Cognitive traits link to human chromosomal regions.
: Human cognition in normal and disease states is both environmentally and genetically mediated. Except for measures of language-specific abilities, however, few cognitive measures have been associated with specific genes or chromosomal regions. We performed genome-wide linkage analysis of five neuropsychological tests in the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcoholism sample. The sample included 1579 individuals (53% female, 76% White Non-Hispanic) in 217 families. There were 390 markers with mean inter-marker distance of 9.6 cM. Performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test, a component of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-R, showed significant linkage to 14q11.2 and suggestive linkage to 14q 24.2. This test of sustained visual attention also involves visual-motor coordination and executive functions. Performance on the WAIS-R Digit Span Test of immediate memory and mental flexibility showed suggestive linkage to 11q 25. Although the validity of these results beyond populations with a susceptibility for alcohol dependence is unclear, these results are among the first linkage results for non-language components of cognition.
Buyske
Steven
S
Department of Statistics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA. buyske@stat.rutgers.edu
Bates
Marsha E
ME
Gharani
Neda
N
Matise
Tara C
TC
Tischfield
Jay A
JA
Manowitz
Paul
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics; D001288:Attention; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree