Lack of replication for the myosin-18B association with mathematical ability in independent cohorts
Abstract
Twin studies indicate that dyscalculia (or mathematical disability) is caused partly by a genetic component, which is yet to be understood at the molecular level. Recently, a coding variant (rs133885) in the myosin-18B gene was shown to be associated with mathematical abilities with a specific effect among children with dyslexia. This association represents one of the most significant genetic associations reported to date for mathematical abilities and the only one reaching genome-wide statistical significance. We conducted a replication study in different cohorts to assess the effect of rs133885 maths-related measures. The study was conducted primarily using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), (N = 3819). We tested additional cohorts including the York Cohort, the Specific Language Impairment Consortium (SLIC) cohort and the Raine Cohort, and stratified them for a definition of dyslexia whenever possible. We did not observe any associations between rs133885 in myosin-18B and mathematical abilities among individuals with dyslexia or in the general population. Our results suggest that the myosin-18B variant is unlikely to be a main factor contributing to mathematical abilities.
Citation
Pettigrew , K A , Fajutrao Valles , S F , Moll , K , Northstone , K , Ring , S , Pennell , C , Wang , C , Leavett , R , Hayiou-Thomas , M E , Thompson , P , Simpson , N H , Fisher , S E , Whitehouse , A J O , Snowling , M J , Newbury , D F , Paracchini , S & SLI Consortium 2015 , ' Lack of replication for the myosin-18B association with mathematical ability in independent cohorts ' , Genes, Brain and Behavior , vol. 14 , no. 4 , pp. 369-376 . https://doi.org/10.1111/gbb.12213
Publication
Genes, Brain and Behavior
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1601-1848Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2015 The Authors. Genes, Brain and Behavior published by International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
SP is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. This specific study in the ALSPAC cohort was supported by a MRC grant to SP [grant number G0800523/8647]. Support to the analysis was provided by the St Andrews Bioinformatics Unit funded by the Wellcome Trust [grant 097831/Z/11/Z].Collections
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