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Meta-Analysis
. 2017 Mar;22(3):336-345.
doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.244. Epub 2017 Jan 17.

GWAS meta-analysis reveals novel loci and genetic correlates for general cognitive function: a report from the COGENT consortium

Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

GWAS meta-analysis reveals novel loci and genetic correlates for general cognitive function: a report from the COGENT consortium

J W Trampush et al. Mol Psychiatry. 2017 Mar.

Erratum in

  • GWAS meta-analysis reveals novel loci and genetic correlates for general cognitive function: a report from the COGENT consortium.
    Trampush JW, Yang MLZ, Yu J, Knowles E, Davies G, Liewald DC, Starr JM, Djurovic S, Melle I, Sundet K, Christoforou A, Reinvang I, DeRosse P, Lundervold AJ, Steen VM, Espeseth T, Räikkönen K, Widen E, Palotie A, Eriksson JG, Giegling I, Konte B, Roussos P, Giakoumaki S, Burdick KE, Payton A, Ollier W, Horan M, Chiba-Falek O, Attix DK, Need AC, Cirulli ET, Voineskos AN, Stefanis NC, Avramopoulos D, Hatzimanolis A, Arking DE, Smyrnis N, Bilder RM, Freimer NA, Cannon TD, London E, Poldrack RA, Sabb FW, Congdon E, Conley ED, Scult MA, Dickinson D, Straub RE, Donohoe G, Morris D, Corvin A, Gill M, Hariri AR, Weinberger DR, Pendleton N, Bitsios P, Rujescu D, Lahti J, Le Hellard S, Keller MC, Andreassen OA, Deary IJ, Glahn DC, Malhotra AK, Lencz T. Trampush JW, et al. Mol Psychiatry. 2017 Nov;22(11):1651-1652. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.197. Epub 2017 Sep 12. Mol Psychiatry. 2017. PMID: 29068436 Free PMC article.

Abstract

The complex nature of human cognition has resulted in cognitive genomics lagging behind many other fields in terms of gene discovery using genome-wide association study (GWAS) methods. In an attempt to overcome these barriers, the current study utilized GWAS meta-analysis to examine the association of common genetic variation (~8M single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) with minor allele frequency ⩾1%) to general cognitive function in a sample of 35 298 healthy individuals of European ancestry across 24 cohorts in the Cognitive Genomics Consortium (COGENT). In addition, we utilized individual SNP lookups and polygenic score analyses to identify genetic overlap with other relevant neurobehavioral phenotypes. Our primary GWAS meta-analysis identified two novel SNP loci (top SNPs: rs76114856 in the CENPO gene on chromosome 2 and rs6669072 near LOC105378853 on chromosome 1) associated with cognitive performance at the genome-wide significance level (P<5 × 10-8). Gene-based analysis identified an additional three Bonferroni-corrected significant loci at chromosomes 17q21.31, 17p13.1 and 1p13.3. Altogether, common variation across the genome resulted in a conservatively estimated SNP heritability of 21.5% (s.e.=0.01%) for general cognitive function. Integration with prior GWAS of cognitive performance and educational attainment yielded several additional significant loci. Finally, we found robust polygenic correlations between cognitive performance and educational attainment, several psychiatric disorders, birth length/weight and smoking behavior, as well as a novel genetic association to the personality trait of openness. These data provide new insight into the genetics of neurocognitive function with relevance to understanding the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric illness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Manhattan plot depicting results of genome-wide association study meta-analysis for general cognitive function. Green arrows indicate loci attaining genome-wide significance (red line, P<5 × 10−8). Gray arrow indicates locus at chromosome 17q21.31 approaching genome-wide significance.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Region plots depicting genome-wide significant loci on Chromosome 2 (top) and Chromosome 1 (bottom). Local linkage disequilibrium (r2) is color-coded as shown in the legend, and local recombination rate is depicted by the bright blue peaks (magnitude indicated by the right-hand y axis).

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