Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment
Year: 2015
Type: review
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Cognitive deficits and reduced educational achievement are common in psychiatric illness; understanding the genetic basis of cognitive and educational deficits may be informative about the etiology of psychiatric disorders. A recent, large genome-wide association study (GWAS) reported a genome-wide significant locus for years of education, which subsequently demonstrated association to general cognitive ability ("g") in overlapping cohorts. The current study was designed to test whether GWAS hits for educational attainment are involved in general cognitive ability in an independent, large-scale collection of cohorts. Using cohorts in the Cognitive Genomics Consortium (COGENT; up to 20,495 healthy individuals), we examined the relationship between g and variants associated with educational attainment. We next conducted meta-analyses with 24,189 individuals with neurocognitive data from the educational attainment studies, and then with 53,188 largely independent individuals from a recent GWAS of cognition. A SNP (rs1906252) located at chromosome 6q16.1, previously associated with years of schooling, was significantly associated with g (P = 1.47 × 10(-4) ) in COGENT. The first joint analysis of 43,381 non-overlapping individuals for this a priori-designated locus was strongly significant (P = 4.94 × 10(-7) ), and the second joint analysis of 68,159 non-overlapping individuals was even more robust (P = 1.65 × 10(-9) ). These results provide independent replication, in a large-scale dataset, of a genetic locus associated with cognitive function and education. As sample sizes grow, cognitive GWAS will identify increasing numbers of associated loci, as has been accomplished in other polygenic quantitative traits, which may be relevant to psychiatric illness.
DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32319
Authors: Joey W. Trampush, Todd Lencz, Emma Knowles, Gail Davies, Saurav Guha, Itsik Pe'er, David C. Liewald, John M. Starr, Srdjan Djurovic, Ingrid Melle, Kjetil Sundet, Andrea Christoforou, Ivar Reinvang, Semanti Mukherjee, Pamela DeRosse, Astri Lundervold, Vidar M. Steen, Majnu John, Thomas Espeseth, Katri Räikkönen, Elisabeth Widen, Aarno Palotie, Johan G. Eriksson, Ina Giegling, Bettina Konte, Masashi Ikeda, Panos Roussos, Stella Giakoumaki, Katherine E. Burdick, Antony Payton, William Ollier, Mike Horan, Matthew Scult, Dwight Dickinson, Richard E. Straub, Gary Donohoe, Derek Morris, Aiden Corvin, Michael Gill, Ahmad Hariri, Daniel R. Weinberger, Neil Pendleton, Nakao Iwata, Ariel Darvasi, Panos Bitsios, Dan Rujescu, Jari Lahti, Stephanie Le Hellard, Matthew C. Keller, Ole A. Andreassen, Ian J. Deary, David C. Glahn, Anil K. Malhotra
Institutions: Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Hofstra University, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Yale University, University of Edinburgh, Columbia University, Alzheimer Scotland, Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, Haukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen, Haraldsplass Diakonale Sykehus, University of Helsinki, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki University Hospital, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Vaasa Central Hospital, Folkhälsans Forskningscentrum, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Fujita Health University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of Crete, University of Manchester, Duke University, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University, Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Trinity College Dublin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Colorado Boulder
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, University of Southern California, Norges Forskningsråd, National Institutes of Health, Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Awards: G104586243, G1276648461, G2203296282, Common and Rare Genetic Factors in an Ethnically Homogeneous Schizophrenia Cohort, Creating a Pediatric Imaging-Genomics Data Resource, Estimating the genetic and environmental architecture of psychiatric disorders, Neurogenetic Pathways to Drug Use in Young Adults, Neurocognition as an endophenotype in bipolar disorder, Influence of Psychosis on Brain-Behavior Endophenotypes for Bipolar Disorder, G4424220380, G4641403149, A genome-wide association study of non-pathological cognitive ageing, G5067462658, Evolutionary Roles of Homozygosity & Copy Number Variation in Mental Disorders, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, G641183492, Dissecting Heterogeneity of Treatment Response of First Episode Schizophrenia, A genome-wide association study of non-pathological cognitive ageing, Targeting Circadian and Cognitive Dysfunction in Bipolar Disorder with Modafinil, Self-Regulation Failure: Identifying and Modifying a Risk Phenotype, Genetic Variation and Functional Disability in Schizophrenia, G9000018043
OpenAlex ID: W2152280269