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Missing heritability found for height

A combined analysis of 281 genome-wide association studies finds 12,111 common DNA variants associated with a person’s height — and shows that larger studies will not yield more variants in populations of European ancestry.
  1. Karoline Kuchenbaecker

    1. Karoline Kuchenbaecker is in the Division of Psychiatry and the UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

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One of the largest human genetic studies so far has just been completed. Writing in Nature, Yengo et al.1 describe how they have used genetic data from almost 5.4 million people to identify DNA variants associated with differences in height between individuals. Remarkably, they show that they have reached the point at which more data will not reveal more variants — at least for some populations. This feat marks a milestone in our understanding of the contribution of genetics to complex traits. It also highlights the essential work still to be done to close the diversity gap in existing genetic data.

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Nature 610, 631-632 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03029-4

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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