Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function

G Davies; M Lam; SE Harris; JW Trampush; M Luciano; WD Hill; SP Hagenaars; SJ Ritchie; RE Marioni; C Fawns-Ritchie; DCM Liewald; JA Okely; AV Ahola-Olli; CLK Barnes; L Bertram; JC Bis; KE Burdick; A Christoforou; P Derosse; S Djurovic; T Espeseth; S Giakoumaki; S Giddaluru; DE Gustavson; C Hayward; E Hofer; MA Ikram; R Karlsson; E Knowles; J Lahti; M Leber; S Li; KA Mather; I Melle; D Morris; C Oldmeadow; T Palviainen; A Payton; R Pazoki; K Petrovic; CA Reynolds; M Sargurupremraj; M Scholz; JA Smith; AV Smith; N Terzikhan; A Thalamuthu; S Trompet; SJ Van Der Lee; EB Ware; BG Windham; MJ Wright; J Yang; J Yu; D Ames; N Amin; P Amouyel; OA Andreassen; NJ Armstrong; AA Assareh; JR Attia; D Attix; D Avramopoulos; DA Bennett; AC Böhmer; PA Boyle; H Brodaty; H Campbell; TD Cannon; ET Cirulli; E Congdon; ED Conley; J Corley; SR Cox; AM Dale; A Dehghan; D Dick; D Dickinson; JG Eriksson; E Evangelou; JD Faul; I Ford; NA Freimer; H Gao; I Giegling; NA Gillespie; SD Gordon; RF Gottesman; ME Griswold; V Gudnason; TB Harris; AM Hartmann; A Hatzimanolis; G Heiss; EG Holliday; PK Joshi; M Kähönen; SLR Kardia; I Karlsson; L Kleineidam

Journal article

Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function

G Davies, M Lam, SE Harris, JW Trampush, M Luciano, WD Hill, SP Hagenaars, SJ Ritchie, RE Marioni, C Fawns-Ritchie, DCM Liewald, JA Okely, AV Ahola-Olli, CLK Barnes, L Bertram, JC Bis, KE Burdick, A Christoforou, P Derosse, S Djurovic Show all

Nature Communications | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04362-x

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Abstract

General cognitive function is a prominent and relatively stable human trait that is associated with many important life outcomes. We combine cognitive and genetic data from the CHARGE and COGENT consortia, and UK Biobank (total N = 300,486; age 16-102) and find 148 genome-wide significant independent loci (P < 5 × 10-8) associated with general cognitive function. Within the novel genetic loci are variants associated with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, physical and psychiatric illnesses, and brain structure. Gene-based analyses find 709 genes associated with general cognitive function. Expression levels across the cortex are associated with general cognitive function. Usi..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

David Ames Author

Grants

Awarded by UK Research and Innovation

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was conducted in The University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Medical Research Council (MR/K026992/1). This research was conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (Application Nos. 10279 and 4844). The Neurology Working Group within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology is partly supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG033193, U01 AG049505 and U01 AG052409). Cohort-specific acknowledgements are in Supplementary Note 3.