Genomic assortative mating in marriages in the United States.
Assortative mating in phenotype in human marriages has been widely observed. Using genome-wide genotype data from the Framingham Heart study (FHS; number of married couples = 989) and Health Retirement Survey (HRS; number of married couples = 3,474), this study investigates genomic assortative mating in human marriages. Two types of genomic marital correlations are calculated. The first is a correlation specific to a single married couple "averaged" over all available autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). In FHS, the average married-couple correlation is 0.0018 with p = 3 × 10(-5); in HRS, it is 0.0017 with p = 7.13 × 10(-13). The marital correlation among the positively assorting SNPs is 0.001 (p = .0043) in FHS and 0.015 (p = 1.66 × 10(-24)) in HRS. The sizes of these estimates in FHS and HRS are consistent with what are suggested by the distribution of the allelic combination. The study also estimated SNP-specific correlation "averaged" over all married couples. Suggestive evidence is reported. Future studies need to consider a more general form of genomic assortment, in which different allelic forms in homologous genes and non-homologous genes result in the same phenotype.
Department of Sociology, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the United States of America; Carolina Population Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the United States of America; Carolina Center for Genome Sciences, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the United States of America.
Guang
G
Guo
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, the United States of America.
Lin
L
Wang
Department of Sociology, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the United States of America; Carolina Population Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the United States of America.
Hexuan
H
Liu
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, the United States of America.
Thomas
T
Randall
D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics; D023281:Genomics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics*; D014481:United States