Relatedness disequilibrium regression estimates heritability without environmental bias
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Abstract
Heritability measures the proportion of trait variation that is due to genetic inheritance. Measurement of heritability is important in the nature-versus-nurture debate. However, existing estimates of heritability may be biased by environmental effects. Here, we introduce relatedness disequilibrium regression (RDR), a novel method for estimating heritability. RDR avoids most sources of environmental bias by exploiting variation in relatedness due to random Mendelian segregation. We used a sample of 54,888 Icelanders who had both parents genotyped to estimate the heritability of 14 traits, including height (55.4%, s.e. 4.4%) and educational attainment (17.0%, s.e. 9.4%). Our results suggest that some other estimates of heritability may be inflated by environmental effects.
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Assortative mating, rather than population stratification, is likely the primary explanation for the differences in SNP heritability, although indirect genetic effects could also contribute.
“AM (rather than population stratification) is likely to be the primary explanation6, although IGEs could also contribute44.”
From Family-GWAS reveals effects of environment and mating on genetic associations (2024) · cites this paper as [44]
The citation is attached to the claim that assortative mating, rather than population stratification, is the likely primary explanation. Our copy discusses population-stratification bias in the Results (‘Simulation of RDR heritability estimation’) and indirect genetic effects in the Discussion, but does not identify assortative mating as an explanation or compare its importance with stratification. Searches for ‘assortative mating’ and that proposed comparison found no supporting passage; the separate indirect-genetic-effects clause cites another source. (LLM, conf=0.75)
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- Authors
- Young, A. I., Frigge, M. L., Gudbjartsson, D. F., Thorleifsson, G., Bjornsdottir, G., Sulem, P., Masson, G., Thorsteinsdottir, U., Stefansson, K., & Kong, A.
- Affiliations
- deCODE Genetics (Iceland) (IS)
- Corresponding author
- Young, Alexander I.
- Kong, Augustine
- Venue
- Nature Genetics
- Published
- 2018-08-13
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1304-1310
- ISSN
- 1061-4036 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1718
- PMC
- PMC6130754
- OpenAlex
- W2886507777
- Cited by
- 173
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 9.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Genetics (publishedVersion)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (099670/Z/12/Z, 099670)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- heritability estimation, environmental bias, Mendelian segregation, genetic relatedness, nature versus nurture, height, educational attainment, genetic epidemiology
- MeSH terms
- Environment, Genotype, Humans, Iceland, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Genetic Variation, Linkage Disequilibrium, Quantitative Trait, Heritable, Gene-Environment Interaction
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