title: DNA evidence for strong genome-wide pleiotropy of cognitive and learning abilities.
abstract: Very different neurocognitive processes appear to be involved in cognitive abilities such as verbal and non-verbal ability as compared to learning abilities taught in schools such as reading and mathematics. However, twin studies that compare similarity for monozygotic and dizygotic twins suggest that the same genes are largely responsible for genetic influence on these diverse aspects of cognitive function. It is now possible to test this evidence for strong pleiotropy using DNA alone from samples of unrelated individuals. Here we used this new method with 1.7 million DNA markers for a sample of 2,500 unrelated children at age 12 to investigate for the first time the extent of pleiotropy between general cognitive ability (aka intelligence) and learning abilities (reading, mathematics and language skills). We also compared these DNA results to results from twin analyses using the same sample and measures. The DNA-based method revealed strong genome-wide pleiotropy: Genetic correlations were greater than 0.70 between general cognitive ability and language, reading, and mathematics, results that were highly similar to twin study estimates of genetic correlations. These results indicate that genes related to diverse neurocognitive processes have general rather than specific effects.
authors.affiliation: MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, DeCrespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK. maciej.trzaskowski@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trzaskowski
authors.forename: Oliver S P
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: DeFries
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Visscher
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plomin
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D058685:Genetic Pleiotropy; D015894:Genome, Human; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014852:Wales
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D004247:DNA