, Veronique
AU - Vollenweider, Peter
AU - Weir, David R.
AU - Wilson, James F.
AU - Wright, Alan F.
AU - Conley, Dalton C.
AU - Krueger, Robert F.
AU - Davey Smith, George
AU - Hofman, Albert
AU - Laibson, David I.
AU - Medland, Sarah E.
AU - Meyer, Michelle N.
AU - Yang, Jian
AU - Johannesson, Magnus
AU - Visscher, Peter M.
AU - Esko, Toñu
AU - Koellinger, Philipp D.
AU - Cesarini, David
AU - Benjamin, Daniel J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
PY - 2016/5/11
Y1 - 2016/5/11
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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84969760786&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84969760786&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nature17671
DO - 10.1038/nature17671
M3 - Article
C2 - 27225129
AN - SCOPUS:84969760786
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 533
SP - 539
EP - 542
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7604
ER -