Trans effects on gene expression can drive omnigenic inheritance

Abstract

Early genome-wide association studies (GWAS) led to the surprising discovery that, for typical complex traits, the most significant genetic variants contribute only a small fraction of the estimated heritability. Instead, it has become clear that a huge number of common variants, each with tiny effects, explain most of the heritability. Previously, we argued that these patterns con[fl]ict with standard conceptual models, and that new models are needed. Here we provide a formal model in which genetic contributions to complex traits can be partitioned into direct effects from core genes, and indirect effects from peripheral genes acting as trans-regulators. We argue that the central importance of peripheral genes is a direct consequence of the large contribution of trans-acting variation to gene expression variation. In particular, we propose that if the core genes for a trait are co-regulated - as seems likely - then the effects of peripheral variation can be amplified by these co-regulated networks such that nearly all of the genetic variance is driven by peripheral genes. Thus our model proposes a framework for understanding key features of the architecture of complex traits.