Selection against variants in the genome associated with educational attainment

Epidemiological and genetic association studies show that genetics play an important role in the attainment of education. Here, we investigate the effect of this genetic component on the reproductive history of 109,120 Icelanders and the consequent impact on the gene pool over time. We show that an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 114; no. 5; pp. E727 - E732
Main Authors Kong, Augustine, Frigge, Michael L., Thorleifsson, Gudmar, Stefansson, Hreinn, Young, Alexander I., Zink, Florian, Jonsdottir, Gudrun A., Okbay, Aysu, Sulem, Patrick, Masson, Gisli, Gudbjartsson, Daniel F., Helgason, Agnar, Bjornsdottir, Gyda, Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur, Stefansson, Kari
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 31.01.2017
SeriesPNAS Plus
Subjects
Biological Sciences
Educational attainment
Epidemiology
Genetics
Genomes
PNAS Plus
Social Sciences
Iceland
sequence variants
selection
genes
educational attainment
fertility
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Epidemiological and genetic association studies show that genetics play an important role in the attainment of education. Here, we investigate the effect of this genetic component on the reproductive history of 109,120 Icelanders and the consequent impact on the gene pool over time. We show that an educational attainment polygenic score, POLYEDU, constructed from results of a recent study is associated with delayed reproduction (P < 10−100) and fewer children overall. The effect is stronger for women and remains highly significant after adjusting for educational attainment. Based on 129,808 Icelanders born between 1910 and 1990, we find that the average POLYEDU has been declining at a rate of ∼0.010 standard units per decade, which is substantial on an evolutionary timescale. Most importantly, because POLYEDU only captures a fraction of the overall underlying genetic component the latter could be declining at a rate that is two to three times faster.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Author contributions: A.K. and K.S. designed research; A.K., H.S., A.I.Y., G.A.J., A.O., P.S., G.M., D.F.G., A.H., G.B., and U.T. performed research; A.K., M.L.F., G.T., and F.Z. analyzed data; A.K. derived the mathematical results in Materials and Methods; M.L.F. prepared the figures and tables for publication; H.S. provided IQ data and references; G.A.J. processed the IQ data to a form suitable for analyses; A.I.Y. assisted in deriving the mathematical results in Materials and Methods; A.O. provided meta-analysis results with various cohorts removed; P.S., G.M., and D.F.G. contributed to processing the Icelandic genotype data for analysis; A.H. provided key references and contributed to writing the Discussion; G.B. collected and processed Icelandic education data and provided key references; U.T. oversaw the generation of the genotype data in the laboratory; A.K. wrote the paper; and K.S. contributed to the writing of the final version of the paper.
Edited by Andrew G. Clark, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved December 5, 2016 (received for review July 22, 2016)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1612113114