@article {6175, title = {FTO genotype is associated with phenotypic variability of body mass index.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {490}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Oct 11}, pages = {267-72}, abstract = {

There is evidence across several species for genetic control of phenotypic variation of complex traits, such that the variance among phenotypes is genotype dependent. Understanding genetic control of variability is important in evolutionary biology, agricultural selection programmes and human medicine, yet for complex traits, no individual genetic variants associated with variance, as opposed to the mean, have been identified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of phenotypic variation using \~{}170,000 samples on height and body mass index (BMI) in human populations. We report evidence that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs7202116 at the FTO gene locus, which is known to be associated with obesity (as measured by mean BMI for each rs7202116 genotype), is also associated with phenotypic variability. We show that the results are not due to scale effects or other artefacts, and find no other experiment-wise significant evidence for effects on variability, either at loci other than FTO for BMI or at any locus for height. The difference in variance for BMI among individuals with opposite homozygous genotypes at the FTO locus is approximately 7\%, corresponding to a difference of \~{}0.5 kilograms in the standard deviation of weight. Our results indicate that genetic variants can be discovered that are associated with variability, and that between-person variability in obesity can partly be explained by the genotype at the FTO locus. The results are consistent with reported FTO by environment interactions for BMI, possibly mediated by DNA methylation. Our BMI results for other SNPs and our height results for all SNPs suggest that most genetic variants, including those that influence mean height or mean BMI, are not associated with phenotypic variance, or that their effects on variability are too small to detect even with samples sizes greater than 100,000.

}, keywords = {Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO, Body Height, Body Mass Index, Co-Repressor Proteins, Female, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Repressor Proteins}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature11401}, author = {Yang, Jian and Loos, Ruth J F and Powell, Joseph E and Medland, Sarah E and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Chasman, Daniel I and Rose, Lynda M and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Waite, Lindsay and Smith, Albert Vernon and Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M and Monda, Keri L and Hadley, David and Mahajan, Anubha and Li, Guo and Kapur, Karen and Vitart, Veronique and Huffman, Jennifer E and Wang, Sophie R and Palmer, Cameron and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Fischer, Krista and Zhao, Jing Hua and Demirkan, Ayse and Isaacs, Aaron and Feitosa, Mary F and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and White, Charles and Jackson, Anne U and Preuss, Michael and Ziegler, Andreas and Eriksson, Joel and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Frau, Francesca and Nolte, Ilja M and van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Jacobs, Kevin B and Verweij, Niek and Goel, Anuj and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and Estrada, Karol and Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer Lynn and Sanna, Serena and Sidore, Carlo and Tyrer, Jonathan and Teumer, Alexander and Prokopenko, Inga and Mangino, Massimo and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Assimes, Themistocles L and Shuldiner, Alan R and Hui, Jennie and Beilby, John P and McArdle, Wendy L and Hall, Per and Haritunians, Talin and Zgaga, Lina and Kolcic, Ivana and Polasek, Ozren and Zemunik, Tatijana and Oostra, Ben A and Junttila, M Juhani and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Schreiber, Stefan and Peters, Annette and Hicks, Andrew A and Stephens, Jonathan and Foad, Nicola S and Laitinen, Jaana and Pouta, Anneli and Kaakinen, Marika and Willemsen, Gonneke and Vink, Jacqueline M and Wild, Sarah H and Navis, Gerjan and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Homuth, Georg and John, Ulrich and Iribarren, Carlos and Harris, Tamara and Launer, Lenore and Gudnason, Vilmundur and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Boerwinkle, Eric and Cadby, Gemma and Palmer, Lyle J and James, Alan L and Musk, Arthur W and Ingelsson, Erik and Psaty, Bruce M and Beckmann, Jacques S and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Vollenweider, Peter and Hayward, Caroline and Wright, Alan F and Rudan, Igor and Groop, Leif C and Metspalu, Andres and Khaw, Kay Tee and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Province, Michael A and Wareham, Nicholas J and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Huikuri, Heikki V and Cupples, L Adrienne and Atwood, Larry D and Fox, Caroline S and Boehnke, Michael and Collins, Francis S and Mohlke, Karen L and Erdmann, Jeanette and Schunkert, Heribert and Hengstenberg, Christian and Stark, Klaus and Lorentzon, Mattias and Ohlsson, Claes and Cusi, Daniele and Staessen, Jan A and van der Klauw, Melanie M and Pramstaller, Peter P and Kathiresan, Sekar and Jolley, Jennifer D and Ripatti, Samuli and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and de Geus, Eco J C and Boomsma, Dorret I and Penninx, Brenda and Wilson, James F and Campbell, Harry and Chanock, Stephen J and van der Harst, Pim and Hamsten, Anders and Watkins, Hugh and Hofman, Albert and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Zillikens, M Carola and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Zillikens, M Carola and Kiemeney, Lambertus A and Vermeulen, Sita H and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Schlessinger, David and Schipf, Sabine and Stumvoll, Michael and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Spector, Tim D and North, Kari E and Lettre, Guillaume and McCarthy, Mark I and Berndt, Sonja I and Heath, Andrew C and Madden, Pamela A F and Nyholt, Dale R and Montgomery, Grant W and Martin, Nicholas G and McKnight, Barbara and Strachan, David P and Hill, William G and Snieder, Harold and Ridker, Paul M and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Stefansson, Kari and Frayling, Timothy M and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Goddard, Michael E and Visscher, Peter M} } @article {6092, title = {Genome-wide association studies identify CHRNA5/3 and HTR4 in the development of airflow obstruction.}, journal = {Am J Respir Crit Care Med}, volume = {186}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Oct 01}, pages = {622-32}, abstract = {

RATIONALE: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified loci influencing lung function, but fewer genes influencing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are known.

OBJECTIVES: Perform meta-analyses of GWAS for airflow obstruction, a key pathophysiologic characteristic of COPD assessed by spirometry, in population-based cohorts examining all participants, ever smokers, never smokers, asthma-free participants, and more severe cases.

METHODS: Fifteen cohorts were studied for discovery (3,368 affected; 29,507 unaffected), and a population-based family study and a meta-analysis of case-control studies were used for replication and regional follow-up (3,837 cases; 4,479 control subjects). Airflow obstruction was defined as FEV(1) and its ratio to FVC (FEV(1)/FVC) both less than their respective lower limits of normal as determined by published reference equations.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The discovery meta-analyses identified one region on chromosome 15q25.1 meeting genome-wide significance in ever smokers that includes AGPHD1, IREB2, and CHRNA5/CHRNA3 genes. The region was also modestly associated among never smokers. Gene expression studies confirmed the presence of CHRNA5/3 in lung, airway smooth muscle, and bronchial epithelial cells. A single-nucleotide polymorphism in HTR4, a gene previously related to FEV(1)/FVC, achieved genome-wide statistical significance in combined meta-analysis. Top single-nucleotide polymorphisms in ADAM19, RARB, PPAP2B, and ADAMTS19 were nominally replicated in the COPD meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest an important role for the CHRNA5/3 region as a genetic risk factor for airflow obstruction that may be independent of smoking and implicate the HTR4 gene in the etiology of airflow obstruction.

}, keywords = {Aged, Female, Forced Expiratory Volume, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, Receptors, Nicotinic, Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT4, Smoking, Vital Capacity}, issn = {1535-4970}, doi = {10.1164/rccm.201202-0366OC}, author = {Wilk, Jemma B and Shrine, Nick R G and Loehr, Laura R and Zhao, Jing Hua and Manichaikul, Ani and Lopez, Lorna M and Smith, Albert Vernon and Heckbert, Susan R and Smolonska, Joanna and Tang, Wenbo and Loth, Daan W and Curjuric, Ivan and Hui, Jennie and Cho, Michael H and Latourelle, Jeanne C and Henry, Amanda P and Aldrich, Melinda and Bakke, Per and Beaty, Terri H and Bentley, Amy R and Borecki, Ingrid B and Brusselle, Guy G and Burkart, Kristin M and Chen, Ting-Hsu and Couper, David and Crapo, James D and Davies, Gail and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Franceschini, Nora and Gulsvik, Amund and Hancock, Dana B and Harris, Tamara B and Hofman, Albert and Imboden, Medea and James, Alan L and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Lahousse, Lies and Launer, Lenore J and Litonjua, Augusto and Liu, Yongmei and Lohman, Kurt K and Lomas, David A and Lumley, Thomas and Marciante, Kristin D and McArdle, Wendy L and Meibohm, Bernd and Morrison, Alanna C and Musk, Arthur W and Myers, Richard H and North, Kari E and Postma, Dirkje S and Psaty, Bruce M and Rich, Stephen S and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rochat, Thierry and Rotter, Jerome I and Soler Artigas, Maria and Starr, John M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Wareham, Nicholas J and Wijmenga, Cisca and Zanen, Pieter and Province, Michael A and Silverman, Edwin K and Deary, Ian J and Palmer, Lyle J and Cassano, Patricia A and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Barr, R Graham and Loos, Ruth J F and Strachan, David P and London, Stephanie J and Boezen, H Marike and Probst-Hensch, Nicole and Gharib, Sina A and Hall, Ian P and O{\textquoteright}Connor, George T and Tobin, Martin D and Stricker, Bruno H} } @article {6088, title = {Genome-wide joint meta-analysis of SNP and SNP-by-smoking interaction identifies novel loci for pulmonary function.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {8}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {e1003098}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies have identified numerous genetic loci for spirometic measures of pulmonary function, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)), and its ratio to forced vital capacity (FEV(1)/FVC). Given that cigarette smoking adversely affects pulmonary function, we conducted genome-wide joint meta-analyses (JMA) of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and SNP-by-smoking (ever-smoking or pack-years) associations on FEV(1) and FEV(1)/FVC across 19 studies (total N = 50,047). We identified three novel loci not previously associated with pulmonary function. SNPs in or near DNER (smallest P(JMA = )5.00{\texttimes}10(-11)), HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DQA2 (smallest P(JMA = )4.35{\texttimes}10(-9)), and KCNJ2 and SOX9 (smallest P(JMA = )1.28{\texttimes}10(-8)) were associated with FEV(1)/FVC or FEV(1) in meta-analysis models including SNP main effects, smoking main effects, and SNP-by-smoking (ever-smoking or pack-years) interaction. The HLA region has been widely implicated for autoimmune and lung phenotypes, unlike the other novel loci, which have not been widely implicated. We evaluated DNER, KCNJ2, and SOX9 and found them to be expressed in human lung tissue. DNER and SOX9 further showed evidence of differential expression in human airway epithelium in smokers compared to non-smokers. Our findings demonstrated that joint testing of SNP and SNP-by-environment interaction identified novel loci associated with complex traits that are missed when considering only the genetic main effects.

}, keywords = {Forced Expiratory Volume, Gene Expression, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, HLA-DQ Antigens, HLA-DQ beta-Chains, Humans, Lung, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Potassium Channels, Inwardly Rectifying, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, Receptors, Cell Surface, Smoking, SOX9 Transcription Factor, Vital Capacity}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1003098}, author = {Hancock, Dana B and Soler Artigas, Maria and Gharib, Sina A and Henry, Amanda and Manichaikul, Ani and Ramasamy, Adaikalavan and Loth, Daan W and Imboden, Medea and Koch, Beate and McArdle, Wendy L and Smith, Albert V and Smolonska, Joanna and Sood, Akshay and Tang, Wenbo and Wilk, Jemma B and Zhai, Guangju and Zhao, Jing Hua and Aschard, Hugues and Burkart, Kristin M and Curjuric, Ivan and Eijgelsheim, Mark and Elliott, Paul and Gu, Xiangjun and Harris, Tamara B and Janson, Christer and Homuth, Georg and Hysi, Pirro G and Liu, Jason Z and Loehr, Laura R and Lohman, Kurt and Loos, Ruth J F and Manning, Alisa K and Marciante, Kristin D and Obeidat, Ma{\textquoteright}en and Postma, Dirkje S and Aldrich, Melinda C and Brusselle, Guy G and Chen, Ting-Hsu and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Franceschini, Nora and Heinrich, Joachim and Rotter, Jerome I and Wijmenga, Cisca and Williams, O Dale and Bentley, Amy R and Hofman, Albert and Laurie, Cathy C and Lumley, Thomas and Morrison, Alanna C and Joubert, Bonnie R and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Couper, David J and Kritchevsky, Stephen B and Liu, Yongmei and Wjst, Matthias and Wain, Louise V and Vonk, Judith M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rochat, Thierry and Rich, Stephen S and Psaty, Bruce M and O{\textquoteright}Connor, George T and North, Kari E and Mirel, Daniel B and Meibohm, Bernd and Launer, Lenore J and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Hammond, Christopher J and Gl{\"a}ser, Sven and Marchini, Jonathan and Kraft, Peter and Wareham, Nicholas J and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Stricker, Bruno H C and Spector, Timothy D and Probst-Hensch, Nicole M and Jarvis, Deborah and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Heckbert, Susan R and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Boezen, H Marike and Barr, R Graham and Cassano, Patricia A and Strachan, David P and Fornage, Myriam and Hall, Ian P and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Tobin, Martin D and London, Stephanie J} } @article {6367, title = {Genome-wide association study for circulating tissue plasminogen activator levels and functional follow-up implicates endothelial STXBP5 and STX2.}, journal = {Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol}, volume = {34}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 May}, pages = {1093-101}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a serine protease, catalyzes the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, the major enzyme responsible for endogenous fibrinolysis. In some populations, elevated plasma levels of tPA have been associated with myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular diseases. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to identify novel correlates of circulating levels of tPA.

APPROACH AND RESULTS: Fourteen cohort studies with tPA measures (N=26 929) contributed to the meta-analysis. Three loci were significantly associated with circulating tPA levels (P<5.0{\texttimes}10(-8)). The first locus is on 6q24.3, with the lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; rs9399599; P=2.9{\texttimes}10(-14)) within STXBP5. The second locus is on 8p11.21. The lead SNP (rs3136739; P=1.3{\texttimes}10(-9)) is intronic to POLB and <200 kb away from the tPA encoding the gene PLAT. We identified a nonsynonymous SNP (rs2020921) in modest linkage disequilibrium with rs3136739 (r(2)=0.50) within exon 5 of PLAT (P=2.0{\texttimes}10(-8)). The third locus is on 12q24.33, with the lead SNP (rs7301826; P=1.0{\texttimes}10(-9)) within intron 7 of STX2. We further found evidence for the association of lead SNPs in STXBP5 and STX2 with expression levels of the respective transcripts. In in vitro cell studies, silencing STXBP5 decreased the release of tPA from vascular endothelial cells, whereas silencing STX2 increased the tPA release. Through an in silico lookup, we found no associations of the 3 lead SNPs with coronary artery disease or stroke.

CONCLUSIONS: We identified 3 loci associated with circulating tPA levels, the PLAT region, STXBP5, and STX2. Our functional studies implicate a novel role for STXBP5 and STX2 in regulating tPA release.

}, keywords = {Aged, Cells, Cultured, Coronary Artery Disease, Endothelial Cells, Europe, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Gene Silencing, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, R-SNARE Proteins, Risk Factors, Stroke, Syntaxin 1, Tissue Plasminogen Activator, Transfection, United States, Up-Regulation}, issn = {1524-4636}, doi = {10.1161/ATVBAHA.113.302088}, author = {Huang, Jie and Huffman, Jennifer E and Yamakuchi, Munekazu and Yamkauchi, Munekazu and Trompet, Stella and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Chen, Wei-Min and Smith, Nicholas L and Kleber, Marcus E and Shin, So-Youn and Becker, Diane M and Tang, Weihong and Dehghan, Abbas and Johnson, Andrew D and Truong, Vinh and Folkersen, Lasse and Yang, Qiong and Oudot-Mellkah, Tiphaine and Buckley, Brendan M and Moore, Jason H and Williams, Frances M K and Campbell, Harry and Silbernagel, G{\"u}nther and Vitart, Veronique and Rudan, Igor and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Navis, Gerjan J and DeStefano, Anita and Wright, Alan F and Chen, Ming-Huei and de Craen, Anton J M and Worrall, Bradford B and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Rumley, Ann and Bookman, Ebony B and Psaty, Bruce M and Chen, Fang and Keene, Keith L and Franco, Oscar H and B{\"o}hm, Bernhard O and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Carter, Angela M and Jukema, J Wouter and Sattar, Naveed and Bis, Joshua C and Ikram, Mohammad A and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and McKnight, Barbara and Fornage, Myriam and Ford, Ian and Taylor, Kent and Slagboom, P Eline and McArdle, Wendy L and Hsu, Fang-Chi and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and Goodall, Alison H and Yanek, Lisa R and Furie, Karen L and Cushman, Mary and Hofman, Albert and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Folsom, Aaron R and Basu, Saonli and Matijevic, Nena and van Gilst, Wiek H and Wilson, James F and Westendorp, Rudi G J and Kathiresan, Sekar and Reilly, Muredach P and Tracy, Russell P and Polasek, Ozren and Winkelmann, Bernhard R and Grant, Peter J and Hillege, Hans L and Cambien, Francois and Stott, David J and Lowe, Gordon D and Spector, Timothy D and Meigs, James B and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Eriksson, Per and Becker, Lewis C and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Soranzo, Nicole and Williams, Scott M and Hayward, Caroline and van der Harst, Pim and Hamsten, Anders and Lowenstein, Charles J and Strachan, David P and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J} }