scholarly journals Holocene selection for variants associated with cognitive ability: Comparing ancient and modern genomes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Woodley Menie ◽  
Shameem Younuskunju ◽  
Bipin Balan ◽  
Davide Piffer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Positive Allele ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Microevolutionary Change ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Allele Count

ABSTRACTHuman populations living in Eurasia during the Holocene experienced considerable microevolutionary change. It has been predicted that the transition of Holocene populations into agrarianism and urbanization brought about culture-gene coevolution that favoured via directional selection genetic variants associated with higher general cognitive ability (GCA). To examine whether GCA might have risen during the Holocene, we compare a sample of 99 ancient Eurasian genomes (ranging from 4.56 to 1.21 kyr BP) with a sample of 503 modern European genomes, using three different cognitive polygenic scores. Significant differences favouring the modern genomes were found for all three polygenic scores (Odds Ratios=0.92, p=0.037; 0.81, p=0.001 and 0.81, p=0.02). Furthermore, a significant increase in positive allele count over 3.25 kyr was found using a subsample of 66 ancient genomes (r=0.217, pone-taiied=0.04). These observations are consistent with the expectation that GCA rose during the Holocene.

scholarly journals Holocene Selection for Variants Associated With General Cognitive Ability: Comparing Ancient and Modern Genomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Woodley ◽  
Shameem Younuskunju ◽  
Bipin Balan ◽  
Davide Piffer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Monte Carlo Model ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Positive Allele ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Microevolutionary Change ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Allele Count

Human populations living during the Holocene underwent considerable microevolutionary change. It has been theorized that the transition of Holocene populations into agrarianism and urbanization brought about culture-gene co-evolution that favored via directional selection genetic variants associated with higher general cognitive ability (GCA). To examine whether GCA might have risen during the Holocene, we compare a sample of 99 ancient Eurasian genomes (ranging from 4.56 to 1.21 kyr BP) with a sample of 503 modern European genomes (Fst= 0.013), using three different cognitive polygenic scores (130 SNP, 9 SNP and 11 SNP). Significant differences favoring the modern genomes were found for all three polygenic scores (odds ratios = 0.92,p= 001; .81,p= 037; and .81,p= .02 respectively). These polygenic scores also outperformed the majority of scores assembled from random SNPs generated via a Monte Carlo model (between 76.4% and 84.6%). Furthermore, an indication of increasing positive allele count over 3.25 kyr was found using a subsample of 66 ancient genomes (r= 0.22,pone-tailed= .04). These observations are consistent with the expectation that GCA rose during the Holocene.

scholarly journals Exome Sequencing to Detect Rare Variants Associated With General Cognitive Ability: A Pilot Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Luciano ◽  
Victoria Svinti ◽  
Archie Campbell ◽  
Riccardo E. Marioni ◽  
Caroline Hayward ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Exome Sequencing ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Complex Traits ◽  
Rare Variants ◽  
Copy Number Variant ◽  
Apical Part ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
Sequencing Studies ◽  
Rare Genetic Variants

Variation in human cognitive ability is of consequence to a large number of health and social outcomes and is substantially heritable. Genetic linkage, genome-wide association, and copy number variant studies have investigated the contribution of genetic variation to individual differences in normal cognitive ability, but little research has considered the role of rare genetic variants. Exome sequencing studies have already met with success in discovering novel trait-gene associations for other complex traits. Here, we use exome sequencing to investigate the effects of rare variants on general cognitive ability. Unrelated Scottish individuals were selected for high scores on a general component of intelligence (g). The frequency of rare genetic variants (in n = 146) was compared with those from Scottish controls (total n = 486) who scored in the lower to middle range of the g distribution or on a proxy measure of g. Biological pathway analysis highlighted enrichment of the mitochondrial inner membrane component and apical part of cell gene ontology terms. Global burden analysis showed a greater total number of rare variants carried by high g cases versus controls, which is inconsistent with a mutation load hypothesis whereby mutations negatively affect g. The general finding of greater non-synonymous (vs. synonymous) variant effects is in line with evolutionary hypotheses for g. Given that this first sequencing study of high g was small, promising results were found, suggesting that the study of rare variants in larger samples would be worthwhile.

scholarly journals Polygenic scores for schizophrenia and general cognitive ability: associations with six cognitive domains, premorbid intelligence, and cognitive composite score in individuals with a psychotic disorder and in healthy controls

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Johan Engen ◽  
Siv Hege Lyngstad ◽  
Torill Ueland ◽  
Carmen Elisabeth Simonsen ◽  
Anja Vaskinn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Psychotic Disorder ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Polygenic Scores

AbstractCognitive impairments are considered core features in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Cognitive impairments are, to a lesser degree, also documented in healthy first-degree relatives. Although recent studies have shown (negative) genetic correlations between schizophrenia and general cognitive ability, the association between polygenic risk for schizophrenia and individual cognitive phenotypes remains unclear. We here investigated the association between a polygenic score for schizophrenia (SCZPGS) and six well-defined cognitive domains, in addition to a composite measure of cognitive ability and a measure of premorbid intellectual ability in 731 participants with a psychotic disorder and 851 healthy controls. We also investigated the association between a PGS for general cognitive ability (COGPGS) and the same cognitive domains in the same sample. We found no significant associations between the SCZPGS and any cognitive phenotypes, in either patients with a psychotic disorder or healthy controls. For COGPGS we observed stronger associations with cognitive phenotypes in healthy controls than in participants with psychotic disorders. In healthy controls, the association between COGPGS (at the p value threshold of ≥0.01) and working memory remained significant after Bonferroni correction (β = 0.12, p = 8.6 × 10−5). Altogether, the lack of associations between SCZPGS and COGPGS with cognitive performance in participants with psychotic disorders suggests that either environmental factors or unassessed genetic factors play a role in the development of cognitive impairments in psychotic disorders. Working memory should be further studied as an important cognitive phenotype.

scholarly journals Divergent Selection on Height and Cognitive Ability: Evidence from Both Genetic Distance (Fst) and Polygenic Scores

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Piffer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Population Differentiation ◽  
Body Height ◽  
Population Differences ◽  
Genomic Databases ◽  
1000 Genomes ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Group Variable

Tests of selection based on population differentiation were performed on two highly polygenic traits important for success and quality of life: body height and educational attainment (EA). Polygenic scores (PGS) of EA and height, computed across three public genomic databases revealed differences between populations (1000 Genomes, HGDP, gnomAD) that matched the average IQ and height of ethnic groups (r ~0.9). A moderately strong correlation between latitude and EA PGS (r= 0.67) implies the effect of climate (seasonality or winter temperature) on selection for cognitive ability. The effect of latitude was reduced (β= 0.28) but remained significant after adding the sub-continental group variable to the regression model.The global Fst index revealed population differentiation at height and EA loci, significantly deviating from random SNPs. Substantial Linkage Equilibrium (LD) Decay between YRI and CEU was found (r= 0.6) but there was no correlation between LD decay and population differences in polygenic scores for EA (r= 0.015, p= 0.45), and slight inflation of height PGS difference due to LD decay (r= -0.04, p= 0.0315). Selecting the SNPs most robust to LD decay (r>0.8) resulted in larger PGS gaps for EA, but smaller for height. Finally, it is shown that PGS differences are more sensitive to the significance of GWAS loci than Fst, reflecting the major limitations of Fst as an index of selection.

Sex Differences in Childhood Associations between DNA Markers and General Cognitive Ability

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Arden ◽  
Nicole Harlaar ◽  
Robert Plomin
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Dna Markers ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. An association between intelligence at age 7 and a set of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been identified and replicated. We used this composite SNP set to investigate whether the associations differ between boys and girls for general cognitive ability at ages 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 years. In a longitudinal community sample of British twins aged 2-10 (n > 4,000 individuals), we found that the SNP set is more strongly associated with intelligence in males than in females at ages 7, 9, and 10 and the difference is significant at 10. If this finding replicates in other studies, these results will constitute the first evidence of the same autosomal genes acting differently on intelligence in the two sexes.

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