Cited by 1,013Genetic Associations and EpidemiologyNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorGenetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses

Open access
LifeLines Cohort Study, Okbay, Aysu, Baselmans, Bart M L, De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel, Turley, Patrick, Nivard, Michel G, Fontana, Mark Alan, Meddens, S Fleur W +180 more·2016·Nature Genetics

Abstract

Very few genetic variants have been associated with depression and neuroticism, likely because of limitations on sample size in previous studies. Subjective well-being, a phenotype that is genetically correlated with both of these traits, has not yet been studied with genome-wide data. We conducted genome-wide association studies of three phenotypes: subjective well-being (n = 298,420), depressive symptoms (n = 161,460), and neuroticism (n = 170,911). We identify 3 variants associated with subjective well-being, 2 variants associated with depressive symptoms, and 11 variants associated with neuroticism, including 2 inversion polymorphisms. The two loci associated with depressive symptoms replicate in an independent depression sample. Joint analyses that exploit the high genetic correlations between the phenotypes (|ρ^| ≈ 0.8) strengthen the overall credibility of the findings and allow us to identify additional variants. Across our phenotypes, loci regulating expression in central nervous system and adrenal or pancreas tissues are strongly enriched for association.

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  • There is a genetic overlap between MDD and other psychiatric disorders.

    “there is a genetic overlap between MDD and other psychiatric disorders 46,47”

    From Major depressive disorder (2016) · cites this paper as [47]

    The Biological analyses section (page unavailable) reports genetic correlations between depressive symptoms and schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety disorders. That supports genetic overlap involving depressive symptoms, but the paper's own estimates do not establish the claim specifically for diagnosed MDD. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Of eight phenotypes evaluated, only cognitive phenotypes showed strong heterogeneity across ASD subgroups (educational attainment P=1.8 x 10^-8, IQ P=3.7 x 10^-9).

    “Of the eight phenotypes we evaluated, only the cognitive phenotypes showed strong heterogeneity (educational attainment 20 P = 1.8 x 10 -8 , IQ 23 P = 3.7 x 10 -9 )”

    From Identification of common genetic risk variants for autism spectrum disorder (2019) · cites this paper as [23]

    The Abstract reports GWAS of subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism, while Biological analyses discusses genetic correlations with autism spectrum disorder. Our copy does not report educational-attainment or IQ heterogeneity across ASD subgroups or either quoted P value (searched: educational attainment, IQ, ASD subgroups, and both P values). The heterogeneity result is also phrased as the citing authors’ own evaluation, rather than a finding attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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  • Overlap with neuroticism studies highlighted putative depression associations for DRD2, CELF4, and ELAVL2.

    “Examining significant genes that overlap between the current meta-analysis of depression and the neuroticism studies of both Luciano, et al. 18 and Okbay, et al. 19 revealed putative associations with DRD2, CUGBP Elav-like family member 4 (CELF4) and ELAV like RNA binding protein 2 (ELAVL2).”

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Authors
Study, L. C., Okbay, A., Baselmans, B. M. L., De Neve, J.-E., Turley, P., Nivard, M. G., Fontana, M. A., Meddens, S. F. W., Linnér, R. K., Rietveld, C. A., Derringer, J., Gratten, J., Lee, J. J., Liu, J. Z., de Vlaming, R., Ahluwalia, T. S., Buchwald, J., Cavadino, A., Frazier-Wood, A. C., Furlotte, N. A., Garfield, V., Geisel, M. H., Gonzalez, J. R., Haitjema, S., Karlsson, R., van der Laan, S. W., Ladwig, K.-H., Lahti, J., van der Lee, S. J., Lind, P. A., Liu, T., Matteson, L., Mihailov, E., Miller, M. B., Minica, C. C., Nolte, I. M., Mook-Kanamori, D., van der Most, P. J., Oldmeadow, C., Qian, Y., Raitakari, O., Rawal, R., Realo, A., Rueedi, R., Schmidt, B., Smith, A. V., Stergiakouli, E., Tanaka, T., Taylor, K., Thorleifsson, G., Wedenoja, J., Wellmann, J., Westra, H.-J., Willems, S. M., Zhao, W., Amin, N., Bakshi, A., Bergmann, S., Bjornsdottir, G., Boyle, P. A., Cherney, S., Cox, S. R., Davies, G., Davis, O. S. P., Ding, J., Direk, N., Eibich, P., Emeny, R. T., Fatemifar, G., Faul, J. D., Ferrucci, L., Forstner, A. J., Gieger, C., Gupta, R., Harris, T. B., Harris, J. M., Holliday, E. G., Hottenga, J.-J., De Jager, P. L., Kaakinen, M. A., Kajantie, E., Karhunen, V., Kolcic, I., Kumari, M., Launer, L. J., Franke, L., Li-Gao, R., Liewald, D. C., Koini, M., Loukola, A., Marques-Vidal, P., Montgomery, G. W., Mosing, M. A., Paternoster, L., Pattie, A., Petrovic, K. E., Pulkki-Råback, L., Quaye, L., Räikkönen, K., Rudan, I., Scott, R. J., Smith, J. A., Sutin, A. R., Trzaskowski, M., Vinkhuyzen, A. E., Yu, L., Zabaneh, D., Attia, J. R., Bennett, D. A., Berger, K., Bertram, L., Boomsma, D. I., Snieder, H., Chang, S.-C., Cucca, F., Deary, I. J., van Duijn, C. M., Eriksson, J. G., Bültmann, U., de Geus, E. J. C., Groenen, P. J. F., Gudnason, V., Hansen, T., Hartman, C. A., Haworth, C. M. A., Hayward, C., Heath, A. C., Hinds, D. A., Hyppönen, E., Iacono, W. G., Järvelin, M.-R., Jöckel, K.-H., Kaprio, J., Kardia, S. L. R., Keltikangas-Järvinen, L., Kraft, P., Kubzansky, L. D., Lehtimäki, T., Magnusson, P. K. E., Martin, N. G., McGue, M., Metspalu, A., Mills, M., de Mutsert, R., Oldehinkel, A. J., Pasterkamp, G., Pedersen, N. L., Plomin, R., Polasek, O., Power, C., Rich, S. S., Rosendaal, F. R., den Ruijter, H. M., Schlessinger, D., Schmidt, H., Svento, R., Schmidt, R., Alizadeh, B. Z., Sørensen, T. I. A., Spector, T. D., Starr, J. M., Stefansson, K., Steptoe, A., Terracciano, A., Thorsteinsdottir, U., Thurik, A. R., Timpson, N. J., Tiemeier, H., Uitterlinden, A. G., Vollenweider, P., Wagner, G. G., Weir, D. R., Yang, J., Conley, D. C., Smith, G. D., Hofman, A., Johannesson, M., Laibson, D. I., Medland, S. E., Meyer, M. N., Pickrell, J. K., Esko, T., Krueger, R. F., Beauchamp, J. P., Koellinger, P. D., Benjamin, D. J., Bartels, M., & Cesarini, D.
Affiliations
  • University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
  • Erasmus MC (NL)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • University of Copenhagen (DK)
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • Queen Mary University of London (GB)
  • 23andMe (United States) (US)
  • Essen University Hospital (DE)
  • Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (ES)
  • Karolinska Institutet (SE)
  • QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (AU)
  • Hunter Medical Research Institute (AU)
  • University of Turku (FI)
  • Helmholtz Munich (DE)
  • University of Warwick (GB)
  • SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (CH)
  • University of Iceland (IS)
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • deCODE Genetics (Iceland) (IS)
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Rush University Medical Center (US)
  • RAND Corporation (US)
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
  • University of Bristol (GB)
  • German Institute for Economic Research (DE)
  • Dartmouth College (US)
  • University of Bonn (DE)
  • King's College London (GB)
  • Oulu University Hospital (FI)
  • Medical University of Graz (AT)
  • University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
  • Florida State University (US)
  • University of Münster (DE)
  • Institute for Integrative and Experimental Genomics (DE)
  • Institute of Genetic and Biomedical Research (IT)
  • Icelandic Heart Association (IS)
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Tampere University (FI)
  • Leiden University Medical Center (NL)
  • University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
  • South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (AU)
  • University of Graz (AT)
  • Translational Research Institute (AU)
  • Princeton University (US)
  • Clarkson University (US)
  • New York Genome Center (US)
  • Amsterdam Neuroscience (NL)
  • New York University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Koellinger, Philipp D
  • Benjamin, Daniel J
  • Bartels, Meike
ORCID
Venue
Nature Genetics
Published
2016-04-18
Volume
48
Issue
6
Pages
624-633
ISSN
  • 1061-4036 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1718
OpenAlex
W2336993262
Cited by
1,013
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 73 · 2023: 91 · 2022: 97 · 2021: 115 · 2020: 137 · 2019: 142 · 2018: 112 · 2017: 99 · 2016: 36
FWCI
104.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
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  • Nature Genetics (publishedVersion)
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  • WOS
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Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • University of Southern California
  • Wellcome Trust (202802/Z/16/Z)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0507-10228, NF-SI-0514-10027)
  • Vetenskapsrådet (421-2013-1061)
  • Novo Nordisk Fonden (NNF15OC0016362, NNF12OC1016374)
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000124)
  • Medical Research Council (MR/N01104X/1, MR/J012165/1, MR/K026992/1, MC_PC_15018)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/N011856/1, ES/K005774/1, 1336609, ES/M010341/1)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG017917, ZIAAG000675, R01AG015819, P30AG010161, T32AG000186, AG005842, RF1AG015819, R01AG042568, R03AG051960, P01AG005842, P30AG012810, U01AG009740)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA036216, R37DA005147)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK063491)
  • Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD047879)
  • H2020 European Research Council (647648)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
Keywords
subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, neuroticism, genetic variants, genetic correlation, inversion polymorphism, depression genetics, gene expression regulation, central nervous system, adrenal tissue
MeSH terms
Neuroticism, Anxiety Disorders, Bayes Theorem, Depression, Humans, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Genome-Wide Association Study

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