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Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion: Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium

  • Stéphanie M. van den Berg*
  • , Marleen H.M. de Moor
  • , Karin J.H. Verweij
  • , Robert F. Krueger
  • , Michelle Luciano
  • , Alejandro Arias Vasquez
  • , Lindsay K. Matteson
  • , Jaime Derringer
  • , Tõnu Esko
  • , Najaf Amin
  • , Scott D. Gordon
  • , Narelle K. Hansell
  • , Amy B. Hart
  • , Ilkka Seppälä
  • , Jennifer E. Huffman
  • , Bettina Konte
  • , Jari Lahti
  • , Minyoung Lee
  • , Mike Miller
  • , Teresa Nutile
  • Toshiko Tanaka, Alexander Teumer, Alexander Viktorin, Juho Wedenoja, Abdel Abdellaoui, Goncalo R. Abecasis, Daniel E. Adkins, Arpana Agrawal, Jüri Allik, Katja Appel, Timothy B. Bigdeli, Fabio Busonero, Harry Campbell, Paul T. Costa, George Davey Smith, Gail Davies, Harriet de Wit, Jun Ding, Barbara E. Engelhardt, Johan G. Eriksson, Iryna O. Fedko, Luigi Ferrucci, Barbara Franke, Ina Giegling, Richard Grucza, Annette M. Hartmann, Andrew C. Heath, Kati Heinonen, Anjali K. Henders, Georg Homuth, Jouke Jan Hottenga, William G. Iacono, Joost Janzing, Markus Jokela, Robert Karlsson, John P. Kemp, Matthew G. Kirkpatrick, Antti Latvala, Terho Lehtimäki, David C. Liewald, Pamela A.F. Madden, Chiara Magri, Patrik K.E. Magnusson, Jonathan Marten, Andrea Maschio, Hamdi Mbarek, Sarah E. Medland, Evelin Mihailov, Yuri Milaneschi, Grant W. Montgomery, Matthias Nauck, Michel G. Nivard, Klaasjan G. Ouwens, Aarno Palotie, Erik Pettersson, Ozren Polasek, Yong Qian, Laura Pulkki-Råback, Olli T. Raitakari, Anu Realo, Richard J. Rose, Daniela Ruggiero, Carsten O. Schmidt, Wendy S. Slutske, Rossella Sorice, John M. Starr, Beate St Pourcain, Angelina R. Sutin, Nicholas J. Timpson, Holly Trochet, Sita Vermeulen, Eero Vuoksimaa, Elisabeth Widen, Jasper Wouda, Margaret J. Wright, Lina Zgaga, Scotland Generation Scotland, David Porteous, Alessandra Minelli, Abraham A. Palmer, Dan Rujescu, Marina Ciullo, Caroline Hayward, Igor Rudan, Andres Metspalu, Jaakko Kaprio, Ian J. Deary, Katri Räikkönen, James F. Wilson, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen, Laura J. Bierut, John M. Hettema, Hans J. Grabe, Brenda W.J.H. Penninx, Cornelia M. van Duijn, David M. Evans, David Schlessinger, Nancy L. Pedersen, Antonio Terracciano, Matt McGue, Nicholas G. Martin, Dorret I. Boomsma
*Corresponding author for this work
  • Department of Research Methodology
  • University of Twente
  • Department of Biological Psychology
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies
  • Department of Methods
  • Queensland Institute of Medical Research
  • University of Amsterdam
  • Department of Psychology
  • University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  • Department of Psychology
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology
  • Donders Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Radboud University Nijmegen
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • Department of Human Genetics
  • Department of Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Department of Psychology
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • University of Tartu
  • Department of Epidemiology
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Department of Human Genetics
  • The University of Chicago
  • Department of Clinical Chemistry
  • Tampere University
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
  • Institute of Behavioural Sciences
  • University of Helsinki
  • Folkhalsan
  • Virginia Commonwealth University
  • National Research Council of Italy
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Institute for Community Medicine
  • University of Greifswald
  • Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • Department of Public Health
  • Department of Biostatistics
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • Washington University St. Louis
  • Department of Psychology
  • University of Tartu
  • Estonian Academy of Sciences
  • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
  • Behavioral Medicine Research Center
  • Duke University
  • University of Bristol
  • Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Laboratory of Genetics
  • National Institute for Health and Welfare
  • Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care
  • Vaasa Hospital District
  • Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics
  • University of Queensland
  • Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine
  • University of Brescia
  • Department of Biotechnology
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • VU University Medical Center
  • Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  • Wellcome Trust
  • FIMM Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland
  • Department of Public Health
  • University of Split
  • Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine
  • University of Turku
  • Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
  • Indiana University Bloomington
  • Department of Psychological Sciences and Missouri Alcoholism Research Center
  • University of Missouri
  • Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre
  • School of Oral and Dental Sciences
  • School of Experimental Psychology
  • Florida State University
  • Department for Health Evidence
  • Department of Public Health and Primary Care
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • Scottish Family Health Study
  • NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
  • Medical Genetics Section
  • HELIOS-Hospital Stralsund
  • University of Southern Denmark
  • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)170-182
Number of pages13
JournalBehavior Genetics
Volume46
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Common genetic variants
  • Imputation
  • Personality
  • Phenotype harmonization
  • Polygenic risk

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