Genome-wide genetic homogeneity between sexes and populations for human height and body mass index.

Yang J, Bakshi A, Zhu Z, Hemani G, Vinkhuyzen AA, Nolte IM, van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Snieder H, Lifelines Cohort Study , Esko T, Milani L, Mägi R, Metspalu A, Hamsten A, Magnusson PK, Pedersen NL, Ingelsson E, Visscher PM

Hum. Mol. Genet. 24 (25) 7445-7449 [2015-12-20; online 2015-10-22]

Sex-specific genetic effects have been proposed to be an important source of variation for human complex traits. Here we use two distinct genome-wide methods to estimate the autosomal genetic correlation (rg) between men and women for human height and body mass index (BMI), using individual-level (n = ∼44 000) and summary-level (n = ∼133 000) data from genome-wide association studies. Results are consistent and show that the between-sex genetic correlation is not significantly different from unity for both traits. In contrast, we find evidence of genetic heterogeneity between sexes for waist-hip ratio (rg = ∼0.7) and between populations for BMI (rg = ∼0.9 between Europe and the USA) but not for height. The lack of evidence for substantial genetic heterogeneity for body size is consistent with empirical findings across traits and species.

NGI Uppsala (SNP&SEQ Technology Platform) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 26494901

DOI 10.1093/hmg/ddv443

Crossref 10.1093/hmg/ddv443

pii: ddv443