Physical and neurobehavioral determinants of reproductive onset and success

• Published in: Nature genetics Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 617 - 623
• Main Authors: Day, Felix R, Helgason, Hannes, Chasman, Daniel I, Rose, Lynda M, Loh, Po-Ru, Scott, Robert A, Helgason, Agnar, Kong, Augustine, Masson, Gisli, Magnusson, Olafur Th, Gudbjartsson, Daniel, Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur, Buring, Julie E, Ridker, Paul M, Sulem, Patrick, Stefansson, Kari, Ong, Ken K, Perry, John R B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.06.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 45/43; 631/208/205/2138; 692/308/2056; Adolescent; Adult; Age; Age Factors; Agriculture; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Behavior; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Cell Adhesion Molecules - genetics; Coitus; Datasets; Estrogen Receptor alpha - genetics; Female; Gene Function; Genetic aspects; Genetic research; Genome-wide association studies; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genomes; Human Genetics; Human reproduction; Humans; Identification and classification; Male; Membrane Proteins - genetics; Mens health; Methionine Sulfoxide Reductases - genetics; Methods; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Puberty; Quantitative trait loci; Risk taking; RNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; Sex; Sexual Behavior; Studies; Success; Womens health; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1061-4036; 1546-1718
• DOI: 10.1038/ng.3551

John Perry, Ken Ong and colleagues perform a genome-wide association study for reproductive ability, behavior and success to determine underlying genetic factors. They find 38 variants associated with age of first sexual intercourse and show that both physical and neurobehavioral traits influence the onset of reproductive activity. The ages of puberty, first sexual intercourse and first birth signify the onset of reproductive ability, behavior and success, respectively. In a genome-wide association study of 125,667 UK Biobank participants, we identify 38 loci associated ( P < 5 × 10 −8 ) with age at first sexual intercourse. These findings were taken forward in 241,910 men and women from Iceland and 20,187 women from the Women's Genome Health Study. Several of the identified loci also exhibit associations ( P < 5 × 10 −8 ) with other reproductive and behavioral traits, including age at first birth (variants in or near ESR1 and RBM6 – SEMA3F ), number of children ( CADM2 and ESR1 ), irritable temperament ( MSRA ) and risk-taking propensity ( CADM2 ). Mendelian randomization analyses infer causal influences of earlier puberty timing on earlier first sexual intercourse, earlier first birth and lower educational attainment. In turn, likely causal consequences of earlier first sexual intercourse include reproductive, educational, psychiatric and cardiometabolic outcomes.