@article {1355, title = {New gene functions in megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {480}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Nov 30}, pages = {201-8}, abstract = {

Platelets are the second most abundant cell type in blood and are essential for maintaining haemostasis. Their count and volume are tightly controlled within narrow physiological ranges, but there is only limited understanding of the molecular processes controlling both traits. Here we carried out a high-powered meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in up to 66,867 individuals of European ancestry, followed by extensive biological and functional assessment. We identified 68 genomic loci reliably associated with platelet count and volume mapping to established and putative novel regulators of megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation. These genes show megakaryocyte-specific gene expression patterns and extensive network connectivity. Using gene silencing in Danio rerio and Drosophila melanogaster, we identified 11 of the genes as novel regulators of blood cell formation. Taken together, our findings advance understanding of novel gene functions controlling fate-determining events during megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation, providing a new example of successful translation of GWAS to function.

}, keywords = {Animals, Blood Platelets, Cell Size, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Proteins, Europe, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Silencing, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hematopoiesis, Humans, Megakaryocytes, Platelet Count, Protein Interaction Maps, Transcription, Genetic, Zebrafish, Zebrafish Proteins}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature10659}, author = {Gieger, Christian and Radhakrishnan, Aparna and Cvejic, Ana and Tang, Weihong and Porcu, Eleonora and Pistis, Giorgio and Serbanovic-Canic, Jovana and Elling, Ulrich and Goodall, Alison H and Labrune, Yann and Lopez, Lorna M and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Meacham, Stuart and Okada, Yukinori and Pirastu, Nicola and Sorice, Rossella and Teumer, Alexander and Voss, Katrin and Zhang, Weihua and Ramirez-Solis, Ramiro and Bis, Joshua C and Ellinghaus, David and G{\"o}gele, Martin and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Langenberg, Claudia and Kovacs, Peter and O{\textquoteright}Reilly, Paul F and Shin, So-Youn and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Hartiala, Jaana and Kanoni, Stavroula and Murgia, Federico and Parsa, Afshin and Stephens, Jonathan and van der Harst, Pim and Ellen van der Schoot, C and Allayee, Hooman and Attwood, Antony and Balkau, Beverley and Bastardot, Fran{\c c}ois and Basu, Saonli and Baumeister, Sebastian E and Biino, Ginevra and Bomba, Lorenzo and Bonnefond, Am{\'e}lie and Cambien, Francois and Chambers, John C and Cucca, Francesco and D{\textquoteright}Adamo, Pio and Davies, Gail and de Boer, Rudolf A and de Geus, Eco J C and D{\"o}ring, Angela and Elliott, Paul and Erdmann, Jeanette and Evans, David M and Falchi, Mario and Feng, Wei and Folsom, Aaron R and Frazer, Ian H and Gibson, Quince D and Glazer, Nicole L and Hammond, Chris and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Heckbert, Susan R and Hengstenberg, Christian and Hersch, Micha and Illig, Thomas and Loos, Ruth J F and Jolley, Jennifer and Khaw, Kay Tee and Kuhnel, Brigitte and Kyrtsonis, Marie-Christine and Lagou, Vasiliki and Lloyd-Jones, Heather and Lumley, Thomas and Mangino, Massimo and Maschio, Andrea and Mateo Leach, Irene and McKnight, Barbara and Memari, Yasin and Mitchell, Braxton D and Montgomery, Grant W and Nakamura, Yusuke and Nauck, Matthias and Navis, Gerjan and N{\"o}thlings, Ute and Nolte, Ilja M and Porteous, David J and Pouta, Anneli and Pramstaller, Peter P and Pullat, Janne and Ring, Susan M and Rotter, Jerome I and Ruggiero, Daniela and Ruokonen, Aimo and Sala, Cinzia and Samani, Nilesh J and Sambrook, Jennifer and Schlessinger, David and Schreiber, Stefan and Schunkert, Heribert and Scott, James and Smith, Nicholas L and Snieder, Harold and Starr, John M and Stumvoll, Michael and Takahashi, Atsushi and Tang, W H Wilson and Taylor, Kent and Tenesa, Albert and Lay Thein, Swee and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Uda, Manuela and Ulivi, Sheila and van Veldhuisen, Dirk J and Visscher, Peter M and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Wichmann, H-Erich and Wiggins, Kerri L and Willemsen, Gonneke and Yang, Tsun-Po and Hua Zhao, Jing and Zitting, Paavo and Bradley, John R and Dedoussis, George V and Gasparini, Paolo and Hazen, Stanley L and Metspalu, Andres and Pirastu, Mario and Shuldiner, Alan R and Joost van Pelt, L and Zwaginga, Jaap-Jan and Boomsma, Dorret I and Deary, Ian J and Franke, Andre and Froguel, Philippe and Ganesh, Santhi K and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Martin, Nicholas G and Meisinger, Christa and Psaty, Bruce M and Spector, Timothy D and Wareham, Nicholas J and Akkerman, Jan-Willem N and Ciullo, Marina and Deloukas, Panos and Greinacher, Andreas and Jupe, Steve and Kamatani, Naoyuki and Khadake, Jyoti and Kooner, Jaspal S and Penninger, Josef and Prokopenko, Inga and Stemple, Derek and Toniolo, Daniela and Wernisch, Lorenz and Sanna, Serena and Hicks, Andrew A and Rendon, Augusto and Ferreira, Manuel A and Ouwehand, Willem H and Soranzo, Nicole} } @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 {6075, title = {Genome-wide association analyses identify 18 new loci associated with serum urate concentrations.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {45}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Feb}, pages = {145-54}, abstract = {

Elevated serum urate concentrations can cause gout, a prevalent and painful inflammatory arthritis. By combining data from >140,000 individuals of European ancestry within the Global Urate Genetics Consortium (GUGC), we identified and replicated 28 genome-wide significant loci in association with serum urate concentrations (18 new regions in or near TRIM46, INHBB, SFMBT1, TMEM171, VEGFA, BAZ1B, PRKAG2, STC1, HNF4G, A1CF, ATXN2, UBE2Q2, IGF1R, NFAT5, MAF, HLF, ACVR1B-ACVRL1 and B3GNT4). Associations for many of the loci were of similar magnitude in individuals of non-European ancestry. We further characterized these loci for associations with gout, transcript expression and the fractional excretion of urate. Network analyses implicate the inhibins-activins signaling pathways and glucose metabolism in systemic urate control. New candidate genes for serum urate concentration highlight the importance of metabolic control of urate production and excretion, which may have implications for the treatment and prevention of gout.

}, keywords = {Analysis of Variance, European Continental Ancestry Group, Gene Frequency, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Glucose, Gout, Humans, Inhibins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Signal Transduction, Uric Acid}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2500}, author = {K{\"o}ttgen, Anna and Albrecht, Eva and Teumer, Alexander and Vitart, Veronique and Krumsiek, Jan and Hundertmark, Claudia and Pistis, Giorgio and Ruggiero, Daniela and O{\textquoteright}Seaghdha, Conall M and Haller, Toomas and Yang, Qiong and Tanaka, Toshiko and Johnson, Andrew D and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Smith, Albert V and Shi, Julia and Struchalin, Maksim and Middelberg, Rita P S and Brown, Morris J and Gaffo, Angelo L and Pirastu, Nicola and Li, Guo and Hayward, Caroline and Zemunik, Tatijana and Huffman, Jennifer and Yengo, Loic and Zhao, Jing Hua and Demirkan, Ayse and Feitosa, Mary F and Liu, Xuan and Malerba, Giovanni and Lopez, Lorna M and van der Harst, Pim and Li, Xinzhong and Kleber, Marcus E and Hicks, Andrew A and Nolte, Ilja M and Johansson, Asa and Murgia, Federico and Wild, Sarah H and Bakker, Stephan J L and Peden, John F and Dehghan, Abbas and Steri, Maristella and Tenesa, Albert and Lagou, Vasiliki and Salo, Perttu and Mangino, Massimo and Rose, Lynda M and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Woodward, Owen M and Okada, Yukinori and Tin, Adrienne and M{\"u}ller, Christian and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Putku, Margus and Czamara, Darina and Kraft, Peter and Frogheri, Laura and Thun, Gian Andri and Grotevendt, Anne and Gislason, Gauti Kjartan and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and McArdle, Patrick and Shuldiner, Alan R and Boerwinkle, Eric and Coresh, Josef and Schmidt, Helena and Schallert, Michael and Martin, Nicholas G and Montgomery, Grant W and Kubo, Michiaki and Nakamura, Yusuke and Tanaka, Toshihiro and Munroe, Patricia B and Samani, Nilesh J and Jacobs, David R and Liu, Kiang and D{\textquoteright}Adamo, Pio and Ulivi, Sheila and Rotter, Jerome I and Psaty, Bruce M and Vollenweider, Peter and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Campbell, Susan and Devuyst, Olivier and Navarro, Pau and Kolcic, Ivana and Hastie, Nicholas and Balkau, Beverley and Froguel, Philippe and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Salumets, Andres and Khaw, Kay Tee and Langenberg, Claudia and Wareham, Nicholas J and Isaacs, Aaron and Kraja, Aldi and Zhang, Qunyuan and Wild, Philipp S and Scott, Rodney J and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Org, Elin and Viigimaa, Margus and Bandinelli, Stefania and Metter, Jeffrey E and Lupo, Antonio and Trabetti, Elisabetta and Sorice, Rossella and D{\"o}ring, Angela and Lattka, Eva and Strauch, Konstantin and Theis, Fabian and Waldenberger, Melanie and Wichmann, H-Erich and Davies, Gail and Gow, Alan J and Bruinenberg, Marcel and Stolk, Ronald P and Kooner, Jaspal S and Zhang, Weihua and Winkelmann, Bernhard R and Boehm, Bernhard O and Lucae, Susanne and Penninx, Brenda W and Smit, Johannes H and Curhan, Gary and Mudgal, Poorva and Plenge, Robert M and Portas, Laura and Persico, Ivana and Kirin, Mirna and Wilson, James F and Mateo Leach, Irene and van Gilst, Wiek H and Goel, Anuj and Ongen, Halit and Hofman, Albert and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Imboden, Medea and von Eckardstein, Arnold and Cucca, Francesco and Nagaraja, Ramaiah and Piras, Maria Grazia and Nauck, Matthias and Schurmann, Claudia and Budde, Kathrin and Ernst, Florian and Farrington, Susan M and Theodoratou, Evropi and Prokopenko, Inga and Stumvoll, Michael and Jula, Antti and Perola, Markus and Salomaa, Veikko and Shin, So-Youn and Spector, Tim D and Sala, Cinzia and Ridker, Paul M and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Viikari, Jorma and Hengstenberg, Christian and Nelson, Christopher P and Meschia, James F and Nalls, Michael A and Sharma, Pankaj and Singleton, Andrew B and Kamatani, Naoyuki and Zeller, Tanja and Burnier, Michel and Attia, John and Laan, Maris and Klopp, Norman and Hillege, Hans L and Kloiber, Stefan and Choi, Hyon and Pirastu, Mario and Tore, Silvia and Probst-Hensch, Nicole M and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Parsa, Afshin and Schmidt, Reinhold and Whitfield, John B and Fornage, Myriam and Gasparini, Paolo and Siscovick, David S and Polasek, Ozren and Campbell, Harry and Rudan, Igor and Bouatia-Naji, Nabila and Metspalu, Andres and Loos, Ruth J F and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Ferrucci, Luigi and Gambaro, Giovanni and Deary, Ian J and Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R and Chambers, John C and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Pramstaller, Peter P and Snieder, Harold and Gyllensten, Ulf and Wright, Alan F and Navis, Gerjan and Watkins, Hugh and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Sanna, Serena and Schipf, Sabine and Dunlop, Malcolm G and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Ripatti, Samuli and Soranzo, Nicole and Toniolo, Daniela and Chasman, Daniel I and Raitakari, Olli and Kao, W H Linda and Ciullo, Marina and Fox, Caroline S and Caulfield, Mark and Bochud, Murielle and Gieger, Christian} }