Genome-wide analyses of individual differences in quantitatively assessed reading- and language-related skills in up to 34,000 people

The use of spoken and written language is a fundamental human capacity. Individual differences in reading- and language-related skills are influenced by genetic variation, with twin-based heritability estimates of 30 to 80% depending on the trait. The genetic architecture is complex, heterogeneous, and multifactorial, but investigations of contributions of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were thus far underpowered.

Citation:
Eising E, Mirza-Schreiber N, de Zeeuw EL, ………. Whitehouse AJO, et al. Genome-wide analyses of individual differences in quantitatively assessed reading- and language-related skills in up to 34,000 people. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022;119(35)

Keywords:
Genome-wide association study; language; meta-analysis; reading; awareness; brain region; chromosome; controlled study; correlation analysis; fetus brain; gene expression; genetic association; genetic correlation; genetic variation; heredity; major clinical study; neuroimaging; phoneme; quantitative analysis; single nucleotide polymorphism; structural equation modeling

Abstract:
The use of spoken and written language is a fundamental human capacity. Individual differences in reading- and language-related skills are influenced by genetic variation, with twin-based heritability estimates of 30 to 80% depending on the trait. The genetic architecture is complex, heterogeneous, and multifactorial, but investigations of contributions of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were thus far underpowered.