ALBERT

Description: 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 approximately 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 approximately 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.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3564953/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3564953/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Yang, Jian -- Loos, Ruth J F -- Powell, Joseph E -- Medland, Sarah E -- Speliotes, Elizabeth K -- Chasman, Daniel I -- Rose, Lynda M -- Thorleifsson, Gudmar -- Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur -- Magi, Reedik -- Waite, Lindsay -- Smith, Albert Vernon -- Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M -- Monda, Keri L -- Hadley, David -- Mahajan, Anubha -- Li, Guo -- Kapur, Karen -- Vitart, Veronique -- Huffman, Jennifer E -- Wang, Sophie R -- Palmer, Cameron -- Esko, Tonu -- Fischer, Krista -- Zhao, Jing Hua -- Demirkan, Ayse -- Isaacs, Aaron -- Feitosa, Mary F -- Luan, Jian'an -- Heard-Costa, Nancy L -- White, Charles -- Jackson, Anne U -- Preuss, Michael -- Ziegler, Andreas -- Eriksson, Joel -- Kutalik, Zoltan -- Frau, Francesca -- Nolte, Ilja M -- Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V -- Hottenga, Jouke-Jan -- Jacobs, Kevin B -- Verweij, Niek -- Goel, Anuj -- Medina-Gomez, Carolina -- Estrada, Karol -- Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer Lynn -- Sanna, Serena -- Sidore, Carlo -- Tyrer, Jonathan -- Teumer, Alexander -- Prokopenko, Inga -- Mangino, Massimo -- Lindgren, Cecilia M -- Assimes, Themistocles L -- Shuldiner, Alan R -- Hui, Jennie -- Beilby, John P -- McArdle, Wendy L -- Hall, Per -- Haritunians, Talin -- Zgaga, Lina -- Kolcic, Ivana -- Polasek, Ozren -- Zemunik, Tatijana -- Oostra, Ben A -- Junttila, M Juhani -- Gronberg, Henrik -- Schreiber, Stefan -- Peters, Annette -- Hicks, Andrew A -- Stephens, Jonathan -- Foad, Nicola S -- Laitinen, Jaana -- Pouta, Anneli -- Kaakinen, Marika -- Willemsen, Gonneke -- Vink, Jacqueline M -- Wild, Sarah H -- Navis, Gerjan -- Asselbergs, Folkert W -- Homuth, Georg -- John, Ulrich -- Iribarren, Carlos -- Harris, Tamara -- Launer, Lenore -- Gudnason, Vilmundur -- O'Connell, Jeffrey R -- Boerwinkle, Eric -- Cadby, Gemma -- Palmer, Lyle J -- James, Alan L -- Musk, Arthur W -- Ingelsson, Erik -- Psaty, Bruce M -- Beckmann, Jacques S -- Waeber, Gerard -- Vollenweider, Peter -- Hayward, Caroline -- Wright, Alan F -- Rudan, Igor -- Groop, Leif C -- Metspalu, Andres -- Khaw, Kay Tee -- van Duijn, Cornelia M -- Borecki, Ingrid B -- Province, Michael A -- Wareham, Nicholas J -- Tardif, Jean-Claude -- Huikuri, Heikki V -- Cupples, L Adrienne -- Atwood, Larry D -- Fox, Caroline S -- Boehnke, Michael -- Collins, Francis S -- Mohlke, Karen L -- Erdmann, Jeanette -- Schunkert, Heribert -- Hengstenberg, Christian -- Stark, Klaus -- Lorentzon, Mattias -- Ohlsson, Claes -- Cusi, Daniele -- Staessen, Jan A -- Van der Klauw, Melanie M -- Pramstaller, Peter P -- Kathiresan, Sekar -- Jolley, Jennifer D -- Ripatti, Samuli -- Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta -- de Geus, Eco J C -- Boomsma, Dorret I -- Penninx, Brenda -- Wilson, James F -- Campbell, Harry -- Chanock, Stephen J -- van der Harst, Pim -- Hamsten, Anders -- Watkins, Hugh -- Hofman, Albert -- Witteman, Jacqueline C -- Zillikens, M Carola -- Uitterlinden, Andre G -- Rivadeneira, Fernando -- Kiemeney, Lambertus A -- Vermeulen, Sita H -- Abecasis, Goncalo R -- Schlessinger, David -- Schipf, Sabine -- Stumvoll, Michael -- Tonjes, Anke -- Spector, Tim D -- North, Kari E -- Lettre, Guillaume -- McCarthy, Mark I -- Berndt, Sonja I -- Heath, Andrew C -- Madden, Pamela A F -- Nyholt, Dale R -- Montgomery, Grant W -- Martin, Nicholas G -- McKnight, Barbara -- Strachan, David P -- Hill, William G -- Snieder, Harold -- Ridker, Paul M -- Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur -- Stefansson, Kari -- Frayling, Timothy M -- Hirschhorn, Joel N -- Goddard, Michael E -- Visscher, Peter M -- 090532/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 14136/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- AA014041/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA07535/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA10248/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA13320/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA13321/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA13326/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- CZB/4/710/Chief Scientist Office/United Kingdom -- DA12854/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- F32 AR059469/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- F32 DK079466/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- G0601261/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G1000143/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- GM057091/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100005C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100006C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100007C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100008C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100009C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100010C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100011C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100012C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- K05 AA017688/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- K23 DK080145/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- MC_PC_U127561128/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_U106179471/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_U127561128/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- N01 AG012100/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC015103/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC025195/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC035129/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC045133/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC055222/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC075150/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC085079/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HG065403/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- N01HC85086/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N02 HL64278/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK063491/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK072488/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA007535/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA013320/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA013321/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA013326/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA014041/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG015928/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG020098/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG023629/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 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HHS/ -- UL1 RR033176/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- Z01 HG000024-14/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2012 Oct 11;490(7419):267-72. doi: 10.1038/nature11401. Epub 2012 Sep 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, The University of Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4102, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22982992" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉