Journal article
Genome-wide association studies establish that human intelligence is highly heritable and polygenic
G Davies, A Tenesa, A Payton, J Yang, SE Harris, D Liewald, X Ke, S Le Hellard, A Christoforou, M Luciano, K McGhee, L Lopez, AJ Gow, J Corley, P Redmond, HC Fox, P Haggarty, LJ Whalley, G McNeill, ME Goddard Show all
Molecular Psychiatry | Published : 2011
DOI: 10.1038/mp.2011.85
Abstract
General intelligence is an important human quantitative trait that accounts for much of the variation in diverse cognitive abilities. Individual differences in intelligence are strongly associated with many important life outcomes, including educational and occupational attainments, income, health and lifespan. Data from twin and family studies are consistent with a high heritability of intelligence, but this inference has been controversial. We conducted a genome-wide analysis of 3511 unrelated adults with data on 549 692 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and detailed phenotypes on cognitive traits. We estimate that 40% of the variation in crystallized-type intelligence and 51% of the ..
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Awarded by Scottish Government
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the cohort participants who contributed to these studies. Genotyping of the CAGES cohorts and the analyses conducted here were supported by the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Phenotype collection in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 was supported by the BBSRC, The Royal Society and The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government. Phenotype collection in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 was supported by Research Into Ageing (continues as part of Age UK's The Disconnected Mind project). Phenotype collection in the Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936 was supported by BBSRC, the Welcome Trust and the Alzheimer's Research trust. Phenotype collection in the Manchester and Newcastle Longitudinal Studies of Cognitive Aging cohorts was supported by Social Science Research Council, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Research Into Ageing, Wellcome Trust and Unilever plc. Phenotype collection and genotyping in the Norwegian Cognitive Neuro-Genetics sample was supported by the Research Council of Norway (the FUGE program), the University of Bergen and the Bergen Research Foundation (Bergens Forskingsstiftelse, BFS). The Australian-based researchers acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. ML is a Royal Society of Edinburgh/Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Personal Research Fellow. The work was undertaken in the University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative (G0700704/84698). Funding from the BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC is gratefully acknowledged. This work was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The Royal Society, The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government, Research Into Ageing, Age UK, the Wellcome Trust, the Alzheimer's Research trust, Social Science Research Council, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Unilever plc, Research Council of Norway, the University of Bergen, Bergen Research Foundation, Australian Research Council, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, Royal Society of Edinburgh/Lloyds TSB Foundation and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.