The nature of nurture: effects of parental genotypes
Open accessPreprint — published as 10.1126/science.aan6877 · Paper page
Abstract
Sequence variants in the parental genomes that are not transmitted to a child/proband are often ignored in genetic studies. Here we show that non-transmitted alleles can impact a child through their effects on the parents and other relatives, a phenomenon we call genetic nurture. Using results from a meta-analysis of educational attainment, the polygenic score computed for the non-transmitted alleles of 21,637 probands with at least one parent genotyped has an estimated effect on the educational attainment of the proband that is 29.9% ( P = 1.6×10 −14 ) of that of the transmitted polygenic score. Genetic nurturing effects of this polygenic score extend to other traits. Paternal and maternal polygenic scores have similar effects on educational attainment, but mothers contribute more than fathers to nutrition/heath related traits. One Sentence Summary: Nurture has a genetic component, i.e. alleles in the parents affect the parents’ phenotypes and through that influence the outcomes of the child.
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For height, the analogous estimate for non-transmitted alleles is only 6%.
“(For height, the analogous estimate is only 6%.)”
From Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals (2018) · cites this paper as [15]
The section ‘The nature of genetic nurture and other polygenic scores’ (page unavailable) reports an association between height and a non-transmitted height polygenic score, but gives no 6% estimate; it says most of the observed effect is estimated to be due to assortative-mating confounding. The height row of Table 1 (page unavailable) uses an educational-attainment polygenic score and does not establish the claimed 6% figure. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA recent paper reports that a polygenic score for EduYears based entirely on parents' non-transmitted alleles is approximately 30% as predictive as a polygenic score based on transmitted alleles.
“a recent paper15 reports that a polygenic score for EduYears based entirely on parents’ non-transmitted alleles is approximately 30% as predictive as a polygenic score based on transmitted alleles.”
From Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals (2018) · cites this paper as [15]
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Research works printed but not linked: 9
- G. Zhang et al., Assessing the Causal Relationship of Maternal Height on Birth Size and Gestational Age at Birth: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis. PLoS Med 12, e1001865 (2015).
- R. C. Richmond et al., Using Genetic Variation to Explore the Causal Effect of Maternal Pregnancy Adiposity on Future Offspring Adiposity: A Mendelian Randomisation Study. PLoS Med 14, e1002221 (2017).
- D. S. Falconer, T. F. C. Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. (Pearson, 1996).
- M. R. Robinson et al., Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans. Nature Human Behaviour 1, 0016 (2017).
- A. Young, et al., Estimating heritability without environmental bias. bioRxiv, DOI https://doi.org/10.1101/218883 (2017). · DOI
- S. Benonisdottir et al., Epigenetic and genetic components of height regulation. Nature communications 7, 13490 (2016).
- R. Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype. (Oxford University Press, 1982).
- D. F. Gudbjartsson et al., Sequence variants from whole genome sequencing a large group of Icelanders. Scientific data 2, 150011 (2015).
- A. Baud et al., Genetic Variation in the Social Environment Contributes to Health and Disease. PLoS Genet 13, e1006498 (2017).
Cited by
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23andMe Research Team, Lee, J. J., COGENT (Cognitive Genomics Consortium), Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, Wedow, R., Okbay, A., Kong, E., Maghzian, O., Zacher, M., Nguyen-Viet, T. A., et al. (2018) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41588-018-0147-3 · Cited by 2,470 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kong, A., Thorleifsson, G., Frigge, M. L., Vilhjálmsson, B. J., Young, A. I., Thorgeirsson, T. E., Benonisdottir, S., Oddsson, A., Halldórsson, B. V., Masson, G., Gudbjartsson, D. F., Helgason, A., Bjornsdottir, G., Thorsteinsdottir, U., & Stefansson, K.
- Affiliations
- deCODE Genetics (Iceland) (IS)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kong, Augustine
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Publisher
- openRxiv
- Published
- 2017-11-14
- Volume
- 359
- Issue
- 6374
- Pages
- 424-428
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2770085798
- Cited by
- 949
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 85 · 2025: 100 · 2024: 102 · 2023: 110 · 2022: 130 · 2021: 122 · 2020: 170 · 2019: 84 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 63.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Scopus (Elsevier) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Keywords
- genetic nurture, parental genotypes, polygenic risk score, educational attainment, parental environment, gene-environment mediation, offspring fitness
- MeSH terms
- Alleles, Child, Child Development, Educational Status, Fathers, Female, Genotype, Humans, Male, Maternal Behavior, Mothers, Parent-Child Relations, Paternal Behavior, Multifactorial Inheritance, Genomics
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