scholarly journals Genetic Variants Correlate With Better Processing Speed

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 163-164
Author(s):  
Anastasia Gurinovich ◽  
Kaare Christensen ◽  
Marianne Nygaard ◽  
Jonas Mengel-From ◽  
Stacy Andersen ◽  
...  

Abstract Some cognitive abilities, such as vocabulary, are resilient to brain aging, while others such as conceptual reasoning, memory, and processing speed, decline with age and their rate of decline is genetically regulated. Despite the strong genetic heritability of processing speed assessed by the digit symbol substitution test (DSST), previous studies have failed to identify robust common genetic variants associated with this test. The Long Life Family Study (LLFS) includes long lived individuals and their family members who maintain good DSST scores as they age and who may carry variants associated with better DSST. We therefore conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of DSST in LLFS using ~15M genetic variants imputed to the HRC panel of 64,940 haplotypes with 39,635,008 sites and replicated the findings using genetic data imputed to the 1000 Genomes phase 3 reference panel combining two Danish cohorts: the Middle Aged Danish Twins and the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins. The GWAS in LLFS discovered 20 rare genetic variants reaching genome-wide significance (p-value < 5x10-8), including 18 variants associated with better processing speed with large effect size. The genetic associations of rs7623455, rs9821776, rs9821587, rs78704059 in chromosome 3 were replicated in the combined Danish cohort. These genetic variants tagged two hormone receptor related genes, THRB and RARB, both related to cognitive aging. Further gene-based tests in LLFS confirmed that these two genes have protective variants associated with better processing speed.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeyuan Song ◽  
Anastasia Gurinovich ◽  
Marianne Nygaard ◽  
Jonas Mengel-From ◽  
Stacy Andersen ◽  
...  

We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) scores administered in 4207 family members of the Long Life Family Study (LLFS). Genotype data were imputed to the HRC panel of 64,940 haplotypes resulting in ~15M genetic variants with quality score > 0.7. The results were replicated using genetic data imputed to the 1000 Genomes phase 3 reference panel from two Danish twin cohorts: the study of Middle Aged Danish Twins and the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins. The GWAS in LLFS discovered 20 rare genetic variants (minor allele frequency (MAF) < 1.0%) that reached genome-wide significance (p-value < 5x10-8). Among these, 18 variants had large protective effects on the processing speed, including rs7623455, rs9821776, rs9821587, rs78704059 on chromosome 3, which were replicated in the combined Danish twin cohort. These SNPs are located in/near two genes, THRB and RARB, that belonged to thyroid hormone receptors family that may influence speed of metabolism and cognitive aging. The gene-level tests in LLFS confirmed that these two genes are associated with processing speed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignazio S. Piras ◽  
Christiane Bleul ◽  
Ashley Siniard ◽  
Amanda J. Wolfe ◽  
Matthew D. De Both ◽  
...  

AbstractCanine Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (CIPF) is a chronic fibrotic lung disease that is observed at a higher frequency in the West Highland White Terrier dog breed (WHWT) and may have molecular pathological overlap with human lung fibrotic disease. We conducted a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) in the WHWT using Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to discover genetic variants associated with CIPF. Saliva-derived DNA samples were sequenced using the Riptide™ DNA library prep kit. After quality controls, 28 affected, 44 unaffected and 1,843,695 informative Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) were included in the GWAS. Data were analyzed both at the single SNP and gene levels using the GEMMA and GATES methods, respectively. We detected significant signals at the gene level in both the CPSF7 and SDHAF2 genes (adjusted p = 0.016 and p = 0.025, respectively), two overlapping genes located on chromosome 18. The top SNP for both genes was rs22669389, however it did not reach genome-wide significance in the GWAS (adjusted p = 0.078). Our studies provide, for the first time, candidate loci for CIPF in the WHWT. CPSF7 was recently associated with lung adenocarcinoma further highlighting the potential relevance of our results since IPF and lung cancer share several pathological mechanisms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S209-S209
Author(s):  
Anastasia Gurinovich ◽  
Anastasia Gurinovich ◽  
Zeyuan Song ◽  
Stacy L Andersen ◽  
Thomas T Perls ◽  
...  

Abstract The strong heritability of extreme human longevity supports the hypothesis that this is a genetically-regulated trait. However, association studies focused on common genetic variants have discovered a limited number of longevity-associated genes. We conducted a genome-wide association study of 4,216 individuals including 1317 centenarians from the New England Centenarian Study (median age = 104 years) using &gt;9M genetic variants imputed to the HRC panel of ~65,000 haplotypes. The set included approximately 5M uncommon variants. The associations were tested using a mixed effect logistic regression model with genotype-based kinship covariance of the random effects to adjust for cryptic relations using the package GENESIS. The analysis discovered 45 genome-wide significant SNPs (p&lt; 5E-08) including 8 new loci in chromosomes 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14 and 15 in addition to the APOE locus. The list includes new pQTLs in serum that suggest a new biological mechanism involved in extreme human longevity.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 1965-1971 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Power ◽  
T. Wingenbach ◽  
S. Cohen-Woods ◽  
R. Uher ◽  
M. Y. Ng ◽  
...  

BackgroundAlthough usually thought of as external environmental stressors, a significant heritable component has been reported for measures of stressful life events (SLEs) in twin studies.MethodWe examined the variance in SLEs captured by common genetic variants from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 2578 individuals. Genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) was used to estimate the phenotypic variance tagged by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also performed a GWAS on the number of SLEs, and looked at correlations between siblings.ResultsA significant proportion of variance in SLEs was captured by SNPs (30%, p = 0.04). When events were divided into those considered to be dependent or independent, an equal amount of variance was explained for both. This ‘heritability’ was in part confounded by personality measures of neuroticism and psychoticism. A GWAS for the total number of SLEs revealed one SNP that reached genome-wide significance (p = 4 × 10−8), although this association was not replicated in separate samples. Using available sibling data for 744 individuals, we also found a significant positive correlation of R2 = 0.08 in SLEs (p = 0.03).ConclusionsThese results provide independent validation from molecular data for the heritability of reporting environmental measures, and show that this heritability is in part due to both common variants and the confounding effect of personality.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 609
Author(s):  
Ignazio S. Piras ◽  
Christiane Bleul ◽  
Ashley Siniard ◽  
Amanda J. Wolfe ◽  
Matthew D. De Both ◽  
...  

Canine idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (CIPF) is a chronic fibrotic lung disease that is observed at a higher frequency in the West Highland White Terrier dog breed (WHWT) and may have molecular pathological overlap with human lung fibrotic disease. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in the WHWT using whole genome sequencing (WGS) to discover genetic variants associated with CIPF. Saliva-derived DNA samples were sequenced using the Riptide DNA library prep kit. After quality controls, 28 affected, 44 unaffected, and 1,843,695 informative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were included in the GWAS. Data were analyzed both at the single SNP and gene levels using the GEMMA and GATES methods, respectively. We detected significant signals at the gene level in both the cleavage and polyadenylation specific factor 7 (CPSF7) and succinate dehydrogenase complex assembly factor 2 (SDHAF2) genes (adjusted p = 0.016 and 0.024, respectively), two overlapping genes located on chromosome 18. The top SNP for both genes was rs22669389; however, it did not reach genome-wide significance in the GWAS (adjusted p = 0.078). Our studies provide, for the first time, candidate loci for CIPF in the WHWT. CPSF7 was recently associated with lung adenocarcinoma, further highlighting the potential relevance of our results because IPF and lung cancer share several pathological mechanisms.


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