Genome Partitioning of Genetic Variation for Complex Traits Using Common SNPs

Overview

Journal Nat Genet

Specialty Genetics

Date 2011 May 10

PMID 21552263

Citations 507

Authors

Jian Yang

Teri A Manolio

Louis R Pasquale

Eric Boerwinkle

Neil Caporaso

Julie M Cunningham

Mariza de Andrade

Bjarke Feenstra

Eleanor Feingold

M Geoffrey Hayes

William G Hill

Maria Teresa Landi

Alvaro Alonso

Guillaume Lettre

Peng Lin

Hua Ling

William Lowe

Rasika A Mathias

Mads Melbye

Elizabeth Pugh

Marilyn C Cornelis

Bruce S Weir

Michael E Goddard

Peter M Visscher

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We estimate and partition genetic variation for height, body mass index (BMI), von Willebrand factor and QT interval (QTi) using 586,898 SNPs genotyped on 11,586 unrelated individuals. We estimate that ∼45%, ∼17%, ∼25% and ∼21% of the variance in height, BMI, von Willebrand factor and QTi, respectively, can be explained by all autosomal SNPs and a further ∼0.5-1% can be explained by X chromosome SNPs. We show that the variance explained by each chromosome is proportional to its length, and that SNPs in or near genes explain more variation than SNPs between genes. We propose a new approach to estimate variation due to cryptic relatedness and population stratification. Our results provide further evidence that a substantial proportion of heritability is captured by common SNPs, that height, BMI and QTi are highly polygenic traits, and that the additive variation explained by a part of the genome is approximately proportional to the total length of DNA contained within genes therein.

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