HMGA2 is confirmed to be associated with human adult height.
Recent genome-wide association studies have identified a novel polymorphism, rs1042725, in the HMGA2 gene for human adult height, a highly heritable complex trait. Replications in independent populations are needed to evaluate a positive finding and determine its generality. Thus, we performed a replication study to examine the associations between polymorphisms in HMGA2 and adult height in two US Caucasian populations (an unrelated sample of 998 subjects and a family-based sample of 8385 subjects) and a Chinese population (1638 unrelated Han subjects). We confirmed the association between rs1042725 in HMGA2 and adult height both in the unrelated and family-based Caucasian populations (overall P= 4.25 x 10(-9)). Another two SNPs (rs7968902 and rs7968682), which were in high linkage disequilibrium with rs1042725, also achieved the significance level in both Caucasian populations (overall P= 6.34 x 10(-7), and 2.72 x 10(-9), respectively). Our results provide strong support to the initial finding. Moreover, SNP rs1042725 was firstly found to be associated with adult height (P= 0.008) in the Chinese population, and the effect is in the same direction as in the Caucasian populations, suggesting that it is a common variant across different populations. Our study further highlights the importance of the HMGA2 gene's involvement in normal growth.
Yang
Tie-Lin
TL
Institute of Molecular Genetics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, P. R. China.
Guo
Yan
Y
Zhang
Li-Shu
LS
Tian
Qing
Q
Yan
Han
H
Guo
Yan-Fang
YF
Deng
Hong-Wen
HW
D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006128:Growth / Q000235:genetics; D025743:HMGA2 Protein / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
D025743:HMGA2 Protein