Cited by 167Genetic Associations and EpidemiologyMorphological variations and asymmetryGenetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals

Insights into the genetic architecture of the human face

Open access
White, Julie D., Indencleef, Karlijne, Naqvi, Sahin, Eller, Ryan J., Hoskens, Hanne, Roosenboom, Jasmien, Lee, Myoung Keun, Li, Jiarui +15 more·2021·Nature Genetics

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

The human face is complex and multipartite, and characterization of its genetic architecture remains challenging. Using a multivariate genome-wide association study meta-analysis of 8,246 European individuals, we identified 203 genome-wide-significant signals (120 also study-wide significant) associated with normal-range facial variation. Follow-up analyses indicate that the regions surrounding these signals are enriched for enhancer activity in cranial neural crest cells and craniofacial tissues, several regions harbor multiple signals with associations to different facial phenotypes, and there is evidence for potential coordinated actions of variants. In summary, our analyses provide insights into the understanding of how complex morphological traits are shaped by both individual and coordinated genetic actions.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41588-020-00741-7

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  • A significant portion of the 16 ear-related loci have been shown to have strong ties to human facial structure.

    “A significant portion of the 16 ear-related loci discussed here have been shown to have strong ties to human facial structure [8,15,21,22,30].”

    From Combined genome-wide association study of 136 quantitative ear morphology traits in multiple populations reveal 8 novel loci (2023) · cites this paper as [30]

    The Results section (“Known and novel loci”; page unavailable) reports many loci significantly associated with normal-range facial morphology. Our copy does not identify the citing paper’s 16 ear-related loci or establish what portion of them overlap with these facial loci, so it does not substantiate the claimed proportion. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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Authors
White, J. D., Indencleef, K., Naqvi, S., Eller, R. J., Hoskens, H., Roosenboom, J., Lee, M. K., Li, J., Mohammed, J., Richmond, S., Quillen, E. E., Norton, H. L., Feingold, E., Swigut, T., Marazita, M. L., Peeters, H., Hens, G., Shaffer, J. R., Wysocka, J., Walsh, S., Weinberg, S. M., Shriver, M. D., & Claes, P.
Affiliations
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • Universitair Ziekenhuis Leuven (BE)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (US)
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • Cardiff University (GB)
  • Wake Forest University Health Sciences (US)
  • University of Cincinnati (US)
  • KU Leuven (BE)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • White, Julie D.
  • Indencleef, Karlijne
  • Claes, Peter
Venue
Nature Genetics
Published
2020-12-07
Volume
53
Issue
1
Pages
45-53
ISSN
  • 1061-4036 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1718
OpenAlex
W3113354915
Cited by
166
References
115
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 2
FWCI
12.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Genetics (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • IUScholarWorks (Indiana University) (submittedVersion)
  • ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Defense
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • March of Dimes Foundation (1-FY15-312)
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • University of Washington
  • University of Cincinnati
  • Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Wellcome Trust (102215/2/13/2), 217065/Z/19/Z)
  • University of California Research Initiatives
  • University of Bristol (102215/2/13/2)
  • Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (G078518N)
  • KU Leuven (C14/15/081, C14/20/081, BOF‐C1)
  • Vlaamse regering (G078518N)
  • National Institutes of Health (X01-HG007485, HHSN268201200008I, HG007485, 102215/2/13/2)
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Medical Research Council (102215, ref: 102215/2/13/2, 102215/2/13/2, MC_PC_15018, MC_PC_19009)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HHSN268201200008I, HHSN268201200008C)
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (X01‐HG007485, X01‐HG007821)
  • National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (DE-016148, #HHSN268201200008I, R01DE027023, R01DE016148, U01DE020078, U01DE024430, DE027023, X01-HG007821, U01-DE020078, R01-DE016148, and R01-DE027023)
  • National Institute of Justice (-R2-CX-, 2008-DN-BX-K125, 2015-R2-CX-0023, 2014-DN-BX-K031, 2018-DU-BX-0219)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
Keywords
human face, facial morphology, genetic architecture, facial variation, cranial neural crest cells, enhancer activity, gene-gene interaction, European populations
MeSH terms
Acetylation, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Epistasis, Genetic, Extremities, Face, United Kingdom, Histones, Humans, Lysine, Neural Crest, Phenotype, Skull, United States, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Multivariate Analysis, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genetic Loci

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