TY - JOUR T1 - Population genetic differentiation of height and body mass index across Europe. JF - Nat Genet Y1 - 2015 A1 - Robinson, Matthew R A1 - Hemani, Gibran A1 - Medina-Gomez, Carolina A1 - Mezzavilla, Massimo A1 - Esko, Tõnu A1 - Shakhbazov, Konstantin A1 - Powell, Joseph E A1 - Vinkhuyzen, Anna A1 - Berndt, Sonja I A1 - Gustafsson, Stefan A1 - Justice, Anne E A1 - Kahali, Bratati A1 - Locke, Adam E A1 - Pers, Tune H A1 - Vedantam, Sailaja A1 - Wood, Andrew R A1 - van Rheenen, Wouter A1 - Andreassen, Ole A A1 - Gasparini, Paolo A1 - Metspalu, Andres A1 - Berg, Leonard H van den A1 - Veldink, Jan H A1 - Rivadeneira, Fernando A1 - Werge, Thomas M A1 - Abecasis, Goncalo R A1 - Boomsma, Dorret I A1 - Chasman, Daniel I A1 - de Geus, Eco J C A1 - Frayling, Timothy M A1 - Hirschhorn, Joel N A1 - Hottenga, Jouke Jan A1 - Ingelsson, Erik A1 - Loos, Ruth J F A1 - Magnusson, Patrik K E A1 - Martin, Nicholas G A1 - Montgomery, Grant W A1 - North, Kari E A1 - Pedersen, Nancy L A1 - Spector, Timothy D A1 - Speliotes, Elizabeth K A1 - Goddard, Michael E A1 - Yang, Jian A1 - Visscher, Peter M AB -

Across-nation differences in the mean values for complex traits are common, but the reasons for these differences are unknown. Here we find that many independent loci contribute to population genetic differences in height and body mass index (BMI) in 9,416 individuals across 14 European countries. Using discovery data on over 250,000 individuals and unbiased effect size estimates from 17,500 sibling pairs, we estimate that 24% (95% credible interval (CI) = 9%, 41%) and 8% (95% CI = 4%, 16%) of the captured additive genetic variance for height and BMI, respectively, reflect population genetic differences. Population genetic divergence differed significantly from that in a null model (height, P < 3.94 × 10(-8); BMI, P < 5.95 × 10(-4)), and we find an among-population genetic correlation for tall and slender individuals (r = -0.80, 95% CI = -0.95, -0.60), consistent with correlated selection for both phenotypes. Observed differences in height among populations reflected the predicted genetic means (r = 0.51; P < 0.001), but environmental differences across Europe masked genetic differentiation for BMI (P < 0.58).

VL - 47 IS - 11 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26366552?dopt=Abstract ER -