TY - JOUR
T1 - Common genetic variants influence human subcortical brain structures
AU - Hibar, Derrek P
AU - Stein, Jason L
AU - Renteria, Miguel E
AU - Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro
AU - Desrivières, Sylvane
AU - Jahanshad, Neda
AU - Toro, Roberto
AU - Wittfeld, Katharina
AU - Abramovic, Lucija
AU - Andersson, Micael
AU - Aribisala, Benjamin S
AU - Armstrong, Nicola J
AU - Bernard, Manon
AU - Bohlken, Marc M
AU - Boks, Marco P
AU - Bralten, Janita
AU - Brown, Andrew A
AU - Mallar Chakravarty, M
AU - Chen, Qiang
AU - Ching, Christopher R K
AU - Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel
AU - den Braber, Anouk
AU - Giddaluru, Sudheer
AU - Goldman, Aaron L
AU - Grimm, Oliver
AU - Guadalupe, Tulio
AU - Hass, Johanna
AU - Woldehawariat, Girma
AU - Holmes, Avram J
AU - Hoogman, Martine
AU - Janowitz, Deborah
AU - Jia, Tianye
AU - Kim, Sungeun
AU - Klein, Marieke
AU - Kraemer, Bernd
AU - Lee, Phil H
AU - Macare, Christine
AU - Ramasamy, Adaikalavan
AU - Walton, Esther
AU - Johnson, Robert
AU - Perez-Iglesias, Rocio
AU - Schofield, Peter R
AU - Williams, Robert W
AU - Davies, Gareth E
AU - Fisher, Simon E
AU - Lovestone, Simon
AU - McDonald, Colm
AU - Simmons, Andy
AU - Weale, Michael E
AU - Schumann, Gunter
AU - The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
PY - 2015/4/9
Y1 - 2015/4/9
N2 - The highly complex structure of the human brain is strongly shaped by genetic influences. Subcortical brain regions form circuits with cortical areas to coordinate movement, learning, memory and motivation, and altered circuits can lead to abnormal behaviour and disease. To investigate how common genetic variants affect the structure of these brain regions, here we conduct genome-wide association studies of the volumes of seven subcortical regions and the intracranial volume derived from magnetic resonance images of 30,717 individuals from 50 cohorts. We identify five novel genetic variants influencing the volumes of the putamen and caudate nucleus. We also find stronger evidence for three loci with previously established influences on hippocampal volume and intracranial volume. These variants show specific volumetric effects on brain structures rather than global effects across structures. The strongest effects were found for the putamen, where a novel intergenic locus with replicable influence on volume (rs945270; P = 1.08 × 10(-33); 0.52% variance explained) showed evidence of altering the expression of the KTN1 gene in both brain and blood tissue. Variants influencing putamen volume clustered near developmental genes that regulate apoptosis, axon guidance and vesicle transport. Identification of these genetic variants provides insight into the causes of variability in human brain development, and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction.
AB - The highly complex structure of the human brain is strongly shaped by genetic influences. Subcortical brain regions form circuits with cortical areas to coordinate movement, learning, memory and motivation, and altered circuits can lead to abnormal behaviour and disease. To investigate how common genetic variants affect the structure of these brain regions, here we conduct genome-wide association studies of the volumes of seven subcortical regions and the intracranial volume derived from magnetic resonance images of 30,717 individuals from 50 cohorts. We identify five novel genetic variants influencing the volumes of the putamen and caudate nucleus. We also find stronger evidence for three loci with previously established influences on hippocampal volume and intracranial volume. These variants show specific volumetric effects on brain structures rather than global effects across structures. The strongest effects were found for the putamen, where a novel intergenic locus with replicable influence on volume (rs945270; P = 1.08 × 10(-33); 0.52% variance explained) showed evidence of altering the expression of the KTN1 gene in both brain and blood tissue. Variants influencing putamen volume clustered near developmental genes that regulate apoptosis, axon guidance and vesicle transport. Identification of these genetic variants provides insight into the causes of variability in human brain development, and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction.
U2 - 10.1038/nature14101
DO - 10.1038/nature14101
M3 - Article
C2 - 25607358
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 520
SP - 224
EP - 229
JO - NATURE
JF - NATURE
IS - 7546
ER -