The genetic architecture of pediatric cognitive abilities in the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort.

Mol Psychiatry
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

The objective of this analysis was to examine the genetic architecture of diverse cognitive abilities in children and adolescents, including the magnitude of common genetic effects and patterns of shared and unique genetic influences. Subjects included 3689 members of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, a general population sample comprising those aged 8-21 years who completed an extensive battery of cognitive tests. We used genome-wide complex trait analysis to estimate the SNP-based heritability of each domain, as well as the genetic correlation between all domains that showed significant genetic influence. Several of the individual domains suggested strong influence of common genetic variants (for example, reading ability, h(2)g=0.43, P=4e-06; emotion identification, h(2)g=0.36, P=1e-05; verbal memory, h(2)g=0.24, P=0.005). The genetic correlations highlighted trait domains that are candidates for joint interrogation in future genetic studies (for example, language reasoning and spatial reasoning, r(g)=0.72, P=0.007). These results can be used to structure future genetic and neuropsychiatric investigations of diverse cognitive abilities.

Year of Publication
2015
Journal
Mol Psychiatry
Volume
20
Issue
4
Pages
454-8
Date Published
2015 Apr
ISSN
1476-5578
URL
DOI
10.1038/mp.2014.65
PubMed ID
25023143
PubMed Central ID
PMC4294962
Links
Grant list
1K01MH099286-01A1 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
K01 MH099286 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
RC2 MH089924 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
U54 HD086984 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States
RC2 MH089983 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States