%0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2017 %T Enrichment of low-frequency functional variants revealed by whole-genome sequencing of multiple isolated European populations. %A Xue, Yali %A Mezzavilla, Massimo %A Haber, Marc %A McCarthy, Shane %A Chen, Yuan %A Narasimhan, Vagheesh %A Gilly, Arthur %A Ayub, Qasim %A Colonna, Vincenza %A Southam, Lorraine %A Finan, Christopher %A Massaia, Andrea %A Chheda, Himanshu %A Palta, Priit %A Ritchie, Graham %A Asimit, Jennifer %A Dedoussis, George %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Palotie, Aarno %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Wilson, James F %A Durbin, Richard %A Tyler-Smith, Chris %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Variation %K Genetics, Population %K Genome, Human %K Humans %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Whole Genome Sequencing %X

The genetic features of isolated populations can boost power in complex-trait association studies, and an in-depth understanding of how their genetic variation has been shaped by their demographic history can help leverage these advantageous characteristics. Here, we perform a comprehensive investigation using 3,059 newly generated low-depth whole-genome sequences from eight European isolates and two matched general populations, together with published data from the 1000 Genomes Project and UK10K. Sequencing data give deeper and richer insights into population demography and genetic characteristics than genotype-chip data, distinguishing related populations more effectively and allowing their functional variants to be studied more fully. We demonstrate relaxation of purifying selection in the isolates, leading to enrichment of rare and low-frequency functional variants, using novel statistics, DVxy and SVxy. We also develop an isolation-index (Isx) that predicts the overall level of such key genetic characteristics and can thus help guide population choice in future complex-trait association studies.

%B Nat Commun %V 8 %P 15927 %8 2017 06 23 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28643794?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ncomms15927 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2017 %T Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height. %A Marouli, Eirini %A Graff, Mariaelisa %A Medina-Gomez, Carolina %A Lo, Ken Sin %A Wood, Andrew R %A Kjaer, Troels R %A Fine, Rebecca S %A Lu, Yingchang %A Schurmann, Claudia %A Highland, Heather M %A Rüeger, Sina %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Justice, Anne E %A Lamparter, David %A Stirrups, Kathleen E %A Turcot, Valérie %A Young, Kristin L %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Esko, Tõnu %A Karaderi, Tugce %A Locke, Adam E %A Masca, Nicholas G D %A Ng, Maggie C Y %A Mudgal, Poorva %A Rivas, Manuel A %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Aben, Katja K %A Adair, Linda S %A Alam, Dewan S %A Albrecht, Eva %A Allin, Kristine H %A Allison, Matthew %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Appel, Emil V %A Arveiler, Dominique %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Auer, Paul L %A Balkau, Beverley %A Banas, Bernhard %A Bang, Lia E %A Benn, Marianne %A Bergmann, Sven %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Blüher, Matthias %A Boeing, Heiner %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Böger, Carsten A %A Bonnycastle, Lori L %A Bork-Jensen, Jette %A Bots, Michiel L %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Bowden, Donald W %A Brandslund, Ivan %A Breen, Gerome %A Brilliant, Murray H %A Broer, Linda %A Burt, Amber A %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Carey, David J %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Chambers, John C %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Chowdhury, Rajiv %A Christensen, Cramer %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis S %A Cook, James P %A Corley, Janie %A Galbany, Jordi Corominas %A Cox, Amanda J %A Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel %A Danesh, John %A Davies, Gail %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A de Borst, Gert J %A de Denus, Simon %A de Groot, Mark C H %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Deary, Ian J %A Dedoussis, George %A Demerath, Ellen W %A den Hollander, Anneke I %A Dennis, Joe G %A Di Angelantonio, Emanuele %A Drenos, Fotios %A Du, Mengmeng %A Dunning, Alison M %A Easton, Douglas F %A Ebeling, Tapani %A Edwards, Todd L %A Ellinor, Patrick T %A Elliott, Paul %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Faul, Jessica D %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Feng, Shuang %A Ferrannini, Ele %A Ferrario, Marco M %A Ferrières, Jean %A Florez, Jose C %A Ford, Ian %A Fornage, Myriam %A Franks, Paul W %A Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Gan, Wei %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Giri, Ayush %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gordon, Scott D %A Gordon-Larsen, Penny %A Gorski, Mathias %A Grarup, Niels %A Grove, Megan L %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Gustafsson, Stefan %A Hansen, Torben %A Harris, Kathleen Mullan %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hattersley, Andrew T %A Hayward, Caroline %A He, Liang %A Heid, Iris M %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Helgeland, Øyvind %A Hernesniemi, Jussi %A Hewitt, Alex W %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Hollensted, Mette %A Holmen, Oddgeir L %A Hovingh, G Kees %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Hoyng, Carel B %A Huang, Paul L %A Hveem, Kristian %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Jackson, Anne U %A Jansson, Jan-Håkan %A Jarvik, Gail P %A Jensen, Gorm B %A Jhun, Min A %A Jia, Yucheng %A Jiang, Xuejuan %A Johansson, Stefan %A Jørgensen, Marit E %A Jørgensen, Torben %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kahali, Bratati %A Kahn, René S %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamstrup, Pia R %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Karaleftheri, Maria %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Karpe, Fredrik %A Kee, Frank %A Keeman, Renske %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A %A Kitajima, Hidetoshi %A Kluivers, Kirsten B %A Kocher, Thomas %A Komulainen, Pirjo %A Kontto, Jukka %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kovacs, Peter %A Kriebel, Jennifer %A Kuivaniemi, Helena %A Küry, Sébastien %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A La Bianca, Martina %A Laakso, Markku %A Lakka, Timo A %A Lange, Ethan M %A Lange, Leslie A %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Larson, Eric B %A Lee, I-Te %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lewis, Cora E %A Li, Huaixing %A Li, Jin %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lin, Honghuang %A Lin, Li-An %A Lin, Xu %A Lind, Lars %A Lindström, Jaana %A Linneberg, Allan %A Liu, Yeheng %A Liu, Yongmei %A Lophatananon, Artitaya %A Luan, Jian'an %A Lubitz, Steven A %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mackey, David A %A Madden, Pamela A F %A Manning, Alisa K %A Männistö, Satu %A Marenne, Gaëlle %A Marten, Jonathan %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Mazul, Angela L %A Meidtner, Karina %A Metspalu, Andres %A Mitchell, Paul %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew D %A Morris, Andrew P %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Neville, Matt %A Nielsen, Sune F %A Nikus, Kjell %A Njølstad, Pål R %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Ntalla, Ioanna %A O'Connel, Jeffrey R %A Oksa, Heikki %A Loohuis, Loes M Olde %A Ophoff, Roel A %A Owen, Katharine R %A Packard, Chris J %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Patel, Aniruddh P %A Pattie, Alison %A Pedersen, Oluf %A Peissig, Peggy L %A Peloso, Gina M %A Pennell, Craig E %A Perola, Markus %A Perry, James A %A Perry, John R B %A Person, Thomas N %A Pirie, Ailith %A Polasek, Ozren %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rasheed, Asif %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Reilly, Dermot F %A Reiner, Alex P %A Renstrom, Frida %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rioux, John D %A Robertson, Neil %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rolandsson, Olov %A Rudan, Igor %A Ruth, Katherine S %A Saleheen, Danish %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sandow, Kevin %A Sapkota, Yadav %A Sattar, Naveed %A Schmidt, Marjanka K %A Schreiner, Pamela J %A Schulze, Matthias B %A Scott, Robert A %A Segura-Lepe, Marcelo P %A Shah, Svati %A Sim, Xueling %A Sivapalaratnam, Suthesh %A Small, Kerrin S %A Smith, Albert Vernon %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Southam, Lorraine %A Spector, Timothy D %A Speliotes, Elizabeth K %A Starr, John M %A Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur %A Stringham, Heather M %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Surendran, Praveen %A 't Hart, Leen M %A Tansey, Katherine E %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thompson, Deborah J %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Thuesen, Betina H %A Tönjes, Anke %A Tromp, Gerard %A Trompet, Stella %A Tsafantakis, Emmanouil %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne %A Tyrer, Jonathan P %A Uher, Rudolf %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Van Der Leij, Andries R %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A van Schoor, Natasja M %A van Setten, Jessica %A Varbo, Anette %A Varga, Tibor V %A Varma, Rohit %A Edwards, Digna R Velez %A Vermeulen, Sita H %A Vestergaard, Henrik %A Vitart, Veronique %A Vogt, Thomas F %A Vozzi, Diego %A Walker, Mark %A Wang, Feijie %A Wang, Carol A %A Wang, Shuai %A Wang, Yiqin %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Warren, Helen R %A Wessel, Jennifer %A Willems, Sara M %A Wilson, James G %A Witte, Daniel R %A Woods, Michael O %A Wu, Ying %A Yaghootkar, Hanieh %A Yao, Jie %A Yao, Pang %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Young, Robin %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Zhan, Xiaowei %A Zhang, Weihua %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Zhao, Wei %A Zhao, Wei %A Zheng, He %A Zhou, Wei %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Boehnke, Michael %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Willer, Cristen J %A Stefansson, Kari %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Liu, Dajiang J %A North, Kari E %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Pers, Tune H %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Oxvig, Claus %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Deloukas, Panos %A Lettre, Guillaume %K ADAMTS Proteins %K Adult %K Alleles %K Body Height %K Cell Adhesion Molecules %K Female %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Variation %K Genome, Human %K Glycoproteins %K Glycosaminoglycans %K Hedgehog Proteins %K Humans %K Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins %K Interferon Regulatory Factors %K Interleukin-11 Receptor alpha Subunit %K Male %K Multifactorial Inheritance %K NADPH Oxidase 4 %K NADPH Oxidases %K Phenotype %K Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A %K Procollagen N-Endopeptidase %K Proteoglycans %K Proteolysis %K Receptors, Androgen %K Somatomedins %X

Height is a highly heritable, classic polygenic trait with approximately 700 common associated variants identified through genome-wide association studies so far. Here, we report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies (in the range of 0.1-4.8%) and effects of up to 2 centimetres per allele (such as those in IHH, STC2, AR and CRISPLD2), greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. In functional follow-up studies, rare height-increasing alleles of STC2 (giving an increase of 1-2 centimetres per allele) compromised proteolytic inhibition of PAPP-A and increased cleavage of IGFBP-4 in vitro, resulting in higher bioavailability of insulin-like growth factors. These 83 height-associated variants overlap genes that are mutated in monogenic growth disorders and highlight new biological candidates (such as ADAMTS3, IL11RA and NOX4) and pathways (such as proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan synthesis) involved in growth. Our results demonstrate that sufficiently large sample sizes can uncover rare and low-frequency variants of moderate-to-large effect associated with polygenic human phenotypes, and that these variants implicate relevant genes and pathways.

%B Nature %V 542 %P 186-190 %8 2017 02 09 %G eng %N 7640 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28146470?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature21039 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2017 %T Whole-Genome Sequencing Coupled to Imputation Discovers Genetic Signals for Anthropometric Traits. %A Tachmazidou, Ioanna %A Süveges, Dániel %A Min, Josine L %A Ritchie, Graham R S %A Steinberg, Julia %A Walter, Klaudia %A Iotchkova, Valentina %A Schwartzentruber, Jeremy %A Huang, Jie %A Memari, Yasin %A McCarthy, Shane %A Crawford, Andrew A %A Bombieri, Cristina %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Gaunt, Tom R %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Kooijman, Marjolein N %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Männistö, Satu %A Matchan, Angela %A Medina-Gomez, Carolina %A Metrustry, Sarah J %A Nag, Abhishek %A Ntalla, Ioanna %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Rayner, Nigel W %A Sala, Cinzia %A Scott, William R %A Shihab, Hashem A %A Southam, Lorraine %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Traglia, Michela %A Trajanoska, Katerina %A Zaza, Gialuigi %A Zhang, Weihua %A Artigas, María S %A Bansal, Narinder %A Benn, Marianne %A Chen, Zhongsheng %A Danecek, Petr %A Lin, Wei-Yu %A Locke, Adam %A Luan, Jian'an %A Manning, Alisa K %A Mulas, Antonella %A Sidore, Carlo %A Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne %A Varbo, Anette %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Finan, Chris %A Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos %A Hendricks, Audrey E %A Kemp, John P %A Moayyeri, Alireza %A Panoutsopoulou, Kalliope %A Szpak, Michal %A Wilson, Scott G %A Boehnke, Michael %A Cucca, Francesco %A Di Angelantonio, Emanuele %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Lindgren, Cecilia %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Morris, Andrew P %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Scott, Robert A %A Tobin, Martin D %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Burton, Paul %A Chambers, John C %A Smith, George Davey %A Dedoussis, George %A Felix, Janine F %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Hammond, Christopher J %A Hofman, Albert %A Jaddoe, Vincent W V %A Kleber, Marcus %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Perola, Markus %A Relton, Caroline %A Ring, Susan M %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Spector, Timothy D %A Stegle, Oliver %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Barroso, Inês %A Greenwood, Celia M T %A Perry, John R B %A Walker, Brian R %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Xue, Yali %A Durbin, Richard %A Small, Kerrin S %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %K Anthropometry %K Body Height %K Cohort Studies %K Databases, Genetic %K DNA Methylation %K Female %K Genetic Variation %K Genome, Human %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Lipodystrophy %K Male %K Meta-Analysis as Topic %K Obesity %K Physical Chromosome Mapping %K Quantitative Trait Loci %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %K Sex Characteristics %K Syndrome %K United Kingdom %X

Deep sequence-based imputation can enhance the discovery power of genome-wide association studies by assessing previously unexplored variation across the common- and low-frequency spectra. We applied a hybrid whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and deep imputation approach to examine the broader allelic architecture of 12 anthropometric traits associated with height, body mass, and fat distribution in up to 267,616 individuals. We report 106 genome-wide significant signals that have not been previously identified, including 9 low-frequency variants pointing to functional candidates. Of the 106 signals, 6 are in genomic regions that have not been implicated with related traits before, 28 are independent signals at previously reported regions, and 72 represent previously reported signals for a different anthropometric trait. 71% of signals reside within genes and fine mapping resolves 23 signals to one or two likely causal variants. We confirm genetic overlap between human monogenic and polygenic anthropometric traits and find signal enrichment in cis expression QTLs in relevant tissues. Our results highlight the potential of WGS strategies to enhance biologically relevant discoveries across the frequency spectrum.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 100 %P 865-884 %8 2017 Jun 01 %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28552196?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.04.014 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2016 %T A reference panel of 64,976 haplotypes for genotype imputation. %A McCarthy, Shane %A Das, Sayantan %A Kretzschmar, Warren %A Delaneau, Olivier %A Wood, Andrew R %A Teumer, Alexander %A Kang, Hyun Min %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Danecek, Petr %A Sharp, Kevin %A Luo, Yang %A Sidore, Carlo %A Kwong, Alan %A Timpson, Nicholas %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Vrieze, Scott %A Scott, Laura J %A Zhang, He %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Veldink, Jan %A Peters, Ulrike %A Pato, Carlos %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Gillies, Christopher E %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Mezzavilla, Massimo %A Gilly, Arthur %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Traglia, Michela %A Angius, Andrea %A Barrett, Jeffrey C %A Boomsma, Dorrett %A Branham, Kari %A Breen, Gerome %A Brummett, Chad M %A Busonero, Fabio %A Campbell, Harry %A Chan, Andrew %A Chen, Sai %A Chew, Emily %A Collins, Francis S %A Corbin, Laura J %A Smith, George Davey %A Dedoussis, George %A Dörr, Marcus %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Forer, Lukas %A Fraser, Ross M %A Gabriel, Stacey %A Levy, Shawn %A Groop, Leif %A Harrison, Tabitha %A Hattersley, Andrew %A Holmen, Oddgeir L %A Hveem, Kristian %A Kretzler, Matthias %A Lee, James C %A McGue, Matt %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Melzer, David %A Min, Josine L %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Vincent, John B %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nickerson, Deborah %A Palotie, Aarno %A Pato, Michele %A Pirastu, Nicola %A McInnis, Melvin %A Richards, J Brent %A Sala, Cinzia %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Schlessinger, David %A Schoenherr, Sebastian %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Small, Kerrin %A Spector, Timothy %A Stambolian, Dwight %A Tuke, Marcus %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Van den Berg, Leonard H %A van Rheenen, Wouter %A Völker, Uwe %A Wijmenga, Cisca %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Sampson, Matthew G %A Wilson, James F %A Frayling, Timothy %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A Swertz, Morris A %A McCarroll, Steven %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Dekker, Annelot %A Altshuler, David %A Willer, Cristen %A Iacono, William %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Walter, Klaudia %A Swaroop, Anand %A Cucca, Francesco %A Anderson, Carl A %A Myers, Richard M %A Boehnke, Michael %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Durbin, Richard %X

We describe a reference panel of 64,976 human haplotypes at 39,235,157 SNPs constructed using whole-genome sequence data from 20 studies of predominantly European ancestry. Using this resource leads to accurate genotype imputation at minor allele frequencies as low as 0.1% and a large increase in the number of SNPs tested in association studies, and it can help to discover and refine causal loci. We describe remote server resources that allow researchers to carry out imputation and phasing consistently and efficiently.

%B Nat Genet %8 2016 Aug 22 %G ENG %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27548312?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.3643 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2015 %T Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations. %A Joshi, Peter K %A Esko, Tõnu %A Mattsson, Hannele %A Eklund, Niina %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Nutile, Teresa %A Jackson, Anne U %A Schurmann, Claudia %A Smith, Albert V %A Zhang, Weihua %A Okada, Yukinori %A Stančáková, Alena %A Faul, Jessica D %A Zhao, Wei %A Bartz, Traci M %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Franceschini, Nora %A Enroth, Stefan %A Vitart, Veronique %A Trompet, Stella %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Chasman, Daniel I %A O'Connel, Jeffrey R %A Corre, Tanguy %A Nongmaithem, Suraj S %A Chen, Yuning %A Mangino, Massimo %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Kacprowski, Tim %A Bjonnes, Andrew %A van der Spek, Ashley %A Wu, Ying %A Giri, Anil K %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Wang, Lihua %A Hofer, Edith %A Rietveld, Cornelius A %A McLeod, Olga %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Verweij, Niek %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Warren, Helen R %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Mei, Hao %A Bouchard, Claude %A Perry, John R B %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Mirza, Saira S %A Benton, Miles C %A Broeckel, Ulrich %A Medland, Sarah E %A Lind, Penelope A %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Drong, Alexander %A Yengo, Loic %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Zhi, Degui %A van der Most, Peter J %A Shriner, Daniel %A Mägi, Reedik %A Hemani, Gibran %A Karaderi, Tugce %A Wang, Zhaoming %A Liu, Tian %A Demuth, Ilja %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Meng, Weihua %A Lataniotis, Lazaros %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Bradfield, Jonathan P %A Wood, Andrew R %A Bonnefond, Amelie %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Hall, Leanne M %A Salvi, Erika %A Yazar, Seyhan %A Carstensen, Lisbeth %A de Haan, Hugoline G %A Abney, Mark %A Afzal, Uzma %A Allison, Matthew A %A Amin, Najaf %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Barr, R Graham %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Benjamin, Daniel J %A Bergmann, Sven %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Campbell, Archie %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chan, Yingleong %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chen, Constance %A Chen, Y-D Ida %A Collins, Francis S %A Connell, John %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Smith, George Davey %A Davies, Gail %A Dörr, Marcus %A Ehret, Georg %A Ellis, Stephen B %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Ford, Ian %A Fox, Caroline S %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Friedrich, Nele %A Geller, Frank %A Scotland, Generation %A Gillham-Nasenya, Irina %A Gottesman, Omri %A Graff, Misa %A Grodstein, Francine %A Gu, Charles %A Haley, Chris %A Hammond, Christopher J %A Harris, Sarah E %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hastie, Nicholas D %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Homuth, Georg %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huang, Jinyan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Joensuu, Anni %A Johansson, Åsa %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kerr, Shona M %A Khan, Nazir M %A Koellinger, Philipp %A Koistinen, Heikki A %A Kooner, Manraj K %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Lahti, Jari %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lea, Rodney A %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liewald, David C M %A Lind, Lars %A Loh, Marie %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa %A London, Stephanie J %A Loomis, Stephanie J %A Loukola, Anu %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lumley, Thomas %A Lundqvist, Annamari %A Männistö, Satu %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Matchan, Angela %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Meigs, James B %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Menni, Cristina %A Mentch, Frank D %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Montasser, May E %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Morrison, Alanna %A Myers, Richard H %A Nadukuru, Rajiv %A Navarro, Pau %A Nelis, Mari %A Nieminen, Markku S %A Nolte, Ilja M %A O'Connor, George T %A Ogunniyi, Adesola %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter R %A Pankow, James S %A Patarcic, Inga %A Pavani, Francesca %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Pietilainen, Kirsi %A Poulter, Neil %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Ralhan, Sarju %A Redmond, Paul %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rissanen, Harri %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rose, Richard %A Sala, Cinzia %A Salako, Babatunde %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Saxena, Richa %A Schmidt, Helena %A Scott, Laura J %A Scott, William R %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Sever, Peter %A Shrestha, Smeeta %A Smith, Blair H %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Southam, Lorraine %A Stanton, Alice V %A Stathopoulou, Maria G %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Suderman, Matthew J %A Tandon, Nikhil %A Tang, Sian-Tsun %A Taylor, Kent D %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Töglhofer, Anna Maria %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Tšernikova, Natalia %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid %A van Setten, Jessica %A Vasankari, Tuula %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Vlachopoulou, Efthymia %A Vozzi, Diego %A Vuoksimaa, Eero %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Ware, Erin B %A Wentworth-Shields, William %A Whitfield, John B %A Wild, Sarah %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Yajnik, Chittaranjan S %A Yao, Jie %A Zaza, Gianluigi %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Salem, Rany M %A Melbye, Mads %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Cusi, Daniele %A Mackey, David A %A Cooper, Richard S %A Froguel, Philippe %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Grant, Struan F A %A Hakonarson, Hakon %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Scott, Robert A %A Morris, Andrew D %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Dedoussis, George %A Deloukas, Panos %A Bertram, Lars %A Lindenberger, Ulman %A Berndt, Sonja I %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Tönjes, Anke %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Sørensen, Thorkild I A %A Rotimi, Charles N %A Arnett, Donna K %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Balkau, Beverley %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Morris, Andrew P %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Wright, Margie J %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Hunt, Steven C %A Starr, John M %A Deary, Ian J %A Griffiths, Lyn R %A Tiemeier, Henning %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Pérusse, Louis %A Wilson, James G %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Raitakari, Olli %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Gieger, Christian %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Kraft, Peter %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Knekt, Paul %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Hamsten, Anders %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Vartiainen, Erkki %A Becker, Diane M %A Bharadwaj, Dwaipayan %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Boehnke, Michael %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Sanghera, Dharambir K %A Teumer, Alexander %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Metspalu, Andres %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Ober, Carole %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Rudan, Igor %A Porteous, David J %A Ciullo, Marina %A Spector, Tim D %A Hayward, Caroline %A Dupuis, Josée %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Wright, Alan F %A Chandak, Giriraj R %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sattar, Naveed %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A North, Kari E %A Pirastu, Mario %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Weir, David R %A Laakso, Markku %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Takahashi, Atsushi %A Chambers, John C %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Strachan, David P %A Campbell, Harry %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Perola, Markus %A Polasek, Ozren %A Wilson, James F %K Biological Evolution %K Blood Pressure %K Body Height %K Cholesterol, LDL %K Cognition %K Cohort Studies %K Educational Status %K Female %K Forced Expiratory Volume %K Genome, Human %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Lung Volume Measurements %K Male %K Phenotype %X

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10(-300), 2.1 × 10(-6), 2.5 × 10(-10) and 1.8 × 10(-10), respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.

%B Nature %V 523 %P 459-62 %8 2015 Jul 23 %G eng %N 7561 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26131930?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature14618 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2015 %T Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology. %A Locke, Adam E %A Kahali, Bratati %A Berndt, Sonja I %A Justice, Anne E %A Pers, Tune H %A Day, Felix R %A Powell, Corey %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Buchkovich, Martin L %A Yang, Jian %A Croteau-Chonka, Damien C %A Esko, Tõnu %A Fall, Tove %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Gustafsson, Stefan %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Luan, Jian'an %A Mägi, Reedik %A Randall, Joshua C %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Wood, Andrew R %A Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie %A Faul, Jessica D %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Hua Zhao, Jing %A Zhao, Wei %A Chen, Jin %A Fehrmann, Rudolf %A Hedman, Åsa K %A Karjalainen, Juha %A Schmidt, Ellen M %A Absher, Devin %A Amin, Najaf %A Anderson, Denise %A Beekman, Marian %A Bolton, Jennifer L %A Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L %A Buyske, Steven %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Deng, Guohong %A Ehret, Georg B %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Fischer, Krista %A Goel, Anuj %A Gong, Jian %A Jackson, Anne U %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Lim, Unhee %A Lotay, Vaneet %A Mangino, Massimo %A Mateo Leach, Irene %A Medina-Gomez, Carolina %A Medland, Sarah E %A Nalls, Michael A %A Palmer, Cameron D %A Pasko, Dorota %A Pechlivanis, Sonali %A Peters, Marjolein J %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Shungin, Dmitry %A Stančáková, Alena %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Ju Sung, Yun %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Teumer, Alexander %A Trompet, Stella %A van der Laan, Sander W %A van Setten, Jessica %A Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V %A Wang, Zhaoming %A Yengo, Loic %A Zhang, Weihua %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Albrecht, Eva %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Arscott, Gillian M %A Attwood, Antony P %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Barrett, Amy %A Bas, Isabelita N %A Bellis, Claire %A Bennett, Amanda J %A Berne, Christian %A Blagieva, Roza %A Blüher, Matthias %A Böhringer, Stefan %A Bonnycastle, Lori L %A Böttcher, Yvonne %A Boyd, Heather A %A Bruinenberg, Marcel %A Caspersen, Ida H %A Ida Chen, Yii-Der %A Clarke, Robert %A Daw, E Warwick %A de Craen, Anton J M %A Delgado, Graciela %A Dimitriou, Maria %A Doney, Alex S F %A Eklund, Niina %A Estrada, Karol %A Eury, Elodie %A Folkersen, Lasse %A Fraser, Ross M %A Garcia, Melissa E %A Geller, Frank %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gigante, Bruna %A Go, Alan S %A Golay, Alain %A Goodall, Alison H %A Gordon, Scott D %A Gorski, Mathias %A Grabe, Hans-Jörgen %A Grallert, Harald %A Grammer, Tanja B %A Gräßler, Jürgen %A Grönberg, Henrik %A Groves, Christopher J %A Gusto, Gaëlle %A Haessler, Jeffrey %A Hall, Per %A Haller, Toomas %A Hallmans, Goran %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Hassinen, Maija %A Hayward, Caroline %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Helmer, Quinta %A Hengstenberg, Christian %A Holmen, Oddgeir %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A James, Alan L %A Jeff, Janina M %A Johansson, Åsa %A Jolley, Jennifer %A Juliusdottir, Thorhildur %A Kinnunen, Leena %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Koskenvuo, Markku %A Kratzer, Wolfgang %A Laitinen, Jaana %A Lamina, Claudia %A Leander, Karin %A Lee, Nanette R %A Lichtner, Peter %A Lind, Lars %A Lindström, Jaana %A Sin Lo, Ken %A Lobbens, Stéphane %A Lorbeer, Roberto %A Lu, Yingchang %A Mach, François %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Mahajan, Anubha %A McArdle, Wendy L %A McLachlan, Stela %A Menni, Cristina %A Merger, Sigrun %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Moayyeri, Alireza %A Monda, Keri L %A Morken, Mario A %A Mulas, Antonella %A Müller, Gabriele %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Musk, Arthur W %A Nagaraja, Ramaiah %A Nöthen, Markus M %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Pilz, Stefan %A Rayner, Nigel W %A Renstrom, Frida %A Rettig, Rainer %A Ried, Janina S %A Ripke, Stephan %A Robertson, Neil R %A Rose, Lynda M %A Sanna, Serena %A Scharnagl, Hubert %A Scholtens, Salome %A Schumacher, Fredrick R %A Scott, William R %A Seufferlein, Thomas %A Shi, Jianxin %A Vernon Smith, Albert %A Smolonska, Joanna %A Stanton, Alice V %A Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur %A Stirrups, Kathleen %A Stringham, Heather M %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris A %A Swift, Amy J %A Syvänen, Ann-Christine %A Tan, Sian-Tsung %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Thorand, Barbara %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Tyrer, Jonathan P %A Uh, Hae-Won %A Vandenput, Liesbeth %A Verhulst, Frank C %A Vermeulen, Sita H %A Verweij, Niek %A Vonk, Judith M %A Waite, Lindsay L %A Warren, Helen R %A Waterworth, Dawn %A Weedon, Michael N %A Wilkens, Lynne R %A Willenborg, Christina %A Wilsgaard, Tom %A Wojczynski, Mary K %A Wong, Andrew %A Wright, Alan F %A Zhang, Qunyuan %A Brennan, Eoin P %A Choi, Murim %A Dastani, Zari %A Drong, Alexander W %A Eriksson, Per %A Franco-Cereceda, Anders %A Gådin, Jesper R %A Gharavi, Ali G %A Goddard, Michael E %A Handsaker, Robert E %A Huang, Jinyan %A Karpe, Fredrik %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Keildson, Sarah %A Kiryluk, Krzysztof %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Lee, Jong-Young %A Liang, Liming %A Lifton, Richard P %A Ma, Baoshan %A McCarroll, Steven A %A McKnight, Amy J %A Min, Josine L %A Moffatt, Miriam F %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Nicholson, George %A Nyholt, Dale R %A Okada, Yukinori %A Perry, John R B %A Dorajoo, Rajkumar %A Reinmaa, Eva %A Salem, Rany M %A Sandholm, Niina %A Scott, Robert A %A Stolk, Lisette %A Takahashi, Atsushi %A Tanaka, Toshihiro %A Van't Hooft, Ferdinand M %A Vinkhuyzen, Anna A E %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Zheng, Wei %A Zondervan, Krina T %A Heath, Andrew C %A Arveiler, Dominique %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Beilby, John %A Bergman, Richard N %A Blangero, John %A Bovet, Pascal %A Campbell, Harry %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Cesana, Giancarlo %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chines, Peter S %A Collins, Francis S %A Crawford, Dana C %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Cusi, Daniele %A Danesh, John %A de Faire, Ulf %A den Ruijter, Hester M %A Dominiczak, Anna F %A Erbel, Raimund %A Erdmann, Jeanette %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Farrall, Martin %A Felix, Stephan B %A Ferrannini, Ele %A Ferrières, Jean %A Ford, Ian %A Forouhi, Nita G %A Forrester, Terrence %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Gejman, Pablo V %A Gieger, Christian %A Gottesman, Omri %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Hall, Alistair S %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hattersley, Andrew T %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hindorff, Lucia A %A Hingorani, Aroon D %A Hofman, Albert %A Homuth, Georg %A Hovingh, G Kees %A Humphries, Steve E %A Hunt, Steven C %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Illig, Thomas %A Jacobs, Kevin B %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jöckel, Karl-Heinz %A Johansen, Berit %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Jula, Antti M %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Kastelein, John J P %A Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A %A Knekt, Paul %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kovacs, Peter %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Kumari, Meena %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Lakka, Timo A %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Le Marchand, Loic %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lyssenko, Valeriya %A Männistö, Satu %A Marette, André %A Matise, Tara C %A McKenzie, Colin A %A McKnight, Barbara %A Moll, Frans L %A Morris, Andrew D %A Morris, Andrew P %A Murray, Jeffrey C %A Nelis, Mari %A Ohlsson, Claes %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Ong, Ken K %A Madden, Pamela A F %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Peden, John F %A Peters, Annette %A Postma, Dirkje S %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Price, Jackie F %A Qi, Lu %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rankinen, Tuomo %A Rao, D C %A Rice, Treva K %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rioux, John D %A Ritchie, Marylyn D %A Rudan, Igor %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Saramies, Jouko %A Sarzynski, Mark A %A Schunkert, Heribert %A Schwarz, Peter E H %A Sever, Peter %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Stolk, Ronald P %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Tönjes, Anke %A Trégouët, David-Alexandre %A Tremblay, Angelo %A Tremoli, Elena %A Virtamo, Jarmo %A Vohl, Marie-Claude %A Völker, Uwe %A Waeber, Gerard %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Witteman, Jacqueline C %A Zillikens, M Carola %A Adair, Linda S %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boehm, Bernhard O %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bornstein, Stefan R %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Bouchard, Claude %A Cauchi, Stéphane %A Chambers, John C %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Cooper, Richard S %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A Dedoussis, George %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Franks, Paul W %A Froguel, Philippe %A Groop, Leif C %A Haiman, Christopher A %A Hamsten, Anders %A Hui, Jennie %A Hunter, David J %A Hveem, Kristian %A Kaplan, Robert C %A Kivimaki, Mika %A Kuh, Diana %A Laakso, Markku %A Liu, Yongmei %A Martin, Nicholas G %A März, Winfried %A Melbye, Mads %A Metspalu, Andres %A Moebus, Susanne %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Njølstad, Inger %A Oostra, Ben A %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Perola, Markus %A Pérusse, Louis %A Peters, Ulrike %A Power, Chris %A Quertermous, Thomas %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Saaristo, Timo E %A Saleheen, Danish %A Sattar, Naveed %A Schadt, Eric E %A Schlessinger, David %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Snieder, Harold %A Spector, Tim D %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Uusitupa, Matti %A van der Harst, Pim %A Walker, Mark %A Wallaschofski, Henri %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Watkins, Hugh %A Weir, David R %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Wilson, James F %A Zanen, Pieter %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Deloukas, Panos %A Fox, Caroline S %A Heid, Iris M %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Strachan, David P %A Stefansson, Kari %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Franke, Lude %A Frayling, Timothy M %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Visscher, Peter M %A Scherag, André %A Willer, Cristen J %A Boehnke, Michael %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Beckmann, Jacques S %A Barroso, Inês %A North, Kari E %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Speliotes, Elizabeth K %K Adipogenesis %K Adiposity %K Age Factors %K Body Mass Index %K Continental Population Groups %K Energy Metabolism %K Europe %K Female %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glutamic Acid %K Humans %K Insulin %K Male %K Obesity %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %K Synapses %X

Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P < 5 × 10(-8)), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for ∼2.7% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.

%B Nature %V 518 %P 197-206 %8 2015 Feb 12 %G eng %N 7538 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25673413?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature14177 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2015 %T Genome sequencing elucidates Sardinian genetic architecture and augments association analyses for lipid and blood inflammatory markers. %A Sidore, Carlo %A Busonero, Fabio %A Maschio, Andrea %A Porcu, Eleonora %A Naitza, Silvia %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Mulas, Antonella %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Steri, Maristella %A Danjou, Fabrice %A Kwong, Alan %A Ortega Del Vecchyo, Vicente Diego %A Chiang, Charleston W K %A Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer %A Pitzalis, Maristella %A Nagaraja, Ramaiah %A Tarrier, Brendan %A Brennan, Christine %A Uzzau, Sergio %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Atzeni, Rossano %A Reinier, Frederic %A Berutti, Riccardo %A Huang, Jie %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Dedoussis, George %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Jones, Chris %A Lyons, Robert %A Angius, Andrea %A Kang, Hyun M %A Novembre, John %A Sanna, Serena %A Schlessinger, David %A Cucca, Francesco %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %X

We report ∼17.6 million genetic variants from whole-genome sequencing of 2,120 Sardinians; 22% are absent from previous sequencing-based compilations and are enriched for predicted functional consequences. Furthermore, ∼76,000 variants common in our sample (frequency >5%) are rare elsewhere (<0.5% in the 1000 Genomes Project). We assessed the impact of these variants on circulating lipid levels and five inflammatory biomarkers. We observe 14 signals, including 2 major new loci, for lipid levels and 19 signals, including 2 new loci, for inflammatory markers. The new associations would have been missed in analyses based on 1000 Genomes Project data, underlining the advantages of large-scale sequencing in this founder population.

%B Nat Genet %V 47 %P 1272-81 %8 2015 Nov %G eng %N 11 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26366554?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.3368 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2015 %T New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution. %A Shungin, Dmitry %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Croteau-Chonka, Damien C %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Locke, Adam E %A Mägi, Reedik %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Pers, Tune H %A Fischer, Krista %A Justice, Anne E %A Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie %A Wu, Joseph M W %A Buchkovich, Martin L %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Roman, Tamara S %A Drong, Alexander W %A Song, Ci %A Gustafsson, Stefan %A Day, Felix R %A Esko, Tõnu %A Fall, Tove %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Luan, Jian'an %A Randall, Joshua C %A Scherag, André %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Wood, Andrew R %A Chen, Jin %A Fehrmann, Rudolf %A Karjalainen, Juha %A Kahali, Bratati %A Liu, Ching-Ti %A Schmidt, Ellen M %A Absher, Devin %A Amin, Najaf %A Anderson, Denise %A Beekman, Marian %A Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L %A Buyske, Steven %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Ehret, Georg B %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Goel, Anuj %A Jackson, Anne U %A Johnson, Toby %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Mangino, Massimo %A Mateo Leach, Irene %A Medina-Gomez, Carolina %A Palmer, Cameron D %A Pasko, Dorota %A Pechlivanis, Sonali %A Peters, Marjolein J %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Stančáková, Alena %A Ju Sung, Yun %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Teumer, Alexander %A Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V %A Yengo, Loic %A Zhang, Weihua %A Albrecht, Eva %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Arscott, Gillian M %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Barrett, Amy %A Bellis, Claire %A Bennett, Amanda J %A Berne, Christian %A Blüher, Matthias %A Böhringer, Stefan %A Bonnet, Fabrice %A Böttcher, Yvonne %A Bruinenberg, Marcel %A Carba, Delia B %A Caspersen, Ida H %A Clarke, Robert %A Daw, E Warwick %A Deelen, Joris %A Deelman, Ewa %A Delgado, Graciela %A Doney, Alex S F %A Eklund, Niina %A Erdos, Michael R %A Estrada, Karol %A Eury, Elodie %A Friedrich, Nele %A Garcia, Melissa E %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gigante, Bruna %A Go, Alan S %A Golay, Alain %A Grallert, Harald %A Grammer, Tanja B %A Gräßler, Jürgen %A Grewal, Jagvir %A Groves, Christopher J %A Haller, Toomas %A Hallmans, Goran %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Hassinen, Maija %A Hayward, Caroline %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Herzig, Karl-Heinz %A Helmer, Quinta %A Hillege, Hans L %A Holmen, Oddgeir %A Hunt, Steven C %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Ittermann, Till %A James, Alan L %A Johansson, Ingegerd %A Juliusdottir, Thorhildur %A Kalafati, Ioanna-Panagiota %A Kinnunen, Leena %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kooner, Ishminder K %A Kratzer, Wolfgang %A Lamina, Claudia %A Leander, Karin %A Lee, Nanette R %A Lichtner, Peter %A Lind, Lars %A Lindström, Jaana %A Lobbens, Stéphane %A Lorentzon, Mattias %A Mach, François %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Mahajan, Anubha %A McArdle, Wendy L %A Menni, Cristina %A Merger, Sigrun %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Mills, Rebecca %A Moayyeri, Alireza %A Monda, Keri L %A Mooijaart, Simon P %A Mühleisen, Thomas W %A Mulas, Antonella %A Müller, Gabriele %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Nagaraja, Ramaiah %A Nalls, Michael A %A Narisu, Narisu %A Glorioso, Nicola %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Olden, Matthias %A Rayner, Nigel W %A Renstrom, Frida %A Ried, Janina S %A Robertson, Neil R %A Rose, Lynda M %A Sanna, Serena %A Scharnagl, Hubert %A Scholtens, Salome %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Seufferlein, Thomas %A Sitlani, Colleen M %A Vernon Smith, Albert %A Stirrups, Kathleen %A Stringham, Heather M %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris A %A Swift, Amy J %A Syvänen, Ann-Christine %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Thorand, Barbara %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Tomaschitz, Andreas %A Troffa, Chiara %A van Oort, Floor V A %A Verweij, Niek %A Vonk, Judith M %A Waite, Lindsay L %A Wennauer, Roman %A Wilsgaard, Tom %A Wojczynski, Mary K %A Wong, Andrew %A Zhang, Qunyuan %A Hua Zhao, Jing %A Brennan, Eoin P %A Choi, Murim %A Eriksson, Per %A Folkersen, Lasse %A Franco-Cereceda, Anders %A Gharavi, Ali G %A Hedman, Åsa K %A Hivert, Marie-France %A Huang, Jinyan %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Karpe, Fredrik %A Keildson, Sarah %A Kiryluk, Krzysztof %A Liang, Liming %A Lifton, Richard P %A Ma, Baoshan %A McKnight, Amy J %A McPherson, Ruth %A Metspalu, Andres %A Min, Josine L %A Moffatt, Miriam F %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Nicholson, George %A Nyholt, Dale R %A Olsson, Christian %A Perry, John R B %A Reinmaa, Eva %A Salem, Rany M %A Sandholm, Niina %A Schadt, Eric E %A Scott, Robert A %A Stolk, Lisette %A Vallejo, Edgar E %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Zondervan, Krina T %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Arveiler, Dominique %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Beilby, John %A Bergman, Richard N %A Blangero, John %A Brown, Morris J %A Burnier, Michel %A Campbell, Harry %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chines, Peter S %A Claudi-Boehm, Simone %A Collins, Francis S %A Crawford, Dana C %A Danesh, John %A de Faire, Ulf %A de Geus, Eco J C %A Dörr, Marcus %A Erbel, Raimund %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Farrall, Martin %A Ferrannini, Ele %A Ferrières, Jean %A Forouhi, Nita G %A Forrester, Terrence %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Gieger, Christian %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Haiman, Christopher A %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hattersley, Andrew T %A Heliövaara, Markku %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hingorani, Aroon D %A Hoffmann, Wolfgang %A Hofman, Albert %A Homuth, Georg %A Humphries, Steve E %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Illig, Thomas %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Johansen, Berit %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jula, Antti M %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Kee, Frank %A Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kovacs, Peter %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Kumari, Meena %A Kuulasmaa, Kari %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Lakka, Timo A %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Le Marchand, Loic %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lyssenko, Valeriya %A Männistö, Satu %A Marette, André %A Matise, Tara C %A McKenzie, Colin A %A McKnight, Barbara %A Musk, Arthur W %A Möhlenkamp, Stefan %A Morris, Andrew D %A Nelis, Mari %A Ohlsson, Claes %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Ong, Ken K %A Palmer, Lyle J %A Penninx, Brenda W %A Peters, Annette %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rankinen, Tuomo %A Rao, D C %A Rice, Treva K %A Ridker, Paul M %A Ritchie, Marylyn D %A Rudan, Igor %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Saramies, Jouko %A Sarzynski, Mark A %A Schwarz, Peter E H %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Staessen, Jan A %A Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur %A Stolk, Ronald P %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Tönjes, Anke %A Tremblay, Angelo %A Tremoli, Elena %A Vohl, Marie-Claude %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Wilson, James F %A Witteman, Jacqueline C %A Adair, Linda S %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boehm, Bernhard O %A Bornstein, Stefan R %A Bouchard, Claude %A Cauchi, Stéphane %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Chambers, John C %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Cooper, Richard S %A Dedoussis, George %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Froguel, Philippe %A Grabe, Hans-Jörgen %A Hamsten, Anders %A Hui, Jennie %A Hveem, Kristian %A Jöckel, Karl-Heinz %A Kivimaki, Mika %A Kuh, Diana %A Laakso, Markku %A Liu, Yongmei %A März, Winfried %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Njølstad, Inger %A Oostra, Ben A %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Perola, Markus %A Pérusse, Louis %A Peters, Ulrike %A Power, Chris %A Quertermous, Thomas %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Saaristo, Timo E %A Saleheen, Danish %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Snieder, Harold %A Spector, Tim D %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Uusitupa, Matti %A van der Harst, Pim %A Veronesi, Giovanni %A Walker, Mark %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Watkins, Hugh %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Berndt, Sonja I %A Boehnke, Michael %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Deloukas, Panos %A Franke, Lude %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Groop, Leif C %A Hunter, David J %A Kaplan, Robert C %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Qi, Lu %A Schlessinger, David %A Strachan, David P %A Stefansson, Kari %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Willer, Cristen J %A Visscher, Peter M %A Yang, Jian %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Zillikens, M Carola %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Speliotes, Elizabeth K %A North, Kari E %A Fox, Caroline S %A Barroso, Inês %A Franks, Paul W %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Heid, Iris M %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Morris, Andrew P %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Mohlke, Karen L %K Adipocytes %K Adipogenesis %K Adipose Tissue %K Age Factors %K Body Fat Distribution %K Body Mass Index %K Continental Population Groups %K Epigenesis, Genetic %K Europe %K Female %K Genome, Human %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Insulin %K Insulin Resistance %K Male %K Models, Biological %K Neovascularization, Physiologic %K Obesity %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %K Sex Characteristics %K Transcription, Genetic %K Waist-Hip Ratio %X

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms.

%B Nature %V 518 %P 187-96 %8 2015 Feb 12 %G eng %N 7538 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25673412?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature14132