Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment.

Nature
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Nature
Volume
533
Issue
7604
Pages
539-42
Date Published
2016 05 26
ISSN
1476-4687
URL
DOI
10.1038/nature17671
PubMed ID
27225129
PubMed Central ID
PMC4883595
Links
Grant list
R01 DA036216 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States
RF1 AG015819 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01 AG017917 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
MR/J012165/1 / Medical Research Council / United Kingdom
MC_UU_12013/1 / Medical Research Council / United Kingdom
MC_UU_12013/4 / Medical Research Council / United Kingdom
CZD/16/6/4 / Chief Scientist Office / United Kingdom
MC_PC_U127561128 / Medical Research Council / United Kingdom
T32-AG000186-23 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P01-AG005842 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01-AG042568 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P30-AG012810 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P01 AG005842 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R37 DA005147 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States
P30 AG012810 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01 AG042568 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
T32 AG000186 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
BB/F022441/1 / Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council / United Kingdom
P01-AG005842-20S2 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
647648 / European Research Council / International