Shared genetic architectures of educational attainment in East Asian and European populations
Journal
Nature Human Behaviour
Date Issued
2024-01-05
Author(s)
Chen, Tzu-Ting
Kim, Jaeyoung
Lam, Max
Chuang, Yi-Fang
Chiu, Yen-Ling
Lin, Shu-Chin
Jung, Sang-Hyuk
Kim, Beomsu
Kim, Soyeon
Cho, Chamlee
Shim, Injeong
Park, Sanghyeon
Ahn, Yeeun
Okbay, Aysu
Jang, Hyemin
Kim, Hee Jin
Seo, Sang Won
Park, Woong-Yang
Ge, Tian
Huang, Hailiang
Lin, Yen-Feng
Myung, Woojae
Chen, Chia-Yen
Won, Hong-Hee
Abstract
Educational attainment (EduYears), a heritable trait often used as a proxy for cognitive ability, is associated with various health and social outcomes. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on EduYears have been focused on samples of European (EUR) genetic ancestries. Here we present the first large-scale GWAS of EduYears in people of East Asian (EAS) ancestry (n = 176,400) and conduct a cross-ancestry meta-analysis with EduYears GWAS in people of EUR ancestry (n = 766,345). EduYears showed a high genetic correlation and power-adjusted transferability ratio between EAS and EUR. We also found similar functional enrichment, gene expression enrichment and cross-trait genetic correlations between two populations. Cross-ancestry fine-mapping identified refined credible sets with a higher posterior inclusion probability than single population fine-mapping. Polygenic prediction analysis in four independent EAS and EUR cohorts demonstrated transferability between populations. Our study supports the need for further research on diverse ancestries to increase our understanding of the genetic basis of educational attainment.
SDGs
Type
journal article