Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height.
Wood AR., Esko T., Yang J., Vedantam S., Pers TH., Gustafsson S., Chu AY., Estrada K., Luan J., Kutalik Z., Amin N., Buchkovich ML., Croteau-Chonka DC., Day FR., Duan Y., Fall T., Fehrmann R., Ferreira T., Jackson AU., Karjalainen J., Lo KS., Locke AE., Mägi R., Mihailov E., Porcu E., Randall JC., Scherag A., Vinkhuyzen AAE., Westra H-J., Winkler TW., Workalemahu T., Zhao JH., Absher D., Albrecht E., Anderson D., Baron J., Beekman M., Demirkan A., Ehret GB., Feenstra B., Feitosa MF., Fischer K., Fraser RM., Goel A., Gong J., Justice AE., Kanoni S., Kleber ME., Kristiansson K., Lim U., Lotay V., Lui JC., Mangino M., Mateo Leach I., Medina-Gomez C., Nalls MA., Nyholt DR., Palmer CD., Pasko D., Pechlivanis S., Prokopenko I., Ried JS., Ripke S., Shungin D., Stancáková A., Strawbridge RJ., Sung YJ., Tanaka T., Teumer A., Trompet S., van der Laan SW., van Setten J., Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV., Wang Z., Yengo L., Zhang W., Afzal U., Arnlöv J., Arscott GM., Bandinelli S., Barrett A., Bellis C., Bennett AJ., Berne C., Blüher M., Bolton JL., Böttcher Y., Boyd HA., Bruinenberg M., Buckley BM., Buyske S., Caspersen IH., Chines PS., Clarke R., Claudi-Boehm S., Cooper M., Daw EW., De Jong PA., Deelen J., Delgado G., Denny JC., Dhonukshe-Rutten R., Dimitriou M., Doney ASF., Dörr M., Eklund N., Eury E., Folkersen L., Garcia ME., Geller F., Giedraitis V., Go AS., Grallert H., Grammer TB., Gräßler J., Grönberg H., de Groot LCPGM., Groves CJ., Haessler J., Hall P., Haller T., Hallmans G., Hannemann A., Hartman CA., Hassinen M., Hayward C., Heard-Costa NL., Helmer Q., Hemani G., Henders AK., Hillege HL., Hlatky MA., Hoffmann W., Hoffmann P., Holmen O., Houwing-Duistermaat JJ., Illig T., Isaacs A., James AL., Jeff J., Johansen B., Johansson Å., Jolley J., Juliusdottir T., Junttila J., Kho AN., Kinnunen L., Klopp N., Kocher T., Kratzer W., Lichtner P., Lind L., Lindström J., Lobbens S., Lorentzon M., Lu Y., Lyssenko V., Magnusson PKE., Mahajan A., Maillard M., McArdle WL., McKenzie CA., McLachlan S., McLaren PJ., Menni C., Merger S., Milani L., Moayyeri A., Monda KL., Morken MA., Müller G., Müller-Nurasyid M., Musk AW., Narisu N., Nauck M., Nolte IM., Nöthen MM., Oozageer L., Pilz S., Rayner NW., Renstrom F., Robertson NR., Rose LM., Roussel R., Sanna S., Scharnagl H., Scholtens S., Schumacher FR., Schunkert H., Scott RA., Sehmi J., Seufferlein T., Shi J., Silventoinen K., Smit JH., Smith AV., Smolonska J., Stanton AV., Stirrups K., Stott DJ., Stringham HM., Sundström J., Swertz MA., Syvänen A-C., Tayo BO., Thorleifsson G., Tyrer JP., van Dijk S., van Schoor NM., van der Velde N., van Heemst D., van Oort FVA., Vermeulen SH., Verweij N., Vonk JM., Waite LL., Waldenberger M., Wennauer R., Wilkens LR., Willenborg C., Wilsgaard T., Wojczynski MK., Wong A., Wright AF., Zhang Q., Arveiler D., Bakker SJL., Beilby J., Bergman RN., Bergmann S., Biffar R., Blangero J., Boomsma DI., Bornstein SR., Bovet P., Brambilla P., Brown MJ., Campbell H., Caulfield MJ., Chakravarti A., Collins R., Collins FS., Crawford DC., Cupples LA., Danesh J., de Faire U., den Ruijter HM., Erbel R., Erdmann J., Eriksson JG., Farrall M., Ferrannini E., Ferrières J., Ford I., Forouhi NG., Forrester T., Gansevoort RT., Gejman PV., Gieger C., Golay A., Gottesman O., Gudnason V., Gyllensten U., Haas DW., Hall AS., Harris TB., Hattersley AT., Heath AC., Hengstenberg C., Hicks AA., Hindorff LA., Hingorani AD., Hofman A., Hovingh GK., Humphries SE., Hunt SC., Hypponen E., Jacobs KB., Jarvelin M-R., Jousilahti P., Jula AM., Kaprio J., Kastelein JJP., Kayser M., Kee F., Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi SM., Kiemeney LA., Kooner JS., Kooperberg C., Koskinen S., Kovacs P., Kraja AT., Kumari M., Kuusisto J., Lakka TA., Langenberg C., Le Marchand L., Lehtimäki T., Lupoli S., Madden PAF., Männistö S., Manunta P., Marette A., Matise TC., McKnight B., Meitinger T., Moll FL., Montgomery GW., Morris AD., Morris AP., Murray JC., Nelis M., Ohlsson C., Oldehinkel AJ., Ong KK., Ouwehand WH., Pasterkamp G., Peters A., Pramstaller PP., Price JF., Qi L., Raitakari OT., Rankinen T., Rao DC., Rice TK., Ritchie M., Rudan I., Salomaa V., Samani NJ., Saramies J., Sarzynski MA., Schwarz PEH., Sebert S., Sever P., Shuldiner AR., Sinisalo J., Steinthorsdottir V., Stolk RP., Tardif J-C., Tönjes A., Tremblay A., Tremoli E., Virtamo J., Vohl M-C., Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMEMERGEGE) Consortium None., MIGen Consortium None., PAGEGE Consortium None., LifeLines Cohort Study None., Amouyel P., Asselbergs FW., Assimes TL., Bochud M., Boehm BO., Boerwinkle E., Bottinger EP., Bouchard C., Cauchi S., Chambers JC., Chanock SJ., Cooper RS., de Bakker PIW., Dedoussis G., Ferrucci L., Franks PW., Froguel P., Groop LC., Haiman CA., Hamsten A., Hayes MG., Hui J., Hunter DJ., Hveem K., Jukema JW., Kaplan RC., Kivimaki M., Kuh D., Laakso M., Liu Y., Martin NG., März W., Melbye M., Moebus S., Munroe PB., Njølstad I., Oostra BA., Palmer CNA., Pedersen NL., Perola M., Pérusse L., Peters U., Powell JE., Power C., Quertermous T., Rauramaa R., Reinmaa E., Ridker PM., Rivadeneira F., Rotter JI., Saaristo TE., Saleheen D., Schlessinger D., Slagboom PE., Snieder H., Spector TD., Strauch K., Stumvoll M., Tuomilehto J., Uusitupa M., van der Harst P., Völzke H., Walker M., Wareham NJ., Watkins H., Wichmann H-E., Wilson JF., Zanen P., Deloukas P., Heid IM., Lindgren CM., Mohlke KL., Speliotes EK., Thorsteinsdottir U., Barroso I., Fox CS., North KE., Strachan DP., Beckmann JS., Berndt SI., Boehnke M., Borecki IB., McCarthy MI., Metspalu A., Stefansson K., Uitterlinden AG., van Duijn CM., Franke L., Willer CJ., Price AL., Lettre G., Loos RJF., Weedon MN., Ingelsson E., O'Connell JR., Abecasis GR., Chasman DI., Goddard ME., Visscher PM., Hirschhorn JN., Frayling TM.
Using genome-wide data from 253,288 individuals, we identified 697 variants at genome-wide significance that together explained one-fifth of the heritability for adult height. By testing different numbers of variants in independent studies, we show that the most strongly associated ∼2,000, ∼3,700 and ∼9,500 SNPs explained ∼21%, ∼24% and ∼29% of phenotypic variance. Furthermore, all common variants together captured 60% of heritability. The 697 variants clustered in 423 loci were enriched for genes, pathways and tissue types known to be involved in growth and together implicated genes and pathways not highlighted in earlier efforts, such as signaling by fibroblast growth factors, WNT/β-catenin and chondroitin sulfate-related genes. We identified several genes and pathways not previously connected with human skeletal growth, including mTOR, osteoglycin and binding of hyaluronic acid. Our results indicate a genetic architecture for human height that is characterized by a very large but finite number (thousands) of causal variants.