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Abundant pleiotropy across neuroimaging modalities identified through a multivariate genome-wide association study
The authors uncover extensive genetic overlap across brain structure, functional connectivity, and brain tissue composition using multivariate methods. Insights gained enhance understanding of brain biology and prediction of psychiatric conditions.
- E. P. Tissink
- , A. A. Shadrin
- & O. A. Andreassen
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| Open Access
Using rare genetic mutations to revisit structural brain asymmetry
Asymmetry is a key organising principle of the brain. Here the authors leveraged rare genetic mutations to revisit structural brain asymmetry showing the planum temporale is susceptible to deletions & duplications of specific gene sets.
- Jakub Kopal
- , Kuldeep Kumar
- & Danilo Bzdok
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Genetic imputation of kidney transcriptome, proteome and multi-omics illuminates new blood pressure and hypertension targets
Genetic mechanisms of blood pressure regulation remain poorly defined. Here, the authors perform a kidney multi-omics study to identify 399 kidney effector genes, 11 miRNAs and 97 proteins for blood pressure and hypertension.
- Xiaoguang Xu
- , Chachrit Khunsriraksakul
- & Maciej Tomaszewski
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Integrative genomic analyses identify candidate causal genes for calcific aortic valve stenosis involving tissue-specific regulation
Here the authors report 20 novel genomic risk loci for calcific aortic valve stenosis, the most common heart valve disorder. Using RNA sequencing in 500 human aortic valves, they prioritize candidate causal genes including TWIST1, a gene involved in endothelial-mesenchymal transition.
- Sébastien Thériault
- , Zhonglin Li
- & Yohan Bossé
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Genetic architecture of the structural connectome
The structural connectome is the complete set of anatomical connections between brain cells. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study of white-matter structural connectivity in the human brain, finding 30 variants influencing the density of myelinated connections between brain regions.
- Michael Wainberg
- , Natalie J. Forde
- & Shreejoy J. Tripathy
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Quantitative pathogenicity and host adaptation in a fungal plant pathogen revealed by whole-genome sequencing
The understanding of pathogenicity in quantitative plant pathosystems remains limited. This study reveals the genetic architecture of quantitative pathogenicity traits in a significant fungal plant pathogen, shedding light on potential evolutionary mechanisms involved in host adaptation.
- Reda Amezrou
- , Aurélie Ducasse
- & Thierry C. Marcel
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Genetic influences on circulating retinol and its relationship to human health
Retinol, a form of vitamin A, plays an essential role in many biological processes throughout the human lifespan. Here the authors identify genetic variants that influence the level of circulating retinol and use this information to better understand how retinol impacts human health.
- William R. Reay
- , Dylan J. Kiltschewskij
- & Murray J. Cairns
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GWAS for systemic sclerosis identifies six novel susceptibility loci including one in the Fcγ receptor region
Here, the authors identify six risk SNPs for systemic sclerosis by performing GWAS on Japanese patients and meta-analyzing Japanese and European GWAS datasets. Downstream analyses indicate that B cells contribute to pathogenesis.
- Yuki Ishikawa
- , Nao Tanaka
- & Chikashi Terao
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Multi-trait analysis characterizes the genetics of thyroid function and identifies causal associations with clinical implications
Thyroid dysfunction is involved in many diseases. Here, the authors provide insights into the genetics and biological pathways influencing important thyroid function parameters, showing potential causal effects on many clinical outcomes.
- Rosalie B. T. M. Sterenborg
- , Inga Steinbrenner
- & Marco Medici
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Genetic architecture distinguishes tinnitus from hearing loss
The genetic basis of tinnitus and how it relates to hearing loss genetics is unknown. In a large GWAS for tinnitus, the authors discover tinnitus’ distinct genetic architecture from hearing loss and its correlation with a spectrum of psychiatric disorders.
- Royce E. Clifford
- , Adam X. Maihofer
- & Caroline M. Nievergelt
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Microbiome homeostasis on rice leaves is regulated by a precursor molecule of lignin biosynthesis
The underlying mechanisms of host-driven assembly of phyllosphere microbiota remain largely unknown. Here, 4-hydroxycinnamic acid synthesized by the rice plant’s PAL02 in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway is shown to be the main driver for enrichment of Pseudomonadales bacteria.
- Pin Su
- , Houxiang Kang
- & Yong Liu
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Genome-wide association study meta-analysis of blood pressure traits and hypertension in sub-Saharan African populations: an AWI-Gen study
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease prevalent in Africa. Here the authors report a genome-wide study providing insights into the genetics and physiology of blood pressure variation in African populations.
- Surina Singh
- , Ananyo Choudhury
- & Michèle Ramsay
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Article
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Prediction and stratification of longitudinal risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease across smoking behaviors
Many people who never smoke develop COPD. Here, the authors derive and validate the Socioeconomic and Environmental Risk Score (SERS) which captures cumulative exposure risks beyond tobacco smoking to predict and stratify risk of COPD.
- Yixuan He
- , David C. Qian
- & Chirag J. Patel
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| Open Access
Binge-pattern alcohol consumption and genetic risk as determinants of alcohol-related liver disease
Deaths from alcohol-related liver disease have sharply increased following the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, the authors show that binge-pattern alcohol consumption, genetic factors and the presence of diabetes mellitus confer the greatest risk, allowing targeted interventions for high-risk individuals.
- Chengyi Ding
- , Linda Ng Fat
- & Gautam Mehta
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Accurate and efficient estimation of local heritability using summary statistics and the linkage disequilibrium matrix
The authors propose “HEELS”, a new method for precise local heritability estimation. It significantly reduces the variances of summary-statistics-based heritability estimators, offering an REML-like estimator without requiring individual-level data.
- Hui Li
- , Rahul Mazumder
- & Xihong Lin
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Evaluation of circulating plasma proteins in breast cancer using Mendelian randomisation
Proteomics of blood samples is a promising avenue for cancer diagnosis. Here, the authors conduct Mendelian randomisation analysis of protein levels across multiple cohorts, and identify 5 proteins that show promise as biomarkers for the long-term risk of breast cancer, and as potential drug targets.
- Anders Mälarstig
- , Felix Grassmann
- & Åsa K. Hedman
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Global pathogenomic analysis identifies known and candidate genetic antimicrobial resistance determinants in twelve species
A global analysis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across 27,155 genomes and 69 drugs reveals patterns in AMR gene transfer between species and identifies 142 AMR gene candidates, two of which were tested and confirmed as contributing to AMR.
- Jason C. Hyun
- , Jonathan M. Monk
- & Bernhard O. Palsson
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Integrative genome-wide analyses identify novel loci associated with kidney stones and provide insights into its genetic architecture
Kidney stone disease is a complex disorder with high heritability and prevalence. Here, the authors perform a large genome-wide association study meta-analysis, identifying 28 new loci and genes potentially involved in disease etiology.
- Xingjie Hao
- , Zhonghe Shao
- & Chaolong Wang
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Joint multi-ancestry and admixed GWAS reveals the complex genetics behind human cranial vault shape
The genetic architecture of normal-range cranial vault shape in humans is poorly understood. Here, the authors extract cranial vault shape from MRI and conduct a multi-ancestry GWAS, identifying 30 independently associated genomic loci of which 29 are novel.
- Seppe Goovaerts
- , Hanne Hoskens
- & Peter Claes
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A large meta-analysis identifies genes associated with anterior uveitis
Anterior Uveitis is a common inflammatory eye disease that can result in vision loss. Here, the authors perform GWAS and whole-exome analyses of Anterior Uveitis to identify the underlying genetics of HLA-B*27 positive and negative forms of the disease.
- Sahar Gelfman
- , Arden Moscati
- & Giovanni Coppola
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Leveraging information between multiple population groups and traits improves fine-mapping resolution
Statistical fine-mapping helps to pinpoint likely causal variants underlying genetic association signals, and can be enhanced by using multi-ancestry datasets. Here, the authors introduce MGflashfm, a fine-mapping method for pinpointing likely causal variants amongst multiple traits and population groups.
- Feng Zhou
- , Opeyemi Soremekun
- & Jennifer L. Asimit
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Speos: an ensemble graph representation learning framework to predict core gene candidates for complex diseases
Understanding phenotype-genotype relationships is a grand challenge of current biological research. Here, the authors use graph representation learning to identify human genes which display key characteristics of core genes for five complex diseases.
- Florin Ratajczak
- , Mitchell Joblin
- & Matthias Heinig
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| Open Access
Genome-wide association analysis of plasma lipidome identifies 495 genetic associations
The human plasma lipidome captures risk for cardiometabolic diseases. Here, the authors perform univariate and multivariate genome-wide analyses of 179 lipid species in 7174 Finnish individuals, revealing genetic links between diseases and lipid species beyond the standard lipids HDL-Cholesterol, LDL-Cholesterol, Triglycerides, and total Cholesterol.
- Linda Ottensmann
- , Rubina Tabassum
- & Matti Pirinen
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XMAP: Cross-population fine-mapping by leveraging genetic diversity and accounting for confounding bias
Fine-mapping prioritizes risk variants identified by genome-wide association studies to uncover biological mechanisms underlying complex traits. Here, the authors develop a reliable fine-mapping method (XMAP) by leveraging genetic diversity and accounting for confounding bias.
- Mingxuan Cai
- , Zhiwei Wang
- & Can Yang
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Article
| Open Access
Genome-wide association study of thyroid-stimulating hormone highlights new genes, pathways and associations with thyroid disease
Thyroid hormones play a critical role in regulation of multiple physiological functions. Here the authors via meta-analyses and detailed variant-to-gene mapping strategies implicate novel genes, pathways and associations for thyroid function and disease.
- Alexander T. Williams
- , Jing Chen
- & Catherine John
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| Open Access
A deep population reference panel of tandem repeat variation
Tandem repeats (TRs) comprise some of the most polymorphic regions of the human genome but are difficult to study. Here, the authors develop an ensemble-based genotyping method and characterize 1.7 million TRs across 3,550 humans from diverse populations.
- Helyaneh Ziaei Jam
- , Yang Li
- & Melissa Gymrek
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Article
| Open Access
European and multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of atopic dermatitis highlights importance of systemic immune regulation
The genetic basis of atopic dermatitis is not fully understood. Here, the authors find 91 genetic loci associated with atopic dermatitis in a GWAS of >1million individuals, which highlight the importance of systemic immune regulation.
- Ashley Budu-Aggrey
- , Anna Kilanowski
- & Lavinia Paternoster
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Article
| Open Access
Combining Asian and European genome-wide association studies of colorectal cancer improves risk prediction across racial and ethnic populations
Most genetic studies have been done on European cohorts, which affects the efficacy of polygenic risk scores in non-European populations. Here, the authors demonstrate that a colorectal cancer PRS including Asian and European ancestries has improved performance over the European-centric PRS across racial and ethnic groups.
- Minta Thomas
- , Yu-Ru Su
- & Li Hsu
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Article
| Open Access
Genome-wide association studies and cross-population meta-analyses investigating short and long sleep duration
Here, the authors investigate the genetic basis of short ( ≤ 5 h) and long ( ≥ 10 h) sleep duration, identifying 84 independent significant risk loci for short sleep and 1 locus for long sleep, and causal associations between sleep and psychiatric traits.
- Isabelle Austin-Zimmerman
- , Daniel F. Levey
- & Joel Gelernter
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ADuLT: An efficient and robust time-to-event GWAS
Robust genome-wide association study (GWAS) methods that can utilise time-to-event information such as age-of-onset will help increase power in analyses for common health outcomes. Here, the authors propose a computationally efficient time-to-event model for GWAS.
- Emil M. Pedersen
- , Esben Agerbo
- & Bjarni J. Vilhjálmsson
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Multi-trait discovery and fine-mapping of lipid loci in 125,000 individuals of African ancestry
There have been few genome-wide association studies that analyze multiple lipid traits simultaneously, especially in individuals of African ancestry. To address this, the authors performed a multi-trait analysis of GWAS along with fine-mapping to find new genetic loci associated with lipid traits in individuals of African ancestry.
- Abram Bunya Kamiza
- , Sounkou M. Touré
- & Segun Fatumo
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Demonstrating paths for unlocking the value of cloud genomics through cross cohort analysis
The emergence of large-scale genomics projects has led to genetic studies across cohorts. Here, the authors conduct genome-wide association studies meta-analyzing in trusted research environments or pooling together and find similar, but not identical results.
- Nicole Deflaux
- , Margaret Sunitha Selvaraj
- & Alexander G. Bick
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| Open Access
Accurate haplotype construction and detection of selection signatures enabled by high quality pig genome sequences
Accurate haplotypes with abundant genomic variations benefit genetic research. Here, the authors accurately construct 1,874 pig haplotypes and demonstrate their applications in genome-wide association studies, prediction of breeding values and analyses of evolutionary selection.
- Xinkai Tong
- , Dong Chen
- & Lusheng Huang
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| Open Access
Environmental and genetic predictors of human cardiovascular ageing
Cardiovascular ageing is characterised by a progressive decline in function, which contributes to multi-morbidity. Here, the authors use machine learning to predict biological age and identify key genetic risk factors.
- Mit Shah
- , Marco H. de A. Inácio
- & Declan P. O’Regan
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Genome-wide association studies reveal novel loci associated with pyrethroid and organophosphate resistance in Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii
Insecticide resistance in mosquitoes threatens the success of malaria control programmes. This study found that in different populations of a malaria mosquito species in West Africa, resistance is associated with different genes or different mutations in the same set of genes.
- Eric R. Lucas
- , Sanjay C. Nagi
- & David Weetman
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Genetic insights into resting heart rate and its role in cardiovascular disease
The genetics and clinical consequences of resting heart rate (RHR) remain incompletely understood. Here, the authors discover new genetic variants associated with RHR and find that higher genetically predicted RHR decreases risk of atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke.
- Yordi J. van de Vegte
- , Ruben N. Eppinga
- & Pim van der Harst
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| Open Access
Genome-wide identification and phenotypic characterization of seizure-associated copy number variations in 741,075 individuals
Here, the authors perform a meta-analysis in 26,699 people with seizures and 492,324 controls to identify 25 genome-wide significant copy-number variants. The discovered loci point to known disease genes and associations with clinical annotations.
- Ludovica Montanucci
- , David Lewis-Smith
- & Dennis Lal
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Genome-wide association analysis and Mendelian randomization proteomics identify drug targets for heart failure
Here, the authors perform a large-scale meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies and cis-MR proteomics to identify protein biomarkers and drug targets for heart failure.
- Danielle Rasooly
- , Gina M. Peloso
- & Juan P. Casas
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| Open Access
Joint analysis of phenotype-effect-generation identifies loci associated with grain quality traits in rice hybrids
Genetic dissection of hybrids is more difficult than inbreds as nonadditive effects are involved. Here, the authors report a pipeline for joint analysis of phenotypes, effects, and generations and demonstrate its usefulness in identification of loci associated with quality traits and improving predict accuracy in genomic selection of hybrid rice.
- Lanzhi Li
- , Xingfei Zheng
- & Zhongli Hu
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| Open Access
UBAP2 plays a role in bone homeostasis through the regulation of osteoblastogenesis and osteoclastogenesis
The authors identify UBAP2 as a novel osteoporosis susceptibility gene by performing association studies focusing on coding regions of the genome, and report that it plays a role in bone homeostasis through the regulation of bone remodelling.
- Jeonghyun Kim
- , Bo-Young Kim
- & Seon-Yong Jeong
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Article
| Open Access
Pan-cancer and cross-population genome-wide association studies dissect shared genetic backgrounds underlying carcinogenesis
Investigating genetically correlated cancers can enhance our understanding of carcinogenesis. Here, the authors perform Pan-cancer and cross-population GWAS meta-analysis to identify novel cancer risk loci and highlight shared heritability between breast and prostate cancer.
- Go Sato
- , Yuya Shirai
- & Yukinori Okada
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Comment
| Open Access
Unravelling the genetic architecture of human complex traits through whole genome sequencing
Whole genome sequencing has enabled new insights into the genetic architecture of complex traits, especially through access to low-frequency and rare variation. This Comment highlights the key contributions from this technology and discusses considerations for its use and future perspectives.
- Ozvan Bocher
- , Cristen J. Willer
- & Eleftheria Zeggini
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Article
| Open Access
Whole-Genome Sequencing Analysis of Human Metabolome in Multi-Ethnic Populations
Here, the authors perform a whole-genome sequencing association analysis of genetic variants in ≤11,840 multi-ethnic participants with ≤1666 circulating metabolites, discovering 1985 novel variant-metabolite associations and insights into human disease.
- Elena V. Feofanova
- , Michael R. Brown
- & Bing Yu
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Article
| Open Access
Genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma in East Asia and comparison with a European population
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have improved our understanding of the genetic basis of lung adenocarcinoma but known susceptibility variants explain only a small fraction of the familial risk. Here, the authors perform a two-stage GWAS and report 12 novel genetic loci associated with lung adenocarcinoma in East Asians.
- Jianxin Shi
- , Kouya Shiraishi
- & Qing Lan
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Article
| Open Access
Narcolepsy risk loci outline role of T cell autoimmunity and infectious triggers in narcolepsy
Narcolepsy has genetic and environmental risk factors, but the specific genetic risk loci and interaction with environmental triggers are not well understood. Here, the authors identify genetic loci for narcolepsy, suggesting infection as a trigger and dendritic and helper T cell involvement.
- Hanna M. Ollila
- , Eilon Sharon
- & Emmanuel J. Mignot
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| Open Access
Cross-disorder genetic analysis of immune diseases reveals distinct gene associations that converge on common pathways
Immune related diseases have been found to have overlapping genetic susceptibility loci. Here the authors perform cross-disorder genetic analysis to uncover three genetic groups of immune diseases that converge on the same immune cells and pathways.
- Pietro Demela
- , Nicola Pirastu
- & Blagoje Soskic
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Article
| Open Access
Genetics implicates overactive osteogenesis in the development of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis
The genetic contribution to risk of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis has been unclear. Here, the authors find genetic variation associated with Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis, finding phenotypic and genetic association with increased bone mass throughout the skeletal system.
- Anurag Sethi
- , J. Graham Ruby
- & Eugene Melamud
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Article
| Open Access
Cross-modal autoencoder framework learns holistic representations of cardiovascular state
A challenge in diagnostics is integrating different data modalities to characterize physiological state. Here, the authors show, using the heart as a model system, that cross-modal autoencoders can integrate and translate modalities to improve diagnostics and identify associated genetic variants.
- Adityanarayanan Radhakrishnan
- , Sam F. Friedman
- & Caroline Uhler
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| Open Access
A regulatory variant at 19p13.3 is associated with primary biliary cholangitis risk and ARID3A expression
Primary biliary cholangitis is a rare, chronic immune-mediated liver disease triggered by environmental exposures in genetically susceptible individuals. Here, the authors investigate the functional mechanism underlying the association of 19p13.3 variants with primary biliary cholangitis.
- You Li
- , Zhiqiang Li
- & Xiong Ma
Genetic control of DNA methylation is largely shared across European and East Asian populations