A sequence variant associating with educational attainment also affects childhood cognition.
Only a few common variants in the sequence of the genome have been shown to impact cognitive traits. Here we demonstrate that polygenic scores of educational attainment predict specific aspects of childhood cognition, as measured with IQ. Recently, three sequence variants were shown to associate with educational attainment, a confluence phenotype of genetic and environmental factors contributing to academic success. We show that one of these variants associating with educational attainment, rs4851266-T, also associates with Verbal IQ in dyslexic children (P = 4.3 × 10-4, β = 0.16 s.d.). The effect of 0.16 s.d. corresponds to 1.4 IQ points for heterozygotes and 2.8 IQ points for homozygotes. We verified this association in independent samples consisting of adults (P = 8.3 × 10-5, β = 0.12 s.d., combined P = 2.2 x 10-7, β = 0.14 s.d.). Childhood cognition is unlikely to be affected by education attained later in life, and the variant explains a greater fraction of the variance in verbal IQ than in educational attainment (0.7% vs 0.12%,. P = 1.0 × 10-5).
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Bjarni
B
Gunnarsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Guðrún A
GA
Jónsdóttir
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Gyða
G
Björnsdóttir
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Bettina
B
Konte
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Patrick
P
Sulem
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Snædís
S
Kristmundsdóttir
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Birte
B
Kehr
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Ómar
Ó
Gústafsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Hannes
H
Helgason
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Institute of Biomedical and Neural Engineering, Reykjavík University, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Paul D
PD
Iordache
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Sigurgeir
S
Ólafsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Michael L
ML
Frigge
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Guðmar
G
Þorleifsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Sunna
S
Arnarsdóttir
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Berglind
B
Stefánsdóttir
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Ina
I
Giegling
NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.|Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo 0450, Norway.
Srdjan
S
Djurovic
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0373, Norway.|NORMENT - KG Jebsen Centre, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, Norway.
Kjetil S
KS
Sundet
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0373, Norway.|NORMENT - KG Jebsen Centre, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, Norway.
Thomas
T
Espeseth
Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo 0450, Norway.|Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0373, Norway.
Ingrid
I
Melle
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Annette M
AM
Hartmann
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Unnur
U
Thorsteinsdottir
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Augustine
A
Kong
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Daníel F
DF
Guðbjartsson
Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Ulrich
U
Ettinger
NORMENT - KG Jebsen Centre, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, Norway.|NORMENT - KG Jebsen Centre, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo 0424, Norway.
Ole A
OA
Andreassen
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany.
Dan Rujescu
Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Jónas G
JG
Halldórsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Hreinn
H
Stefánsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Institute of Biomedical and Neural Engineering, Reykjavík University, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Bjarni V
BV
Halldórsson
deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Kári
K
Stefánsson
D000076363:Academic Success; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002889:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2 / Q000235:genetics; D003071:Cognition; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000235:genetics*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D020412:Multifactorial Inheritance; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
C097738:AFF3 protein, human; D005819:Genetic Markers; D009687:Nuclear Proteins