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Published on: August 12, 2019
Sex differences in genetic architecture of complex phenotypes?
Jacqueline M Vink1, Meike Bartels, Toos C E M van Beijsterveldt
1Netherlands Twin Register, Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jm.vink@vu.nl
This study investigated sex differences in familial resemblance for 122 complex traits. Findings suggest that the same genes influence most traits in both males and females, with few sex-specific genetic influences identified.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral genetics
- Human genetics
- Psychiatric genetics
Background:
- Growing interest in genotype by sex interactions for complex traits.
- Potential impact of sex-specific genetic effects on genome-wide association studies (GWA) power.
- Twin and family studies can reveal sex differences in genetic architecture.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine sex differences in familial resemblance across 122 complex traits in children and adults.
- To test for quantitative and qualitative sex differences in the genetic architecture of these traits.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of dizygotic (DZ) same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs.
- Comparison of trait resemblance between DZ same-sex and opposite-sex pairs.
- Inclusion of diverse phenotypes: lifestyle, personality, psychiatric, health, growth, development, and metabolic traits.
Main Results:
- Evidence for genetic qualitative sex-differences in the genetic architecture was found for 4% of the phenotypes examined.
- For the majority of traits, resemblance patterns were similar between same-sex and opposite-sex DZ twin pairs.
- Sample sizes were substantial, averaging 9027 individuals, with some exceeding 30,000.
Conclusions:
- The same genes appear to operate in both males and females for most complex traits studied.
- Qualitative sex differences in genetic architecture are rare for the investigated phenotypes.
- Future GWA studies may not always require separate analyses by sex for complex traits.
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