@article {1311, title = {Genetic loci associated with plasma phospholipid n-3 fatty acids: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies from the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jul}, pages = {e1002193}, abstract = {

Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can derive from diet or from α-linolenic acid (ALA) by elongation and desaturation. We investigated the association of common genetic variation with plasma phospholipid levels of the four major n-3 PUFAs by performing genome-wide association studies in five population-based cohorts comprising 8,866 subjects of European ancestry. Minor alleles of SNPs in FADS1 and FADS2 (desaturases) were associated with higher levels of ALA (p = 3 x 10$^{-}$$^{6}$$^{4}$) and lower levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, p = 5 x 10$^{-}$$^{5}$$^{8}$) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, p = 4 x 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}$^{5}$$^{4}$). Minor alleles of SNPs in ELOVL2 (elongase) were associated with higher EPA (p = 2 x 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}{\texttwosuperior}) and DPA (p = 1 x 10$^{-}$$^{4}${\textthreesuperior}) and lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, p = 1 x 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}$^{5}$). In addition to genes in the n-3 pathway, we identified a novel association of DPA with several SNPs in GCKR (glucokinase regulator, p = 1 x 10$^{-}$$^{8}$). We observed a weaker association between ALA and EPA among carriers of the minor allele of a representative SNP in FADS2 (rs1535), suggesting a lower rate of ALA-to-EPA conversion in these subjects. In samples of African, Chinese, and Hispanic ancestry, associations of n-3 PUFAs were similar with a representative SNP in FADS1 but less consistent with a representative SNP in ELOVL2. Our findings show that common variation in n-3 metabolic pathway genes and in GCKR influences plasma phospholipid levels of n-3 PUFAs in populations of European ancestry and, for FADS1, in other ancestries.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Continental Population Groups, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1002193}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Tanaka, Toshiko and Tang, Weihong and Manichaikul, Ani and Foy, Millennia and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Nettleton, Jennifer A and King, Irena B and Weng, Lu-Chen and Bhattacharya, Sayanti and Bandinelli, Stefania and Bis, Joshua C and Rich, Stephen S and Jacobs, David R and Cherubini, Antonio and McKnight, Barbara and Liang, Shuang and Gu, Xiangjun and Rice, Kenneth and Laurie, Cathy C and Lumley, Thomas and Browning, Brian L and Psaty, Bruce M and Chen, Yii-der I and Friedlander, Yechiel and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Wu, Jason H Y and Siscovick, David S and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Arnett, Donna K and Ferrucci, Luigi and Fornage, Myriam and Tsai, Michael Y and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Steffen, Lyn M} }