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bioRxiv · 10.1101/037861

Using Genome Wide Estimates of Heritability to Examine the Relevance of Gene-Environment Interplay

BENJAMIN W DOMINGUE·Jason D. Boardman
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Abstract

We use genome-wide data from the third generation respondents of the Framing-ham Heart Study to estimate heritability in body mass index using different quantities of the measured genotype. Heritability decreases rapidly when SNPs implicated by a genome-wide association study are removed but shows essentially no decline when SNPs implicated by a gene-environment interaction in a second genome-wide analysis are removed. This second result is highlighted by our additional finding that the SNPs which explain heritability amongst a subsample defined by higher educational attainment explain no heritability of the heritability in the lower education group, and vice-versa. Finally, we do find consistent heritability estimates when we compare family-based estimates versus those based on measured genotype.

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BENJAMIN W DOMINGUE, Jason D. Boardman. 2016-01-26. Using Genome Wide Estimates of Heritability to Examine the Relevance of Gene-Environment Interplay. https://doi.org/10.1101/037861

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