Reduced signal for polygenic adaptation of height in UK Biobank
Abstract
Several recent papers have reported strong signals of selection on European polygenic height scores. These analyses used height effect estimates from the GIANT consortium and replication studies. Here, we describe a new analysis based on the the UK Biobank (UKB), a large, independent dataset. We find that the signals of selection using UKB effect estimates are strongly attenuated or absent. We also provide evidence that previous analyses were confounded by population stratification. Therefore, the conclusion of strong polygenic adaptation now lacks support. Moreover, these discrepancies highlight (1) that methods for correcting for population stratification in GWAS may not always be sufficient for polygenic trait analyses, and (2) that claims of differences in polygenic scores between populations should be treated with caution until these issues are better understood.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 21, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.7554/elife.39725
Entities
People
- Anja Moltke Joergensen
- Arbel Harpak
- Evan A Boyle
- Fernando Racimo
- Graham Coop
- Hakhamanesh Mostafavi
- Jeremy J Berg
- Jonathan K. Pritchard
- Nicholas A Sinnott-Armstrong
- Xinjun Zhang
- Yair Field
Organizations
- Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics, Stanford University
- Columbia University
- National Institutes of Health
- Stanford University
- United States Department of Defense
- University of California
- University of Copenhagen
- Villum Foundation