Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
40825760
TITLE
Multivariate genome-wide association analysis of dyslexia and quantitative reading skill improves gene discovery.
ABSTRACT
The ability to read is an important life skill and a major route to education. Dyslexia, characterized by difficulties with accurate/ fluent word reading, and poor spelling is influenced by genetic variation, with a twin study heritability estimate of 0.4-0.6. Until recently, genomic investigations were limited by modest sample size. We used a multivariate genome-wide association study (GWAS) method, MTAG, to leverage summary statistics from two independent GWAS efforts, boosting power for analyses of dyslexia; the GenLang meta-analysis of word reading (N = 27,180) and the 23andMe, Inc., study of dyslexia (N  = 51,800, N  = 1,087,070). We increased the effective sample size to 1,228,832 participants, representing the largest genetic study of reading-related phenotypes to date. Our analyses identified 80 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 36 regions which were not previously reported as significant. Of these 36 loci, 13 were novel regions with no prior association with dyslexia. We observed clear genetic correlations with cognitive and educational measures. Gene-set analyses revealed significant enrichment of dyslexia-associated genes in four neuronal biological process pathways, and findings were further supported by enrichment of neuronally expressed genes in the developing embryonic brain. Polygenic index analysis of our multivariate results predicted between 2.34-4.73% of variance in reading traits in an independent sample, the National Child Development Study cohort (N = 6410). Polygenic adaptation was examined using a large panel of ancient genomes spanning the last ~15 k years. We did not find evidence of selection, suggesting that dyslexia has not been subject to recent selection pressure in Europeans. By combining existing datasets to improve statistical power, these results provide novel insights into the biology of dyslexia.
© 2025. The Author(s).
DATE PUBLISHED
2025 Aug 18
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
received 2024/03/19
accepted 2025/08/05
revised 2025/06/17
medline 2025/08/19 00:28
pubmed 2025/08/19 00:28
entrez 2025/08/18 23:13
pmc-release 2025/08/18
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Mountford HS Mountford Hayley S HS School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. hayley.mountford@ed.ac.uk.
Eising E Eising Else E Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Fontanillas P Fontanillas Pierre P 23andMe, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA.
Auton A Auton Adam A 23andMe, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA.
23andMe Research Team
Irving-Pease EK Irving-Pease Evan K EK Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Doust C Doust Catherine C School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Bates TC Bates Timothy C TC School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Martin NG Martin Nicholas G NG Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD, Australia.
Fisher SE Fisher Simon E SE Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Luciano M Luciano Michelle M School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. michelle.luciano@ed.ac.uk.
INVESTIGATORS
LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION
Aslibekyan Stella S
Bell Robert K RK
Kukar Bond Katelyn K
Cochinwala Zayn Z
Das Sayantan S
de Brito Kahsaia K
DelloRusso Emily E
Eijsbouts Chris C
Elson Sarah L SL
German Chris C
Granka Julie M JM
Hicks Barry B
Hinds David A DA
Jabal Reza R
Khan Aly A
Kmiecik Matthew J MJ
Kwong Alan A
Liang Yanyu Y
Lin Keng-Han KH
McIntyre Matthew H MH
Saini Shubham S
Shastri Anjali J AJ
Shi Jingchunzi J
Shringarpure Suyash S
Su Qiaojuan Jane QJ
Tran Vinh V
Tung Joyce Y JY
Weldon Catherine H CH
Xu Wanwan W
JOURNAL
VOLUME: 15
ISSUE: 1
TITLE: Translational psychiatry
ISOABBREVIATION: Transl Psychiatry
YEAR: 2025
MONTH: Aug
DAY: 18
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Internet
ISSN: 2158-3188
ISSNTYPE: Electronic
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Transl Psychiatry
COUNTRY: United States
ISSNLINKING: 2158-3188
NLMUNIQUEID: 101562664
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
Journal Article
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GRANTID AGENCY COUNTRY
BB/T000813/1 RCUK | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
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