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Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Trampush, JW; Lencz, T; Knowles, E; Davies, G; Guha, S; Pe'er, I; Liewald, DC; Starr, JM; Djurovic, S; Melle, I; Sundet, K; Christoforou, A ...
Published in: American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics
July 2015

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.

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Published In

American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics

DOI

EISSN

1552-485X

ISSN

1552-4841

Publication Date

July 2015

Volume

168B

Issue

5

Start / End Page

363 / 373

Related Subject Headings

  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genetic Loci
  • Female
  • Cognition Disorders
  • Cognition
 

Citation

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Trampush, J. W., Lencz, T., Knowles, E., Davies, G., Guha, S., Pe’er, I., … Malhotra, A. K. (2015). Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics : The Official Publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, 168B(5), 363–373. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.b.32319
Trampush, Joey W., Todd Lencz, Emma Knowles, Gail Davies, Saurav Guha, Itsik Pe’er, David C. Liewald, et al. “Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment.American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics : The Official Publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics 168B, no. 5 (July 2015): 363–73. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.b.32319.
Trampush JW, Lencz T, Knowles E, Davies G, Guha S, Pe’er I, et al. Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment. American journal of medical genetics Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics. 2015 Jul;168B(5):363–73.
Trampush, Joey W., et al. “Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment.American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics : The Official Publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, vol. 168B, no. 5, July 2015, pp. 363–73. Epmc, doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32319.
Trampush JW, Lencz T, Knowles E, Davies G, Guha S, Pe’er I, Liewald DC, Starr JM, Djurovic S, Melle I, Sundet K, Christoforou A, Reinvang I, Mukherjee S, DeRosse P, Lundervold A, Steen VM, John M, Espeseth T, Räikkönen K, Widen E, Palotie A, Eriksson JG, Giegling I, Konte B, Ikeda M, Roussos P, Giakoumaki S, Burdick KE, Payton A, Ollier W, Horan M, Scult M, Dickinson D, Straub RE, Donohoe G, Morris D, Corvin A, Gill M, Hariri A, Weinberger DR, Pendleton N, Iwata N, Darvasi A, Bitsios P, Rujescu D, Lahti J, Le Hellard S, Keller MC, Andreassen OA, Deary IJ, Glahn DC, Malhotra AK. Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment. American journal of medical genetics Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics. 2015 Jul;168B(5):363–373.
Journal cover image

Published In

American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics

DOI

EISSN

1552-485X

ISSN

1552-4841

Publication Date

July 2015

Volume

168B

Issue

5

Start / End Page

363 / 373

Related Subject Headings

  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genetic Loci
  • Female
  • Cognition Disorders
  • Cognition