@article {6084, title = {Novel loci associated with PR interval in a genome-wide association study of 10 African American cohorts.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {5}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Dec}, pages = {639-46}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The PR interval, as measured by the resting, standard 12-lead ECG, reflects the duration of atrial/atrioventricular nodal depolarization. Substantial evidence exists for a genetic contribution to PR, including genome-wide association studies that have identified common genetic variants at 9 loci influencing PR in populations of European and Asian descent. However, few studies have examined loci associated with PR in African Americans.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We present results from the largest genome-wide association study to date of PR in 13 415 adults of African descent from 10 cohorts. We tested for association between PR (ms) and ≈2.8 million genotyped and imputed single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Imputation was performed using HapMap 2 YRI and CEU panels. Study-specific results, adjusted for global ancestry and clinical correlates of PR, were meta-analyzed using the inverse variance method. Variation in genome-wide test statistic distributions was noted within studies (λ range: 0.9-1.1), although not after genomic control correction was applied to the overall meta-analysis (λ: 1.008). In addition to generalizing previously reported associations with MEIS1, SCN5A, ARHGAP24, CAV1, and TBX5 to African American populations at the genome-wide significance level (P<5.0 {\texttimes} 10(-8)), we also identified a novel locus: ITGA9, located in a region previously implicated in SCN5A expression. The 3p21 region harboring SCN5A also contained 2 additional independent secondary signals influencing PR (P<5.0 {\texttimes} 10(-8)).

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the ability to map novel loci in African Americans as well as the generalizability of loci associated with PR across populations of African, European, and Asian descent.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, Cohort Studies, Electrocardiography, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.112.963991}, author = {Butler, Anne M and Yin, Xiaoyan and Evans, Daniel S and Nalls, Michael A and Smith, Erin N and Tanaka, Toshiko and Li, Guo and Buxbaum, Sarah G and Whitsel, Eric A and Alonso, Alvaro and Arking, Dan E and Benjamin, Emelia J and Berenson, Gerald S and Bis, Josh C and Chen, Wei and Deo, Rajat and Ellinor, Patrick T and Heckbert, Susan R and Heiss, Gerardo and Hsueh, Wen-Chi and Keating, Brendan J and Kerr, Kathleen F and Li, Yun and Limacher, Marian C and Liu, Yongmei and Lubitz, Steven A and Marciante, Kristin D and Mehra, Reena and Meng, Yan A and Newman, Anne B and Newton-Cheh, Christopher and North, Kari E and Palmer, Cameron D and Psaty, Bruce M and Quibrera, P Miguel and Redline, Susan and Reiner, Alex P and Rotter, Jerome I and Schnabel, Renate B and Schork, Nicholas J and Singleton, Andrew B and Smith, J Gustav and Soliman, Elsayed Z and Srinivasan, Sathanur R and Zhang, Zhu-Ming and Zonderman, Alan B and Ferrucci, Luigi and Murray, Sarah S and Evans, Michele K and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Magnani, Jared W and Avery, Christy L} } @article {6078, title = {A meta-analysis identifies new loci associated with body mass index in individuals of African ancestry.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {45}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jun}, pages = {690-6}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 36 loci associated with body mass index (BMI), predominantly in populations of European ancestry. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association of >3.2 million SNPs with BMI in 39,144 men and women of African ancestry and followed up the most significant associations in an additional 32,268 individuals of African ancestry. We identified one new locus at 5q33 (GALNT10, rs7708584, P = 3.4 {\texttimes} 10(-11)) and another at 7p15 when we included data from the GIANT consortium (MIR148A-NFE2L3, rs10261878, P = 1.2 {\texttimes} 10(-10)). We also found suggestive evidence of an association at a third locus at 6q16 in the African-ancestry sample (KLHL32, rs974417, P = 6.9 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Thirty-two of the 36 previously established BMI variants showed directionally consistent effect estimates in our GWAS (binomial P = 9.7 {\texttimes} 10(-7)), five of which reached genome-wide significance. These findings provide strong support for shared BMI loci across populations, as well as for the utility of studying ancestrally diverse populations.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Body Mass Index, Case-Control Studies, Gene Frequency, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2608}, author = {Monda, Keri L and Chen, Gary K and Taylor, Kira C and Palmer, Cameron and Edwards, Todd L and Lange, Leslie A and Ng, Maggie C Y and Adeyemo, Adebowale A and Allison, Matthew A and Bielak, Lawrence F and Chen, Guanjie and Graff, Mariaelisa and Irvin, Marguerite R and Rhie, Suhn K and Li, Guo and Liu, Yongmei and Liu, Youfang and Lu, Yingchang and Nalls, Michael A and Sun, Yan V and Wojczynski, Mary K and Yanek, Lisa R and Aldrich, Melinda C and Ademola, Adeyinka and Amos, Christopher I and Bandera, Elisa V and Bock, Cathryn H and Britton, Angela and Broeckel, Ulrich and Cai, Quiyin and Caporaso, Neil E and Carlson, Chris S and Carpten, John and Casey, Graham and Chen, Wei-Min and Chen, Fang and Chen, Yii-der I and Chiang, Charleston W K and Coetzee, Gerhard A and Demerath, Ellen and Deming-Halverson, Sandra L and Driver, Ryan W and Dubbert, Patricia and Feitosa, Mary F and Feng, Ye and Freedman, Barry I and Gillanders, Elizabeth M and Gottesman, Omri and Guo, Xiuqing and Haritunians, Talin and Harris, Tamara and Harris, Curtis C and Hennis, Anselm J M and Hernandez, Dena G and McNeill, Lorna H and Howard, Timothy D and Howard, Barbara V and Howard, Virginia J and Johnson, Karen C and Kang, Sun J and Keating, Brendan J and Kolb, Suzanne and Kuller, Lewis H and Kutlar, Abdullah and Langefeld, Carl D and Lettre, Guillaume and Lohman, Kurt and Lotay, Vaneet and Lyon, Helen and Manson, JoAnn E and Maixner, William and Meng, Yan A and Monroe, Kristine R and Morhason-Bello, Imran and Murphy, Adam B and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Nadukuru, Rajiv and Nathanson, Katherine L and Nayak, Uma and N{\textquoteright}diaye, Amidou and Nemesure, Barbara and Wu, Suh-Yuh and Leske, M Cristina and Neslund-Dudas, Christine and Neuhouser, Marian and Nyante, Sarah and Ochs-Balcom, Heather and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Ogundiran, Temidayo O and Ojengbede, Oladosu and Olopade, Olufunmilayo I and Palmer, Julie R and Ruiz-Narvaez, Edward A and Palmer, Nicholette D and Press, Michael F and Rampersaud, Evandine and Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J and Rodriguez-Gil, Jorge L and Salako, Babatunde and Schadt, Eric E and Schwartz, Ann G and Shriner, Daniel A and Siscovick, David and Smith, Shad B and Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Spitz, Margaret R and Sucheston, Lara and Taylor, Herman and Tayo, Bamidele O and Tucker, Margaret A and Van Den Berg, David J and Edwards, Digna R Velez and Wang, Zhaoming and Wiencke, John K and Winkler, Thomas W and Witte, John S and Wrensch, Margaret and Wu, Xifeng and Yang, James J and Levin, Albert M and Young, Taylor R and Zakai, Neil A and Cushman, Mary and Zanetti, Krista A and Zhao, Jing Hua and Zhao, Wei and Zheng, Yonglan and Zhou, Jie and Ziegler, Regina G and Zmuda, Joseph M and Fernandes, Jyotika K and Gilkeson, Gary S and Kamen, Diane L and Hunt, Kelly J and Spruill, Ida J and Ambrosone, Christine B and Ambs, Stefan and Arnett, Donna K and Atwood, Larry and Becker, Diane M and Berndt, Sonja I and Bernstein, Leslie and Blot, William J and Borecki, Ingrid B and Bottinger, Erwin P and Bowden, Donald W and Burke, Gregory and Chanock, Stephen J and Cooper, Richard S and Ding, Jingzhong and Duggan, David and Evans, Michele K and Fox, Caroline and Garvey, W Timothy and Bradfield, Jonathan P and Hakonarson, Hakon and Grant, Struan F A and Hsing, Ann and Chu, Lisa and Hu, Jennifer J and Huo, Dezheng and Ingles, Sue A and John, Esther M and Jordan, Joanne M and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kittles, Rick A and Goodman, Phyllis J and Klein, Eric A and Kolonel, Laurence N and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Liu, Simin and McKnight, Barbara and Millikan, Robert C and Mosley, Thomas H and Padhukasahasram, Badri and Williams, L Keoki and Patel, Sanjay R and Peters, Ulrike and Pettaway, Curtis A and Peyser, Patricia A and Psaty, Bruce M and Redline, Susan and Rotimi, Charles N and Rybicki, Benjamin A and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Schreiner, Pamela J and Signorello, Lisa B and Singleton, Andrew B and Stanford, Janet L and Strom, Sara S and Thun, Michael J and Vitolins, Mara and Zheng, Wei and Moore, Jason H and Williams, Scott M and Ketkar, Shamika and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Zonderman, Alan B and Kooperberg, Charles and Papanicolaou, George J and Henderson, Brian E and Reiner, Alex P and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Loos, Ruth J F and North, Kari E and Haiman, Christopher A} } @article {6155, title = {Multiethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in >100 000 subjects identifies 23 fibrinogen-associated Loci but no strong evidence of a causal association between circulating fibrinogen and cardiovascular disease.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {128}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Sep 17}, pages = {1310-24}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Estimates of the heritability of plasma fibrinogen concentration, an established predictor of cardiovascular disease, range from 34\% to 50\%. Genetic variants so far identified by genome-wide association studies explain only a small proportion (<2\%) of its variation.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a meta-analysis of 28 genome-wide association studies including >90 000 subjects of European ancestry, the first genome-wide association meta-analysis of fibrinogen levels in 7 studies in blacks totaling 8289 samples, and a genome-wide association study in Hispanics totaling 1366 samples. Evaluation for association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms with clinical outcomes included a total of 40 695 cases and 85 582 controls for coronary artery disease, 4752 cases and 24 030 controls for stroke, and 3208 cases and 46 167 controls for venous thromboembolism. Overall, we identified 24 genome-wide significant (P<5{\texttimes}10(-8)) independent signals in 23 loci, including 15 novel associations, together accounting for 3.7\% of plasma fibrinogen variation. Gene-set enrichment analysis highlighted key roles in fibrinogen regulation for the 3 structural fibrinogen genes and pathways related to inflammation, adipocytokines, and thyrotrophin-releasing hormone signaling. Whereas lead single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a few loci were significantly associated with coronary artery disease, the combined effect of all 24 fibrinogen-associated lead single-nucleotide polymorphisms was not significant for coronary artery disease, stroke, or venous thromboembolism.

CONCLUSIONS: We identify 23 robustly associated fibrinogen loci, 15 of which are new. Clinical outcome analysis of these loci does not support a causal relationship between circulating levels of fibrinogen and coronary artery disease, stroke, or venous thromboembolism.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Coronary Artery Disease, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Fibrinogen, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hispanic Americans, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Stroke, Venous Thromboembolism, Young Adult}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.002251}, author = {Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Huang, Jie and Chasman, Daniel and Naitza, Silvia and Dehghan, Abbas and Johnson, Andrew D and Teumer, Alexander and Reiner, Alex P and Folkersen, Lasse and Basu, Saonli and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Trompet, Stella and M{\"a}larstig, Anders and Baumert, Jens and Bis, Joshua C and Guo, Xiuqing and Hottenga, Jouke J and Shin, So-Youn and Lopez, Lorna M and Lahti, Jari and Tanaka, Toshiko and Yanek, Lisa R and Oudot-Mellakh, Tiphaine and Wilson, James F and Navarro, Pau and Huffman, Jennifer E and Zemunik, Tatijana and Redline, Susan and Mehra, Reena and Pulanic, Drazen and Rudan, Igor and Wright, Alan F and Kolcic, Ivana and Polasek, Ozren and Wild, Sarah H and Campbell, Harry and Curb, J David and Wallace, Robert and Liu, Simin and Eaton, Charles B and Becker, Diane M and Becker, Lewis C and Bandinelli, Stefania and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Widen, Elisabeth and Palotie, Aarno and Fornage, Myriam and Green, David and Gross, Myron and Davies, Gail and Harris, Sarah E and Liewald, David C and Starr, John M and Williams, Frances M K and Grant, Peter J and Spector, Timothy D and Strawbridge, Rona J and Silveira, Angela and Sennblad, Bengt and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Franco, Oscar H and Hofman, Albert and van Dongen, Jenny and Willemsen, Gonneke and Boomsma, Dorret I and Yao, Jie and Swords Jenny, Nancy and Haritunians, Talin and McKnight, Barbara and Lumley, Thomas and Taylor, Kent D and Rotter, Jerome I and Psaty, Bruce M and Peters, Annette and Gieger, Christian and Illig, Thomas and Grotevendt, Anne and Homuth, Georg and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Kocher, Thomas and Goel, Anuj and Franzosi, Maria Grazia and Seedorf, Udo and Clarke, Robert and Steri, Maristella and Tarasov, Kirill V and Sanna, Serena and Schlessinger, David and Stott, David J and Sattar, Naveed and Buckley, Brendan M and Rumley, Ann and Lowe, Gordon D and McArdle, Wendy L and Chen, Ming-Huei and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Song, Jaejoon and Boerwinkle, Eric and Folsom, Aaron R and Rose, Lynda M and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and Teichert, Martina and Ikram, M Arfan and Mosley, Thomas H and Bevan, Steve and Dichgans, Martin and Rothwell, Peter M and Sudlow, Cathie L M and Hopewell, Jemma C and Chambers, John C and Saleheen, Danish and Kooner, Jaspal S and Danesh, John and Nelson, Christopher P and Erdmann, Jeanette and Reilly, Muredach P and Kathiresan, Sekar and Schunkert, Heribert and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Ferrucci, Luigi and Eriksson, Johan G and Jacobs, David and Deary, Ian J and Soranzo, Nicole and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and de Geus, Eco J C and Tracy, Russell P and Hayward, Caroline and Koenig, Wolfgang and Cucca, Francesco and Jukema, J Wouter and Eriksson, Per and Seshadri, Sudha and Markus, Hugh S and Watkins, Hugh and Samani, Nilesh J and Wallaschofski, Henri and Smith, Nicholas L and Tregouet, David and Ridker, Paul M and Tang, Weihong and Strachan, David P and Hamsten, Anders and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J} } @article {6558, title = {Large multiethnic Candidate Gene Study for C-reactive protein levels: identification of a novel association at CD36 in African Americans.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {133}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Aug}, pages = {985-95}, abstract = {

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a heritable biomarker of systemic inflammation and a predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Large-scale genetic association studies for CRP have largely focused on individuals of European descent. We sought to uncover novel genetic variants for CRP in a multiethnic sample using the ITMAT Broad-CARe (IBC) array, a custom 50,000 SNP gene-centric array having dense coverage of over 2,000 candidate CVD genes. We performed analyses on 7,570 African Americans (AA) from the Candidate gene Association Resource (CARe) study and race-combined meta-analyses that included 29,939 additional individuals of European descent from CARe, the Women{\textquoteright}s Health Initiative (WHI) and KORA studies. We observed array-wide significance (p < 2.2 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) for four loci in AA, three of which have been reported previously in individuals of European descent (IL6R, p = 2.0 {\texttimes} 10(-6); CRP, p = 4.2 {\texttimes} 10(-71); APOE, p = 1.6 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). The fourth significant locus, CD36 (p = 1.6 {\texttimes} 10(-6)), was observed at a functional variant (rs3211938) that is extremely rare in individuals of European descent. We replicated the CD36 finding (p = 1.8 {\texttimes} 10(-5)) in an independent sample of 8,041 AA women from WHI; a meta-analysis combining the CARe and WHI AA results at rs3211938 reached genome-wide significance (p = 1.5 {\texttimes} 10(-10)). In the race-combined meta-analyses, 13 loci reached significance, including ten (CRP, TOMM40/APOE/APOC1, HNF1A, LEPR, GCKR, IL6R, IL1RN, NLRP3, HNF4A and BAZ1B/BCL7B) previously associated with CRP, and one (ARNTL) previously reported to be nominally associated with CRP. Two novel loci were also detected (RPS6KB1, p = 2.0 {\texttimes} 10(-6); CD36, p = 1.4 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). These results highlight both shared and unique genetic risk factors for CRP in AA compared to populations of European descent.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, Aged, Biomarkers, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, CD36 Antigens, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetics, Population, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-014-1439-z}, author = {Ellis, Jaclyn and Lange, Ethan M and Li, Jin and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Baumert, Jens and Walston, Jeremy D and Keating, Brendan J and Durda, Peter and Fox, Ervin R and Palmer, Cameron D and Meng, Yan A and Young, Taylor and Farlow, Deborah N and Schnabel, Renate B and Marzi, Carola S and Larkin, Emma and Martin, Lisa W and Bis, Joshua C and Auer, Paul and Ramachandran, Vasan S and Gabriel, Stacey B and Willis, Monte S and Pankow, James S and Papanicolaou, George J and Rotter, Jerome I and Ballantyne, Christie M and Gross, Myron D and Lettre, Guillaume and Wilson, James G and Peters, Ulrike and Koenig, Wolfgang and Tracy, Russell P and Redline, Susan and Reiner, Alex P and Benjamin, Emelia J and Lange, Leslie A} } @article {7557, title = {Fifteen Genetic Loci Associated With the Electrocardiographic P Wave.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {10}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Aug}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The P wave on an ECG is a measure of atrial electric function, and its characteristics may serve as predictors for atrial arrhythmias. Increased mean P-wave duration and P-wave terminal force traditionally have been used as markers for left atrial enlargement, and both have been associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Here, we explore the genetic basis of P-wave morphology through meta-analysis of genome-wide association study results for P-wave duration and P-wave terminal force from 12 cohort studies.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 44 456 individuals, of which 6778 (16\%) were of African ancestry. Genotyping, imputation, and genome-wide association study were performed at each study site. Summary-level results were meta-analyzed centrally using inverse-variance weighting. In meta-analyses of P-wave duration, we identified 6 significant (P<5{\texttimes}10-8) novel loci and replicated a prior association with SCN10A. We identified 3 loci at SCN5A, TBX5, and CAV1/CAV2 that were jointly associated with the PR interval, PR segment, and P-wave duration. We identified 6 novel loci in meta-analysis of P-wave terminal force. Four of the identified genetic loci were significantly associated with gene expression in 329 left atrial samples. Finally, we observed that some of the loci associated with the P wave were linked to overall atrial conduction, whereas others identified distinct phases of atrial conduction.

CONCLUSIONS: We have identified 6 novel genetic loci associated with P-wave duration and 6 novel loci associated with P-wave terminal force. Future studies of these loci may aid in identifying new targets for drugs that may modify atrial conduction or treat atrial arrhythmias.

}, keywords = {Arrhythmias, Cardiac, Caveolin 1, Caveolin 2, Electrocardiography, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Heart Atria, Humans, NAV1.5 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel, NAV1.8 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel, T-Box Domain Proteins}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001667}, author = {Christophersen, Ingrid E and Magnani, Jared W and Yin, Xiaoyan and Barnard, John and Weng, Lu-Chen and Arking, Dan E and Niemeijer, Maartje N and Lubitz, Steven A and Avery, Christy L and Duan, Qing and Felix, Stephan B and Bis, Joshua C and Kerr, Kathleen F and Isaacs, Aaron and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and M{\"u}ller, Christian and North, Kari E and Reiner, Alex P and Tinker, Lesley F and Kors, Jan A and Teumer, Alexander and Petersmann, Astrid and Sinner, Moritz F and B{\r u}zkov{\'a}, Petra and Smith, Jonathan D and Van Wagoner, David R and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Waldenberger, Melanie and Peters, Annette and Meitinger, Thomas and Limacher, Marian C and Wilhelmsen, Kirk C and Psaty, Bruce M and Hofman, Albert and Uitterlinden, Andre and Krijthe, Bouwe P and Zhang, Zhu-Ming and Schnabel, Renate B and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and van Duijn, Cornelia and Rotter, Jerome I and Sotoodehnia, Nona and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Li, Yun and Chung, Mina K and Soliman, Elsayed Z and Alonso, Alvaro and Whitsel, Eric A and Stricker, Bruno H and Benjamin, Emelia J and Heckbert, Susan R and Ellinor, Patrick T} } @article {7572, title = {Single-trait and multi-trait genome-wide association analyses identify novel loci for blood pressure in African-ancestry populations.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {13}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 May}, pages = {e1006728}, abstract = {

Hypertension is a leading cause of global disease, mortality, and disability. While individuals of African descent suffer a disproportionate burden of hypertension and its complications, they have been underrepresented in genetic studies. To identify novel susceptibility loci for blood pressure and hypertension in people of African ancestry, we performed both single and multiple-trait genome-wide association analyses. We analyzed 21 genome-wide association studies comprised of 31,968 individuals of African ancestry, and validated our results with additional 54,395 individuals from multi-ethnic studies. These analyses identified nine loci with eleven independent variants which reached genome-wide significance (P < 1.25{\texttimes}10-8) for either systolic and diastolic blood pressure, hypertension, or for combined traits. Single-trait analyses identified two loci (TARID/TCF21 and LLPH/TMBIM4) and multiple-trait analyses identified one novel locus (FRMD3) for blood pressure. At these three loci, as well as at GRP20/CDH17, associated variants had alleles common only in African-ancestry populations. Functional annotation showed enrichment for genes expressed in immune and kidney cells, as well as in heart and vascular cells/tissues. Experiments driven by these findings and using angiotensin-II induced hypertension in mice showed altered kidney mRNA expression of six genes, suggesting their potential role in hypertension. Our study provides new evidence for genes related to hypertension susceptibility, and the need to study African-ancestry populations in order to identify biologic factors contributing to hypertension.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Animals, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors, Blood Pressure, Cadherins, Case-Control Studies, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Membrane Proteins, Mice, Multifactorial Inheritance, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1006728}, author = {Liang, Jingjing and Le, Thu H and Edwards, Digna R Velez and Tayo, Bamidele O and Gaulton, Kyle J and Smith, Jennifer A and Lu, Yingchang and Jensen, Richard A and Chen, Guanjie and Yanek, Lisa R and Schwander, Karen and Tajuddin, Salman M and Sofer, Tamar and Kim, Wonji and Kayima, James and McKenzie, Colin A and Fox, Ervin and Nalls, Michael A and Young, J Hunter and Sun, Yan V and Lane, Jacqueline M and Cechova, Sylvia and Zhou, Jie and Tang, Hua and Fornage, Myriam and Musani, Solomon K and Wang, Heming and Lee, Juyoung and Adeyemo, Adebowale and Dreisbach, Albert W and Forrester, Terrence and Chu, Pei-Lun and Cappola, Anne and Evans, Michele K and Morrison, Alanna C and Martin, Lisa W and Wiggins, Kerri L and Hui, Qin and Zhao, Wei and Jackson, Rebecca D and Ware, Erin B and Faul, Jessica D and Reiner, Alex P and Bray, Michael and Denny, Joshua C and Mosley, Thomas H and Palmas, Walter and Guo, Xiuqing and Papanicolaou, George J and Penman, Alan D and Polak, Joseph F and Rice, Kenneth and Taylor, Ken D and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bottinger, Erwin P and Liu, Kiang and Risch, Neil and Hunt, Steven C and Kooperberg, Charles and Zonderman, Alan B and Laurie, Cathy C and Becker, Diane M and Cai, Jianwen and Loos, Ruth J F and Psaty, Bruce M and Weir, David R and Kardia, Sharon L R and Arnett, Donna K and Won, Sungho and Edwards, Todd L and Redline, Susan and Cooper, Richard S and Rao, D C and Rotter, Jerome I and Rotimi, Charles and Levy, Daniel and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Franceschini, Nora} }