Biology subjects

Yang, J. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Yang, J. S..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Migration genetics link excitatory neurons to ancient selection and economic growth

From ancient nomadic movements to modern urbanization, migration has driven human history through mechanisms that remain poorly understood. We conducted a genome-wide association study of migration distance in 250,000 UK individuals, identifying 20 loci in neurodevelopmental genes with 5% heritability. Migration-related variants are associated with excitatory neuron gene expression and correlate with cognition, risk-tolerance, and reduced interpersonal attachment. Within-family analyses demonstrate genetic effects remain significant after controlling for shared environmental factors between siblings. Our polygenic score predicts inferred mobility in >1,000 ancient individuals spanning 10,000 years, revealing positive selection on migration alleles that increased substantially over millennia. At the population level, each standard deviation increase in county-level migration polygenic score predicts >$4,000 greater income growth per person in the US. These findings establish migration as a heritable trait and suggest biological pathways connecting individual neurodevelopment with regional prosperity across evolutionary and contemporary timescales.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2019

Whole-genome reference panel of 1,781 Northeast Asians improves imputation accuracy of rare and low-frequency variants

Genotype imputation using the reference panel is a cost-effective strategy to fill millions of missing genotypes for the purpose of various genetic analyses. Here, we present the Northeast Asian Reference Database (NARD), including whole-genome sequencing data of 1,781 individuals from Korea, Mongolia, Japan, China, and Hong Kong. NARD provides the genetic diversities of Korean (n=850) and Mongolian (n=386) ancestries that were not present in the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3 (1KGP3). We combined and re-phased the genotypes from NARD and 1KGP3 to construct a union set of haplotypes. This approach established a robust imputation reference panel for the Northeast Asian populations, which yields the greatest imputation accuracy of rare and low-frequency variants compared with the existing panels. Also, we illustrate that NARD can potentially improve disease variant discovery by reducing pathogenic candidates. Overall, this study provides a decent reference panel for the genetic studies in Northeast Asia.

genomics↗