Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function
By G. Davies, Max Lam, S. Harris, J. Trampush, M. Luciano, W. Hill, S. Hagenaars, Stuart J. Ritchie, R. Marioni, C. Fawns-Ritchie and 212 more. Nature Communications, 2018
630 citations recorded by the source corpus.
General cognitive function is a prominent and relatively stable human trait that is associated with many important life outcomes. We combine cognitive and genetic data from the CHARGE and COGENT consortia, and UK Biobank (total N = 300,486; age 16–102) and find 148 genome-wide significant independent loci (P < 5 × 10−8) associated with general cognitive function. Within the novel genetic loci are variants associated with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, physical and psychiatric illnesses, and brain structure. Gene-based analyses find 709 genes associated with general cognitive function. Expression levels across the cortex are associated with general cognitive function. Using polygenic scores, up to 4.3% of variance in general cognitive function is predicted in independent samples. We detect significant genetic overlap between general cognitive function, reaction time, and many health variables including eyesight, hypertension, and longevity. In conclusion we identify novel genetic loci and pathways contributing to the heritability of general cognitive function. Cognitive function is associated with health and important life outcomes. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study for general cognitive function in 300,486 individuals and identify genetic loci that implicate neural and cell developmental pathways in this trait.
Subfields: Genetics, Molecular Biology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8e8e1123ffea0d991ba89b9e12c9dd0a88199f28
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Citations in the corpus
- Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia: aetiology, pathophysiology, and treatment (2023, background): “Both twin and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) show a strong negative genetic correlation exists between liability for schizophrenia and cognitive ability, indicating that they share common genetic factors [88, 91 – 94].”