title: Identification of a common variant affecting human episodic memory performance using a pooled genome-wide association approach: a case study of disease gene identification.
abstract: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are an important tool for discovering novel genes associated with disease or traits. Careful design of case-control groups greatly facilitates the efficacy of these studies. Here we describe a pooled GWAS study undertaken to find novel genes associated with human episodic memory performance. A genomic locus for the WW and C2 domain-containing 1 protein, KIBRA (also known as WWC1), was found to be associated with memory performance in three cognitively normal cohorts from Switzerland and the USA. This result was further supported by correlation of KIBRA genotype and differences in hippocampal activation as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). These findings provide an excellent example of the application of GWAS using a pooled genomic DNA approach to successfully identify a locus with strong effects on human memory.
authors.affiliation: Neurogenomics Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Traci L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Pawlowski
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Huentelman
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D015331:Cohort Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D011939:Mental Recall; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011506:Proteins; C513637:WWC1 protein, human