To date, genome-wide association studies have focused on variants that influence the magnitude of a trait, but evidence from several species suggests that phenotypic variability has some degree of genetic control. A study has now identified the first example of an individual genetic variant associated with variability of a complex trait. Yang et al. conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for phenotypic variability in body mass index and height and found a SNP at the FTO locus that is associated with variability in body mass index. The authors found no SNPs that were associated with variability in height. As this study included ~170,000 samples, it suggests that most SNPs are not associated with phenotypic variability (or that they have very small effects on variability).
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Yang, J. et al. FTO genotype is associated with phenotypic variability of body mass index. Nature 16 Sep 2012 (doi:10.1038/nature11401)
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Muers, M. Variant associated with phenotypic variability. Nat Rev Genet 13, 756 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3358
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3358