@article {3639,
	title = {Genome-wide association study of sexual maturation in males and females highlights a role for body mass and menarche loci in male puberty.},
	journal = {Hum Mol Genet},
	volume = {23},
	year = {2014},
	month = {2014 Aug 15},
	pages = {4452-64},
	abstract = {<p>Little is known about genes regulating male puberty. Further, while many identified pubertal timing variants associate with age at menarche, a late manifestation of puberty, and body mass, little is known about these variants{\textquoteright} relationship to pubertal initiation or tempo. To address these questions, we performed genome-wide association meta-analysis in over 11 000 European samples with data on early pubertal traits, male genital and female breast development, measured by the Tanner scale. We report the first genome-wide significant locus for male sexual development upstream of myocardin-like 2 (MKL2) (P = 8.9 {\texttimes} 10(-9)), a menarche locus tagging a developmental pathway linking earlier puberty with reduced pubertal growth (P = 4.6 {\texttimes} 10(-5)) and short adult stature (p = 7.5 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) in both males and females. Furthermore, our results indicate that a proportion of menarche loci are important for pubertal initiation in both sexes. Consistent with epidemiological correlations between increased prepubertal body mass and earlier pubertal timing in girls, body mass index (BMI)-increasing alleles correlated with earlier breast development. In boys, some BMI-increasing alleles associated with earlier, and others with delayed, sexual development; these genetic results mimic the controversy in epidemiological studies, some of which show opposing correlations between prepubertal BMI and male puberty. Our results contribute to our understanding of the pubertal initiation program in both sexes and indicate that although mechanisms regulating pubertal onset in males and females may largely be shared, the relationship between body mass and pubertal timing in boys may be complex and requires further genetic studies.</p>},
	issn = {1460-2083},
	doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddu150},
	author = {Cousminer, Diana L and Stergiakouli, Evangelia and Berry, Diane J and Ang, Wei and Groen-Blokhuis, Maria M and K{\"o}rner, Antje and Siitonen, Niina and Ntalla, Ioanna and Marinelli, Marcella and Perry, John R B and Kettunen, Johannes and Jansen, Rick and Surakka, Ida and Timpson, Nicholas J and Ring, Susan and McMahon, George and Power, Chris and Wang, Carol and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Viikari, Jorma and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Middeldorp, Christel M and Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E and Neef, Madlen and Weise, Sebastian and Pahkala, Katja and Niinikoski, Harri and Zeggini, Eleftheria and Panoutsopoulou, Kalliope and Bustamante, Mariona and Penninx, Brenda W J H and Murabito, Joanne and Torrent, Maties and Dedoussis, George V and Kiess, Wieland and Boomsma, Dorret I and Pennell, Craig E and Raitakari, Olli T and Hypp{\"o}nen, Elina and Davey Smith, George and Ripatti, Samuli and McCarthy, Mark I and Widen, Elisabeth}
}
