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Comparative Study
. 2013 May;45(5):501-12.
doi: 10.1038/ng.2606. Epub 2013 Apr 7.

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture

Sonja I Berndt  1 , Stefan Gustafsson, Reedik Mägi, Andrea Ganna, Eleanor Wheeler, Mary F Feitosa, Anne E Justice, Keri L Monda, Damien C Croteau-Chonka, Felix R Day, Tõnu Esko, Tove Fall, Teresa Ferreira, Davide Gentilini, Anne U Jackson, Jian'an Luan, Joshua C Randall, Sailaja Vedantam, Cristen J Willer, Thomas W Winkler, Andrew R Wood, Tsegaselassie Workalemahu, Yi-Juan Hu, Sang Hong Lee, Liming Liang, Dan-Yu Lin, Josine L Min, Benjamin M Neale, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Jian Yang, Eva Albrecht, Najaf Amin, Jennifer L Bragg-Gresham, Gemma Cadby, Martin den Heijer, Niina Eklund, Krista Fischer, Anuj Goel, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Jennifer E Huffman, Ivonne Jarick, Åsa Johansson, Toby Johnson, Stavroula Kanoni, Marcus E Kleber, Inke R König, Kati Kristiansson, Zoltán Kutalik, Claudia Lamina, Cecile Lecoeur, Guo Li, Massimo Mangino, Wendy L McArdle, Carolina Medina-Gomez, Martina Müller-Nurasyid, Julius S Ngwa, Ilja M Nolte, Lavinia Paternoster, Sonali Pechlivanis, Markus Perola, Marjolein J Peters, Michael Preuss, Lynda M Rose, Jianxin Shi, Dmitry Shungin, Albert Vernon Smith, Rona J Strawbridge, Ida Surakka, Alexander Teumer, Mieke D Trip, Jonathan Tyrer, Jana V Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Liesbeth Vandenput, Lindsay L Waite, Jing Hua Zhao, Devin Absher, Folkert W Asselbergs, Mustafa Atalay, Antony P Attwood, Anthony J Balmforth, Hanneke Basart, John Beilby, Lori L Bonnycastle, Paolo Brambilla, Marcel Bruinenberg, Harry Campbell, Daniel I Chasman, Peter S Chines, Francis S Collins, John M Connell, William O Cookson, Ulf de Faire, Femmie de Vegt, Mariano Dei, Maria Dimitriou, Sarah Edkins, Karol Estrada, David M Evans, Martin Farrall, Marco M Ferrario, Jean Ferrières, Lude Franke, Francesca Frau, Pablo V Gejman, Harald Grallert, Henrik Grönberg, Vilmundur Gudnason, Alistair S Hall, Per Hall, Anna-Liisa Hartikainen, Caroline Hayward, Nancy L Heard-Costa, Andrew C Heath, Johannes Hebebrand, Georg Homuth, Frank B Hu, Sarah E Hunt, Elina Hyppönen, Carlos Iribarren, Kevin B Jacobs, John-Olov Jansson, Antti Jula, Mika Kähönen, Sekar Kathiresan, Frank Kee, Kay-Tee Khaw, Mika Kivimäki, Wolfgang Koenig, Aldi T Kraja, Meena Kumari, Kari Kuulasmaa, Johanna Kuusisto, Jaana H Laitinen, Timo A Lakka, Claudia Langenberg, Lenore J Launer, Lars Lind, Jaana Lindström, Jianjun Liu, Antonio Liuzzi, Marja-Liisa Lokki, Mattias Lorentzon, Pamela A Madden, Patrik K Magnusson, Paolo Manunta, Diana Marek, Winfried März, Irene Mateo Leach, Barbara McKnight, Sarah E Medland, Evelin Mihailov, Lili Milani, Grant W Montgomery, Vincent Mooser, Thomas W Mühleisen, Patricia B Munroe, Arthur W Musk, Narisu Narisu, Gerjan Navis, George Nicholson, Ellen A Nohr, Ken K Ong, Ben A Oostra, Colin N A Palmer, Aarno Palotie, John F Peden, Nancy Pedersen, Annette Peters, Ozren Polasek, Anneli Pouta, Peter P Pramstaller, Inga Prokopenko, Carolin Pütter, Aparna Radhakrishnan, Olli Raitakari, Augusto Rendon, Fernando Rivadeneira, Igor Rudan, Timo E Saaristo, Jennifer G Sambrook, Alan R Sanders, Serena Sanna, Jouko Saramies, Sabine Schipf, Stefan Schreiber, Heribert Schunkert, So-Youn Shin, Stefano Signorini, Juha Sinisalo, Boris Skrobek, Nicole Soranzo, Alena Stančáková, Klaus Stark, Jonathan C Stephens, Kathleen Stirrups, Ronald P Stolk, Michael Stumvoll, Amy J Swift, Eirini V Theodoraki, Barbara Thorand, David-Alexandre Tregouet, Elena Tremoli, Melanie M Van der Klauw, Joyce B J van Meurs, Sita H Vermeulen, Jorma Viikari, Jarmo Virtamo, Veronique Vitart, Gérard Waeber, Zhaoming Wang, Elisabeth Widén, Sarah H Wild, Gonneke Willemsen, Bernhard R Winkelmann, Jacqueline C M Witteman, Bruce H R Wolffenbuttel, Andrew Wong, Alan F Wright, M Carola Zillikens, Philippe Amouyel, Bernhard O Boehm, Eric Boerwinkle, Dorret I Boomsma, Mark J Caulfield, Stephen J Chanock, L Adrienne Cupples, Daniele Cusi, George V Dedoussis, Jeanette Erdmann, Johan G Eriksson, Paul W Franks, Philippe Froguel, Christian Gieger, Ulf Gyllensten, Anders Hamsten, Tamara B Harris, Christian Hengstenberg, Andrew A Hicks, Aroon Hingorani, Anke Hinney, Albert Hofman, Kees G Hovingh, Kristian Hveem, Thomas Illig, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Karl-Heinz Jöckel, Sirkka M Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Lambertus A Kiemeney, Diana Kuh, Markku Laakso, Terho Lehtimäki, Douglas F Levinson, Nicholas G Martin, Andres Metspalu, Andrew D Morris, Markku S Nieminen, Inger Njølstad, Claes Ohlsson, Albertine J Oldehinkel, Willem H Ouwehand, Lyle J Palmer, Brenda Penninx, Chris Power, Michael A Province, Bruce M Psaty, Lu Qi, Rainer Rauramaa, Paul M Ridker, Samuli Ripatti, Veikko Salomaa, Nilesh J Samani, Harold Snieder, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Timothy D Spector, Kari Stefansson, Anke Tönjes, Jaakko Tuomilehto, André G Uitterlinden, Matti Uusitupa, Pim van der Harst, Peter Vollenweider, Henri Wallaschofski, Nicholas J Wareham, Hugh Watkins, H-Erich Wichmann, James F Wilson, Goncalo R Abecasis, Themistocles L Assimes, Inês Barroso, Michael Boehnke, Ingrid B Borecki, Panos Deloukas, Caroline S Fox, Timothy Frayling, Leif C Groop, Talin Haritunian, Iris M Heid, David Hunter, Robert C Kaplan, Fredrik Karpe, Miriam F Moffatt, Karen L Mohlke, Jeffrey R O'Connell, Yudi Pawitan, Eric E Schadt, David Schlessinger, Valgerdur Steinthorsdottir, David P Strachan, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir, Cornelia M van Duijn, Peter M Visscher, Anna Maria Di Blasio, Joel N Hirschhorn, Cecilia M Lindgren, Andrew P Morris, David Meyre, André Scherag, Mark I McCarthy, Elizabeth K Speliotes, Kari E North, Ruth J F Loos, Erik Ingelsson
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture

Sonja I Berndt et al. Nat Genet. 2013 May.

Abstract

Approaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interest statements

Kari Stefansson, Valgerdur Steinthorsdottir, Gudmar Thorleifsson and Unnur Thorsteinsdottir are employed by deCODE Genetics with stock/stock options in the company. Inês Barroso and spouse own stock in Incyte Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline. Eric E. Schadt is Chief Scientific Officier, Pacific Biosciences. Thorkild IA Sørensen has collaborated with Nestlé Research Centre and DSM, The Netherlands, on metabolomics and genomics of obesity and related traits, respectively.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Q-Q plot of the −log10 p-values for the difference between the observed association for the tails of BMI and expected association based on the overall BMI distribution.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Variance in extreme obesity explained by common genetic variants
The phenotypic variance explained is higher when SNPs with lower degrees of significance are included in the polygenetic prediction model. The y-axis represents the proportion of variance explained (Nagelkerke R2) of extreme obesity in six studies not included in the discovery meta-analysis. In panel A, the prediction model was based on the results from the stage I meta-analysis of tails of BMI. The thicker lines represent the weighted average; 95% confidence intervals are reported as double-headed arrows. In panel B, the prediction model was based on BMI from the full distribution (modified version of the previous GIANT meta-analysis by Speliotes et al). * Essen Obesity Study was not adjusted by age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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