Abstract
We estimated genotype by environment interaction (G × E) on later cognitive performance and educational attainment across four unique environments, i.e. 1) breastfed without maternal smoking, 2) breastfed with maternal smoking, 3) non-breastfed without maternal smoking and 4) non-breastfed with maternal smoking, using a novel design and statistical approach that was facilitated by the availability of datasets with the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). There was significant G × E for both fluid intelligence (p-value = 1.0E-03) and educational attainment (p-value = 8.3E-05) when comparing genetic effects in the group of individuals who were breastfed without maternal smoking with those not breastfed without maternal smoking. There was also significant G × E for fluid intelligence (p-value = 3.9E-05) when comparing the group of individuals who were breastfed with maternal smoking with those not breastfed without maternal smoking. Genome-wide significant SNPs were different between different environmental groups. Genomic prediction accuracies were significantly higher when using the target and discovery sample from the same environmental group than when using those from the different environmental groups. This finding demonstrates G × E has important implications for future studies on the genetic architecture, genome-wide association studies and genomic predictions.
Highlights
There has been considerable interest in effects of breastfeeding and maternal smoking around birth on cognitive function and later performance such as intelligence, memory and educational attainment
We used a multi-variate GREML to estimate genetic variance and covariance explained by the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for each cognitive trait across different environmental conditions of breastfeeding and maternal smoking status
We reported significant genome-wide G × E of fluid intelligence and educational attainment conditional on breastfeeding and maternal smoking status
Summary
There has been considerable interest in effects of breastfeeding and maternal smoking around birth on cognitive function and later performance such as intelligence, memory and educational attainment. There are no studies into a genotype by environment interaction (G × E) for later cognitive performance conditional on the maternal environment as determined by breastfeeding or/and maternal smoking around birth. It is unknown whether the genetic expression for these traits differs between these maternal environments. We estimate G × E on later cognitive performance and educational attainment across the maternal environments for breastfeeding and smoking using a novel statistical approach that is facilitated by the availability of datasets with the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genetic correlation (i.e. scaled genetic covariance) between the phenotypic expression of genotypes in different environments, which is significantly different from 1, indicates evidence of G × E23, 24
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