Faculty Collaboration Database

Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height. Nature 2017 Feb 09;542(7640):186-190

Date

02/02/2017

Pubmed ID

28146470

Pubmed Central ID

PMC5302847

DOI

10.1038/nature21039

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85012918562 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   414 Citations

Abstract

Height is a highly heritable, classic polygenic trait with approximately 700 common associated variants identified through genome-wide association studies so far. Here, we report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies (in the range of 0.1-4.8%) and effects of up to 2 centimetres per allele (such as those in IHH, STC2, AR and CRISPLD2), greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. In functional follow-up studies, rare height-increasing alleles of STC2 (giving an increase of 1-2 centimetres per allele) compromised proteolytic inhibition of PAPP-A and increased cleavage of IGFBP-4 in vitro, resulting in higher bioavailability of insulin-like growth factors. These 83 height-associated variants overlap genes that are mutated in monogenic growth disorders and highlight new biological candidates (such as ADAMTS3, IL11RA and NOX4) and pathways (such as proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan synthesis) involved in growth. Our results demonstrate that sufficiently large sample sizes can uncover rare and low-frequency variants of moderate-to-large effect associated with polygenic human phenotypes, and that these variants implicate relevant genes and pathways.

Author List

Marouli E, Graff M, Medina-Gomez C, Lo KS, Wood AR, Kjaer TR, Fine RS, Lu Y, Schurmann C, Highland HM, Rüeger S, Thorleifsson G, Justice AE, Lamparter D, Stirrups KE, Turcot V, Young KL, Winkler TW, Esko T, Karaderi T, Locke AE, Masca NG, Ng MC, Mudgal P, Rivas MA, Vedantam S, Mahajan A, Guo X, Abecasis G, Aben KK, Adair LS, Alam DS, Albrecht E, Allin KH, Allison M, Amouyel P, Appel EV, Arveiler D, Asselbergs FW, Auer PL, Balkau B, Banas B, Bang LE, Benn M, Bergmann S, Bielak LF, Blüher M, Boeing H, Boerwinkle E, Böger CA, Bonnycastle LL, Bork-Jensen J, Bots ML, Bottinger EP, Bowden DW, Brandslund I, Breen G, Brilliant MH, Broer L, Burt AA, Butterworth AS, Carey DJ, Caulfield MJ, Chambers JC, Chasman DI, Chen YI, Chowdhury R, Christensen C, Chu AY, Cocca M, Collins FS, Cook JP, Corley J, Galbany JC, Cox AJ, Cuellar-Partida G, Danesh J, Davies G, de Bakker PI, de Borst GJ, de Denus S, de Groot MC, de Mutsert R, Deary IJ, Dedoussis G, Demerath EW, den Hollander AI, Dennis JG, Di Angelantonio E, Drenos F, Du M, Dunning AM, Easton DF, Ebeling T, Edwards TL, Ellinor PT, Elliott P, Evangelou E, Farmaki AE, Faul JD, Feitosa MF, Feng S, Ferrannini E, Ferrario MM, Ferrieres J, Florez JC, Ford I, Fornage M, Franks PW, Frikke-Schmidt R, Galesloot TE, Gan W, Gandin I, Gasparini P, Giedraitis V, Giri A, Girotto G, Gordon SD, Gordon-Larsen P, Gorski M, Grarup N, Grove ML, Gudnason V, Gustafsson S, Hansen T, Harris KM, Harris TB, Hattersley AT, Hayward C, He L, Heid IM, Heikkilä K, Helgeland Ø, Hernesniemi J, Hewitt AW, Hocking LJ, Hollensted M, Holmen OL, Hovingh GK, Howson JM, Hoyng CB, Huang PL, Hveem K, Ikram MA, Ingelsson E, Jackson AU, Jansson JH, Jarvik GP, Jensen GB, Jhun MA, Jia Y, Jiang X, Johansson S, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Jousilahti P, Jukema JW, Kahali B, Kahn RS, Kähönen M, Kamstrup PR, Kanoni S, Kaprio J, Karaleftheri M, Kardia SL, Karpe F, Kee F, Keeman R, Kiemeney LA, Kitajima H, Kluivers KB, Kocher T, Komulainen P, Kontto J, Kooner JS, Kooperberg C, Kovacs P, Kriebel J, Kuivaniemi H, Küry S, Kuusisto J, La Bianca M, Laakso M, Lakka TA, Lange EM, Lange LA, Langefeld CD, Langenberg C, Larson EB, Lee IT, Lehtimäki T, Lewis CE, Li H, Li J, Li-Gao R, Lin H, Lin LA, Lin X, Lind L, Lindström J, Linneberg A, Liu Y, Liu Y, Lophatananon A, Luan J, Lubitz SA, Lyytikäinen LP, Mackey DA, Madden PA, Manning AK, Männistö S, Marenne G, Marten J, Martin NG, Mazul AL, Meidtner K, Metspalu A, Mitchell P, Mohlke KL, Mook-Kanamori DO, Morgan A, Morris AD, Morris AP, Müller-Nurasyid M, Munroe PB, Nalls MA, Nauck M, Nelson CP, Neville M, Nielsen SF, Nikus K, Njølstad PR, Nordestgaard BG, Ntalla I, O'Connel JR, Oksa H, Loohuis LM, Ophoff RA, Owen KR, Packard CJ, Padmanabhan S, Palmer CN, Pasterkamp G, Patel AP, Pattie A, Pedersen O, Peissig PL, Peloso GM, Pennell CE, Perola M, Perry JA, Perry JR, Person TN, Pirie A, Polasek O, Posthuma D, Raitakari OT, Rasheed A, Rauramaa R, Reilly DF, Reiner AP, Renström F, Ridker PM, Rioux JD, Robertson N, Robino A, Rolandsson O, Rudan I, Ruth KS, Saleheen D, Salomaa V, Samani NJ, Sandow K, Sapkota Y, Sattar N, Schmidt MK, Schreiner PJ, Schulze MB, Scott RA, Segura-Lepe MP, Shah S, Sim X, Sivapalaratnam S, Small KS, Smith AV, Smith JA, Southam L, Spector TD, Speliotes EK, Starr JM, Steinthorsdottir V, Stringham HM, Stumvoll M, Surendran P, 't Hart LM, Tansey KE, Tardif JC, Taylor KD, Teumer A, Thompson DJ, Thorsteinsdottir U, Thuesen BH, Tönjes A, Tromp G, Trompet S, Tsafantakis E, Tuomilehto J, Tybjaerg-Hansen A, Tyrer JP, Uher R, Uitterlinden AG, Ulivi S, van der Laan SW, Van Der Leij AR, van Duijn CM, van Schoor NM, van Setten J, Varbo A, Varga TV, Varma R, Edwards DR, Vermeulen SH, Vestergaard H, Vitart V, Vogt TF, Vozzi D, Walker M, Wang F, Wang CA, Wang S, Wang Y, Wareham NJ, Warren HR, Wessel J, Willems SM, Wilson JG, Witte DR, Woods MO, Wu Y, Yaghootkar H, Yao J, Yao P, Yerges-Armstrong LM, Young R, Zeggini E, Zhan X, Zhang W, Zhao JH, Zhao W, Zhao W, Zheng H, Zhou W, EPIC-InterA

Author

Paul L. Auer PhD Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

ADAMTS Proteins
Adult
Alleles
Body Height
Cell Adhesion Molecules
Female
Gene Frequency
Genetic Variation
Genome, Human
Glycoproteins
Glycosaminoglycans
Hedgehog Proteins
Humans
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
Interferon Regulatory Factors
Interleukin-11 Receptor alpha Subunit
Male
Multifactorial Inheritance
NADPH Oxidase 4
NADPH Oxidases
Phenotype
Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A
Procollagen N-Endopeptidase
Proteoglycans
Proteolysis
Receptors, Androgen
Somatomedins