Cited by 2,851Genetic Associations and EpidemiologyBioinformatics and Genomic NetworksGenetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals

An Expanded View of Complex Traits: From Polygenic to Omnigenic

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Boyle, Evan A., Li, Yang I., Pritchard, Jonathan K.·2017·Cell

Abstract

A central goal of genetics is to understand the links between genetic variation and disease. Intuitively, one might expect disease-causing variants to cluster into key pathways that drive disease etiology. But for complex traits, association signals tend to be spread across most of the genome-including near many genes without an obvious connection to disease. We propose that gene regulatory networks are sufficiently interconnected such that all genes expressed in disease-relevant cells are liable to affect the functions of core disease-related genes and that most heritability can be explained by effects on genes outside core pathways. We refer to this hypothesis as an "omnigenic" model.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2017.05.038

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  • Further challenges for non-coding variant interpretation include linkage disequilibrium, the possibility that more than one variant contributes to a given association, the need to match cell type with disease, and unclear mechanisms by which non-coding variants exert effects on disease risk.

    “Further challenges include linkage disequilibrium, the possibility that more than one variant contributes to a given association, the need to match the cell type in which functional characterization and/or biochemical annotation is being carried out with the disease in question, and the fact that the mechanisms by which non-coding variants exert their effects on disease risk remain unclear223.”

    From Towards a comprehensive catalogue of validated and target-linked human enhancers (2020) · cites this paper as [223]

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  • Most medically and evolutionarily relevant traits are complex, with hundreds or thousands of loci across the genome contributing to them.

    “most medically and evolutionarily relevant traits are complex, with hundreds or thousands of loci across the genome contributing to them34,35.”
  • Recent evidence from quantitative genetics in humans suggests that polygenic traits tend to be omnigenic; heritable variation in traits is not mainly due to a core biological process or pathway, but causative variants may act on almost any gene expressed in a relevant cell type, mediated by trans-regulatory variation.

    “Recent evidence from quantitative genetics (Boyle et al. 2017) in humans suggests that polygenic traits tend to be omnigenic. That is, heritable variation in traits is not mainly due to a core biological process or pathway, but causative variants may act on almost any gene expressed in a relevant cell type, mediated by trans-regulatory variation (Liu et al. 2019).”

    From The neural crest cell hypothesis: no unified explanation for domestication (2021) · cites this paper as Boyle et al. 2017

  • Parental education and parental age were significantly correlated, more strongly for mothers (r2 = 0.06, P = 3.5 × 10−52) than fathers (r2 = 0.03, P = 1.3 × 10−23).

    “We confirmed in our dataset a significant correlation of parental education and parental age47 that was stronger for mothers (r2 = 0.06, P = 3.5 × 10−52; Supplementary Table 19) than for fathers (r2 = 0.03, P = 1.3 × 10−23).”
  • This convergence and enrichment provides reassurance that genetic associations will coalesce around molecular and cellular processes with a core role in pathogenesis.

    “This provides reassurance that, even as the number of association signals for a given disease proliferates, the genetic associations uncovered will coalesce around molecular and cellular processes with a core role in pathogenesis62,63.”

    From A brief history of human disease genetics (2020) · cites this paper as [62]

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Authors
Boyle, E. A., Li, Y. I., & Pritchard, J. K.
Affiliations
  • Stanford University (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • Boyle, Evan A.
  • Li, Yang I.
  • Pritchard, Jonathan K.
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-06
Volume
169
Issue
7
Pages
1177-1186
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2626606138
Cited by
2,851
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 215 · 2025: 228 · 2024: 260 · 2023: 263 · 2022: 307 · 2021: 423 · 2020: 389 · 2019: 371 · 2018: 292 · 2017: 97 · 2016: 3 · 2014: 1
FWCI
40.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG008140, T32HG000044)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
Keywords
complex traits, omnigenic model, polygenic model, gene regulatory networks, heritability, genetic association signals, disease pathways
MeSH terms
Animals, Disease, Humans, Multifactorial Inheritance, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Genomics, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genome-Wide Association Study

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