Article 1.

Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals. 

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Description:

A genome-wide association study of educational attainment in a sample of approximately 1.1 million individuals, identifying 1,271 independent genome-wide-significant SNPs. Within-family analyses tended to replicate these SNP associations, although the strength of association was reduced in a manner consistent with passive gene-environment correlation. The genes surrounding or lying near the significant SNPs were found to encode proteins involved in brain development and synaptic function. A separate analysis of the X chromosome could not rule out equal heritabilities in men and women, as would follow from partial dosage compensation. A joint (multi-phenotype) analysis of educational attainment and three related cognitive phenotypes (IQ, highest math class ever taken, self-rated math ability) generated polygenic scores that explain 11-13 percent of the variance in educational attainment and 7-10 percent of the variance in IQ.