GWAS of 126,559 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with educational attainment

Cornelius A. Rietveld, Sarah E. Medland, Jaime Derringer, Jian Yang, Tõnu Esko, Nicolas W. Martin, Harm Jan Westra, Konstantin Shakhbazov, Abdel Abdellaoui, Arpana Agrawal, Eva Albrecht, Behrooz Z. Alizadeh, Najaf Amin, John Barnard, Sebastian E. Baumeister, Kelly S. Benke, Lawrence F. Bielak, Jeffrey A. Boatman, Patricia A. Boyle, Gail DaviesChristiaan De Leeuw, Niina Eklund, Daniel S. Evans, Rudolf Ferhmann, Krista Fischer, Christian Gieger, Håkon K. Gjessing, Sara Hägg, Jennifer R. Harris, Caroline Hayward, Christina Holzapfel, Carla A. Ibrahim-Verbaas, Erik Ingelsson, Bo Jacobsson, Peter K. Joshi, Astanand Jugessur, Marika Kaakinen, Stavroula Kanoni, Juha Karjalainen, Ivana Kolcic, Kati Kristiansson, Zoltán Kutalik, Jari Lahti, Sang H. Lee, Peng Lin, Penelope A. Lind, Yongmei Liu, Kurt Lohman, Marisa Loitfelder, George McMahon, Pedro Marques Vidal, Osorio Meirelles, Lili Milani, Ronny Myhre, Marja Liisa Nuotio, Christopher J. Oldmeadow, Katja E. Petrovic, Wouter J. Peyrot, Ozren Polašek, Lydia Quaye, Eva Reinmaa, John P. Rice, Thais S. Rizzi, Helena Schmidt, Reinhold Schmidt, Albert V. Smith, Jennifer A. Smith, Toshiko Tanaka, Antonio Terracciano, Matthijs J.H.M. Van Der Loos, Veronique Vitart, Henry Völzke, Jürgen Wellmann, Lei Yu, Wei Zhao, Jüri Allik, John R. Attia, Stefania Bandinelli, François Bastardot, Jonathan Beauchamp, David A. Bennett, Klaus Berger, Laura J. Bierut, Dorret I. Boomsma, Ute Bültmann, Harry Campbell, Christopher F. Chabris, Lynn Cherkas, Mina K. Chung, Francesco Cucca, Mariza De Andrade, Philip L. De Jager, Jan Emmanuel De Neve, Ian J. Deary, George V. Dedoussis, Panos Deloukas, Maria Dimitriou, Guoný Eiríksdóttir, Martin F. Elderson, Johan G. Eriksson, David M. Evans, Jessica D. Faul, Luigi Ferrucci, Melissa E. Garcia, Henrik Grönberg, Vilmundur Guonason, Per Hall, Juliette M. Harris, Tamara B. Harris, Nicholas D. Hastie, Andrew C. Heath, Dena G. Hernandez, Wolfgang Hoffmann, Adriaan Hofman, Rolf Holle, Elizabeth G. Holliday, Jouke Jan Hottenga, William G. Iacono, Thomas Illig, Marjo Riitta Järvelin, Mika Kähönen, Jaakko Kaprio, Robert M. Kirkpatrick, Matthew Kowgier, Antti Latvala, Lenore J. Launer, Debbie A. Lawlor, Terho Lehtimäki, Jingmei Li, Paul Lichtenstein, Peter Lichtner, David C. Liewald, Pamela A. Madden, Patrik K.E. Magnusson, Tomi E. Mäkinen, Marco Masala, Matt McGue, Andres Metspalu, Andreas Mielck, Michael B. Miller, Grant W. Montgomery, Sutapa Mukherjee, Dale R. Nyholt, Ben A. Oostra, Lyle J. Palmer, Aarno Palotie, Brenda W.J.H. Penninx, Markus Perola, Patricia A. Peyser, Martin Preisig, Katri Räikkönen, Olli T. Raitakari, Anu Realo, Susan M. Ring, Samuli Ripatti, Fernando Rivadeneira, Igor Rudan, Aldo Rustichini, Veikko Salomaa, Antti Pekka Sarin, David Schlessinger, Rodney J. Scott, Harold Snieder, Beate St Pourcain, John M. Starr, Jae Hoon Sul, Ida Surakka, Rauli Svento, Alexander Teumer, Henning Tiemeier, Frank J.A. Van Rooij, David R. Van Wagoner, Erkki Vartiainen, Jorma Viikari, Peter Vollenweider, Judith M. Vonk, Gérard Waeber, David R. Weir, H. Erich Wichmann, Elisabeth Widen, Gonneke Willemsen, James F. Wilson, Alan F. Wright, Dalton Conley, George Davey-Smith, Lude Franke, Patrick J.F. Groenen, Albert Hofman, Magnus Johannesson, Sharon L.R. Kardia, Robert F. Krueger, David Laibson, Nicholas G. Martin, Michelle N. Meyer, Danielle Posthuma, A. Roy Thurik, Nicholas J. Timpson, André G. Uitterlinden, Cornelia M. Van Duijn, Peter M. Visscher, Daniel J. Benjamin, David Cesarini, Philipp D. Koellinger

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Abstract

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment was conducted in a discovery sample of 101,069 individuals and a replication sample of 25,490. Three independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genome-wide significant (rs9320913, rs11584700, rs4851266), and all three replicate. Estimated effects sizes are small (coefficient of determination R2≈ 0.02%), approximately 1 month of schooling per allele. A linear polygenic score from all measured SNPs accounts for ≈2% of the variance in both educational attainment and cognitive function. Genes in the region of the loci have previously been associated with health, cognitive, and central nervous system phenotypes, and bioinformatics analyses suggest the involvement of the anterior caudate nucleus. These findings provide promising candidate SNPs for follow-up work, and our effect size estimates can anchor power analyses in social-science genetics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1467-1471
Number of pages5
JournalScience
Volume340
Issue number6139
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

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