%0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2016 %T Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. %A Okbay, Aysu %A Jonathan P. Beauchamp %A Mark Alan Fontana %A Lee, James J %A Pers, Tune H %A Cornelius A Rietveld %A Turley, Patrick %A Chen, Guo-Bo %A Emilsson, Valur %A Meddens, S Fleur W %A Oskarsson, Sven %A Pickrell, Joseph K %A Thom, Kevin %A Pascal N Timshel %A de Vlaming, Ronald %A Abdel Abdellaoui %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Bacelis, Jonas %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Bjornsdottir, Gyda %A Brandsma, Johannes H %A Maria Pina Concas %A Derringer, Jaime %A Furlotte, Nicholas A %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Giorgia G Girotto %A Gupta, Richa %A Hall, Leanne M %A Sarah E Harris %A Edith Hofer %A Horikoshi, Momoko %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Kaasik, Kadri %A Ioanna Panagiota Kalafati %A Karlsson, Robert %A Kong, Augustine %A Lahti, Jari %A Sven J van der Lee %A Christiaan de Leeuw %A Penelope A Lind %A Lindgren, Karl-Oskar %A Tian Liu %A Mangino, Massimo %A Marten, Jonathan %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Michael B Miller %A van der Most, Peter J %A Christopher J Oldmeadow %A Payton, Antony %A Pervjakova, Natalia %A Wouter J Peyrot %A Qian, Yong %A Olli T Raitakari %A Rueedi, Rico %A Salvi, Erika %A Schmidt, Börge %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Jianxin Shi %A Albert Vernon Smith %A Poot, Raymond A %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Verweij, Niek %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Jürgen Wellmann %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Yang, Jingyun %A Wei Zhao %A Zhihong Zhu %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Amin, Najaf %A Bakshi, Andrew %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Biino, Ginevra %A Bønnelykke, Klaus %A Patricia A. Boyle %A Campbell, Harry %A Cappuccio, Francesco P %A Gail Davies %A De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel %A Deloukas, Panos %A Demuth, Ilja %A Ding, Jun %A Eibich, Peter %A Eisele, Lewin %A Eklund, Niina %A Jessica Faul %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Andreas J Forstner %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gunnarsson, Bjarni %A Halldórsson, Bjarni V %A Tamara B Harris %A Andrew C Heath %A Lynne J Hocking %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Homuth, Georg %A Horan, Michael A %A Jouke-Jan Hottenga %A Philip L de Jager %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jugessur, Astanand %A Marika A Kaakinen %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Keltigangas-Järvinen, Liisa %A Lambertus A Kiemeney %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Kroh, Martin %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Latvala, Antti %A Lenore J Launer %A Lebreton, Maël P %A Douglas F Levinson %A Paul Lichtenstein %A Lichtner, Peter %A David C Liewald %A Loukola, Anu %A Pamela A F Madden %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mäki-Opas, Tomi %A Riccardo E Marioni %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Meddens, Gerardus A %A McMahon, George %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Milaneschi, Yusplitri %A Lili Milani %A Grant W Montgomery %A Myhre, Ronny %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Nyholt, Dale R %A William E R Ollier %A Aarno Palotie %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Nancy L Pedersen %A Katja E Petrovic %A David J Porteous %A Katri Räikkönen %A Ring, Susan M %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rostapshova, Olga %A Rudan, Igor %A Rustichini, Aldo %A Veikko Salomaa %A Sanders, Alan R %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Helena %A Rodney J Scott %A Smith, Blair H %A Jennifer A Smith %A Staessen, Jan A %A Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Antonio Terracciano %A Tobin, Martin D %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A Quaye, Lydia %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Venturini, Cristina %A Anna A E Vinkhuyzen %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Vonk, Judith M %A Vozzi, Diego %A Waage, Johannes %A Erin B Ware %A Gonneke Willemsen %A John R. Attia %A David A Bennett %A Klaus Berger %A Bertram, Lars %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Dorret I Boomsma %A Ingrid B Borecki %A Bültmann, Ute %A Chabris, Christopher F %A Francesco Cucca %A Cusi, Daniele %A Ian J Deary %A George Dedoussis %A Cornelia M van Duijn %A Johan G Eriksson %A Franke, Barbara %A Lude L Franke %A Paolo P. Gasparini %A Gejman, Pablo V %A Gieger, Christian %A Hans-Jörgen Grabe %A Gratten, Jacob %A Groenen, Patrick J F %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A van der Harst, Pim %A Caroline Hayward %A Hinds, David A %A Hoffmann, Wolfgang %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Iacono, William G %A Jacobsson, Bo %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jöckel, Karl-Heinz %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Sharon L R Kardia %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lehrer, Steven F %A Patrik K E Magnusson %A Nicholas G Martin %A McGue, Matt %A Andres Metspalu %A Pendleton, Neil %A Brenda W J H Penninx %A Markus Perola %A Nicola Pirastu %A Pirastu, Mario %A Polasek, Ozren %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Power, Christine %A Province, Michael A %A Nilesh J Samani %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Thorkild I. A. Sørensen %A Timothy Spector %A Stefansson, Kari %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A A. Roy Thurik %A Nicholas J Timpson %A Henning Tiemeier %A Tung, Joyce Y %A André G Uitterlinden %A Vitart, Veronique %A Vollenweider, Peter %A David R Weir %A James F Wilson %A Alan F Wright %A Dalton C Conley %A Krueger, Robert F %A George Davey Smith %A Hofman, Albert %A David I Laibson %A Sarah E Medland %A Meyer, Michelle N %A Yang, Jian %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Peter M Visscher %A Tõnu Esko %A Philipp D Koellinger %A Cesarini, David %A Daniel J. Benjamin %K Alzheimer's disease %K Bipolar Disorder %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Fetus %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Molecular Sequence Annotation %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Schizophrenia %K United Kingdom %X

Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.

%B Nature %V 533 %P 539-42 %8 2016 05 26 %G eng %N 7604 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27225129?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature17671