@article {8609, title = {Genomic assortative mating in marriages in the United States.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e112322}, abstract = {

Assortative mating in phenotype in human marriages has been widely observed. Using genome-wide genotype data from the Framingham Heart study (FHS; number of married couples = 989) and Health Retirement Survey (HRS; number of married couples = 3,474), this study investigates genomic assortative mating in human marriages. Two types of genomic marital correlations are calculated. The first is a correlation specific to a single married couple "averaged" over all available autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). In FHS, the average married-couple correlation is 0.0018 with p = 3 {\texttimes} 10(-5); in HRS, it is 0.0017 with p = 7.13 {\texttimes} 10(-13). The marital correlation among the positively assorting SNPs is 0.001 (p = .0043) in FHS and 0.015 (p = 1.66 {\texttimes} 10(-24)) in HRS. The sizes of these estimates in FHS and HRS are consistent with what are suggested by the distribution of the allelic combination. The study also estimated SNP-specific correlation "averaged" over all married couples. Suggestive evidence is reported. Future studies need to consider a more general form of genomic assortment, in which different allelic forms in homologous genes and non-homologous genes result in the same phenotype.

}, keywords = {Data collection, Female, Genome, Human, Genomics, Genotype, Humans, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Reproduction, United States}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0112322}, author = {Guo, Guang and Wang, Lin and Hexuan Liu and Randall, Thomas} }