%0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2018 %T Genetic analysis of over 1 million people identifies 535 new loci associated with blood pressure traits. %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Warren, Helen R %A Mosen-Ansorena, David %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Pazoki, Raha %A Gao, He %A Ntritsos, Georgios %A Dimou, Niki %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Karaman, Ibrahim %A Ng, Fu Liang %A Evangelou, Marina %A Witkowska, Katarzyna %A Tzanis, Evan %A Hellwege, Jacklyn N %A Giri, Ayush %A Velez Edwards, Digna R %A Sun, Yan V %A Cho, Kelly %A Gaziano, J Michael %A Wilson, Peter W F %A Tsao, Philip S %A Kovesdy, Csaba P %A Esko, Tõnu %A Mägi, Reedik %A Milani, Lili %A Almgren, Peter %A Boutin, Thibaud %A Debette, Stéphanie %A Ding, Jun %A Giulianini, Franco %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Jackson, Anne U %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lin, Wei-Yu %A Luan, Jian'an %A Mangino, Massimo %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Prins, Bram Peter %A Qian, Yong %A Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan %A Shah, Nabi %A Surendran, Praveen %A Thériault, Sébastien %A Verweij, Niek %A Willems, Sara M %A Zhao, Jing-Hua %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Connell, John %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Doney, Alex S F %A Farrall, Martin %A Menni, Cristina %A Morris, Andrew D %A Noordam, Raymond %A Paré, Guillaume %A Poulter, Neil R %A Shields, Denis C %A Stanton, Alice %A Thom, Simon %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Amin, Najaf %A Arking, Dan E %A Ayers, Kristin L %A Barbieri, Caterina M %A Batini, Chiara %A Bis, Joshua C %A Blake, Tineka %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boehnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braund, Peter S %A Brumat, Marco %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chambers, John C %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Ciullo, Marina %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis %A Cordell, Heather J %A Davies, Gail %A de Borst, Martin H %A de Geus, Eco J %A Deary, Ian J %A Deelen, Joris %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Demirkale, Cumhur Yusuf %A Dörr, Marcus %A Ehret, Georg B %A Elosua, Roberto %A Enroth, Stefan %A Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Frånberg, Mattias %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Goel, Anuj %A Gow, Alan J %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Hamsten, Anders %A Harris, Tamara B %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hofer, Edith %A Hofman, Albert %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ingelsson, Erik %A James, Alan %A Jansen, Rick %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Joehanes, Roby %A Johansson, Åsa %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Keavney, Bernard D %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Knekt, Paul %A Knight, Joanne %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Laan, Maris %A Larson, Marty %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li %A Lind, Lars %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Liu, Yongmei %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Mamasoula, Chrysovalanto %A Marrugat, Jaume %A Marten, Jonathan %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew P %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Munson, Peter J %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nandakumar, Priyanka %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Niiranen, Teemu %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Nutile, Teresa %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Oostra, Ben A %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Org, Elin %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter %A Palotie, Aarno %A Pattie, Alison %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perola, Markus %A Peters, Annette %A Polasek, Ozren %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Nguyen, Quang Tri %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ren, Meixia %A Rettig, Rainer %A Rice, Kenneth %A Ridker, Paul M %A Ried, Janina S %A Riese, Harriëtte %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Saba, Yasaman %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schmidt, Helena %A Shrine, Nick %A Siscovick, David %A Smith, Albert V %A Snieder, Harold %A Sõber, Siim %A Sorice, Rossella %A Starr, John M %A Stott, David J %A Strachan, David P %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris A %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Tobin, Martin D %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Trompet, Stella %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaez, Ahmad %A van der Most, Peter J %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Vitart, Veronique %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Watkins, Hugh %A Wild, Sarah H %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wilson, James F %A Wright, Alan F %A Yao, Jie %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Zhang, Weihua %A Attia, John R %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Conen, David %A Cucca, Francesco %A Danesh, John %A Hayward, Caroline %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Laakso, Markku %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Melander, Olle %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Risch, Lorenz %A Scott, Robert A %A Scott, Rodney J %A Sever, Peter %A Spector, Tim D %A van der Harst, Pim %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Levy, Daniel %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Brown, Morris J %A Metspalu, Andres %A Hung, Adriana M %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Edwards, Todd L %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Barnes, Michael R %A Wain, Louise V %A Elliott, Paul %A Caulfield, Mark J %X

High blood pressure is a highly heritable and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We report the largest genetic association study of blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure) to date in over 1 million people of European ancestry. We identify 535 novel blood pressure loci that not only offer new biological insights into blood pressure regulation but also highlight shared genetic architecture between blood pressure and lifestyle exposures. Our findings identify new biological pathways for blood pressure regulation with potential for improved cardiovascular disease prevention in the future.

%B Nat Genet %V 50 %P 1412-1425 %8 2018 Oct %G eng %N 10 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30224653?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/s41588-018-0205-x %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2017 %T Genome-wide association analysis identifies novel blood pressure loci and offers biological insights into cardiovascular risk. %A Warren, Helen R %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Gao, He %A Ren, Meixia %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Ntalla, Ioanna %A Surendran, Praveen %A Liu, Chunyu %A Cook, James P %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Drenos, Fotios %A Loh, Marie %A Verweij, Niek %A Marten, Jonathan %A Karaman, Ibrahim %A Lepe, Marcelo P Segura %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Knight, Joanne %A Snieder, Harold %A Kato, Norihiro %A He, Jiang %A Tai, E Shyong %A Said, M Abdullah %A Porteous, David %A Alver, Maris %A Poulter, Neil %A Farrall, Martin %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Mägi, Reedik %A Stanton, Alice %A Connell, John %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Metspalu, Andres %A Shields, Denis C %A Thom, Simon %A Brown, Morris %A Sever, Peter %A Esko, Tõnu %A Hayward, Caroline %A van der Harst, Pim %A Saleheen, Danish %A Chowdhury, Rajiv %A Chambers, John C %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Levy, Daniel %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Keavney, Bernard %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Tobin, Martin D %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Ehret, Georg B %A Wain, Louise V %K Adult %K Blood Pressure %K Cardiovascular Diseases %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Genetic Loci %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Hypertension %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Risk Factors %X

Elevated blood pressure is the leading heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide. We report genetic association of blood pressure (systolic, diastolic, pulse pressure) among UK Biobank participants of European ancestry with independent replication in other cohorts, and robust validation of 107 independent loci. We also identify new independent variants at 11 previously reported blood pressure loci. In combination with results from a range of in silico functional analyses and wet bench experiments, our findings highlight new biological pathways for blood pressure regulation enriched for genes expressed in vascular tissues and identify potential therapeutic targets for hypertension. Results from genetic risk score models raise the possibility of a precision medicine approach through early lifestyle intervention to offset the impact of blood pressure-raising genetic variants on future cardiovascular disease risk.

%B Nat Genet %V 49 %P 403-415 %8 2017 Mar %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28135244?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.3768 %0 Journal Article %J Hypertension %D 2017 %T Novel Blood Pressure Locus and Gene Discovery Using Genome-Wide Association Study and Expression Data Sets From Blood and the Kidney. %A Wain, Louise V %A Vaez, Ahmad %A Jansen, Rick %A Joehanes, Roby %A van der Most, Peter J %A Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Warren, Helen R %A Rose, Lynda M %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Esko, Tõnu %A Arking, Dan E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Trompet, Stella %A Shrine, Nick %A Teumer, Alexander %A Ried, Janina S %A Bis, Joshua C %A Smith, Albert V %A Amin, Najaf %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Hofer, Edith %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Traglia, Michela %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Goel, Anuj %A Nalls, Mike A %A Sõber, Siim %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Luan, Jian'an %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Ayers, Kristin L %A Marrugat, Jaume %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Niiranen, Teemu %A Enroth, Stefan %A Jackson, Anne U %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Zhang, Weihua %A Marten, Jonathan %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Harris, Sarah E %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Lu, Yingchang %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Shah, Nabi %A de Borst, Martin H %A Mangino, Massimo %A Prins, Bram P %A Campbell, Archie %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Abedi, Maryam %A Barbieri, Caterina M %A Barnes, Michael R %A Batini, Chiara %A Beilby, John %A Blake, Tineka %A Boehnke, Michael %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braund, Peter S %A Brown, Morris %A Brumat, Marco %A Campbell, Harry %A Chambers, John C %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis %A Connell, John %A Cordell, Heather J %A Damman, Jeffrey J %A Davies, Gail %A de Geus, Eco J %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Deelen, Joris %A Demirkale, Yusuf %A Doney, Alex S F %A Dörr, Marcus %A Farrall, Martin %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Frånberg, Mattias %A Gao, He %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Giulianini, Franco %A Gow, Alan J %A Hamsten, Anders %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hofman, Albert %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Hui, Jennie %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Johansson, Åsa %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Larson, Marty %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li %A Lind, Lars %A Mach, François %A Mamasoula, Chrysovalanto %A Menni, Cristina %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew D %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Munson, Peter J %A Nandakumar, Priyanka %A Nguyen, Quang Tri %A Nutile, Teresa %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Oostra, Ben A %A Org, Elin %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palotie, Aarno %A Paré, Guillaume %A Pattie, Alison %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Poulter, Neil %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ren, Meixia %A Rice, Kenneth %A Ridker, Paul M %A Riese, Harriëtte %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Saba, Yasaman %A Saint Pierre, Aude %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Scott, Rodney %A Seelen, Marc A %A Shields, Denis C %A Siscovick, David %A Sorice, Rossella %A Stanton, Alice %A Stott, David J %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris %A Taylor, Kent D %A Thom, Simon %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Wild, Sarah %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wright, Alan F %A Yao, Jie %A Thériault, Sébastien %A Conen, David %A Attia, John %A Sever, Peter %A Debette, Stéphanie %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Spector, Tim D %A van der Harst, Pim %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Polasek, Ozren %A Starr, John M %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Hayward, Caroline %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Lindgren, Cecila M %A Vitart, Veronique %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Knekt, Paul %A Deary, Ian J %A Ciullo, Marina %A Elosua, Roberto %A Keavney, Bernard D %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Scott, Robert A %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Laan, Maris %A Liu, Yongmei %A Watkins, Hugh %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Perola, Markus %A Wilson, James F %A Schmidt, Helena %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Peters, Annette %A Rettig, Rainer %A James, Alan %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Strachan, David P %A Palmas, Walter %A Metspalu, Andres %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Franco, Oscar H %A Bochud, Murielle %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Elliott, Paul %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Knight, Joanne %A Morris, Andrew P %A Levy, Daniel %A Tobin, Martin D %A Snieder, Harold %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Ehret, Georg B %X

Elevated blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and has a substantial genetic contribution. Genetic variation influencing blood pressure has the potential to identify new pharmacological targets for the treatment of hypertension. To discover additional novel blood pressure loci, we used 1000 Genomes Project-based imputation in 150 134 European ancestry individuals and sought significant evidence for independent replication in a further 228 245 individuals. We report 6 new signals of association in or near , , , , , and , and provide new replication evidence for a further 2 signals in and Combining large whole-blood gene expression resources totaling 12 607 individuals, we investigated all novel and previously reported signals and identified 48 genes with evidence for involvement in blood pressure regulation that are significant in multiple resources. Three novel kidney-specific signals were also detected. These robustly implicated genes may provide new leads for therapeutic innovation.

%B Hypertension %8 2017 Jul 24 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28739976?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.09438 %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