Friday, September 13, 2024

How Genes Shape Personality Traits: New Links Are Discovered

Amazing stuff!

What is not in your genes? Self-reported assessments?

".... Using data from the Million Veteran Program, researchers performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genetic variations, called “loci,” associated with each of the “Big Five” personality traits: extraversion, openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness. The researchers then combined these data with previous GWAS to perform a meta-analysis with almost 700,000 individuals, marking the largest GWAS for personality traits to date. ...

The Big Five personality traits are a scientifically based measure of personality that can be studied using self-reported assessments that indicate whether people score high or low in each of the five traits. ...

By comparing personality assessment results with the analysis of variations in the participants’ DNA, Levey and his team found 62 new loci associated with neuroticism. They also identified loci for agreeableness for the first time. By combining their results with previously published data, they performed a meta-analysis to identify over 200 genetic loci across the five personality traits. ..."

From the abstract:
"Personality is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors and is associated with other psychiatric traits such as anxiety and depression. The ‘big five’ personality traits, which include neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness, are a widely accepted and influential framework for understanding and describing human personality. Of the big five personality traits, neuroticism has most often been the focus of genetic studies and is linked to various mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. Our knowledge of the genetic architecture of the other four personality traits is more limited. Here, utilizing the Million Veteran Program cohort, we conducted a genome-wide association study in individuals of European and African ancestry. Adding other published data, we performed genome-wide association study meta-analysis for each of the five personality traits with sample sizes ranging from 237,390 to 682,688. We identified 208, 14, 3, 2 and 7 independent genome-wide significant loci associated with neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness, respectively. These findings represent 62 novel loci for neuroticism, as well as the first genome-wide significant loci discovered for agreeableness. Gene-based association testing revealed 254 genes showing significant association with at least one of the five personality traits. Transcriptome-wide and proteome-wide analysis identified altered expression of genes and proteins such as CRHR1, SLC12A5, MAPT and STX4. Pathway enrichment and drug perturbation analyses identified complex biology underlying human personality traits. We also studied the inter-relationship of personality traits with 1,437 other traits in a phenome-wide genetic correlation analysis, identifying new associations. Mendelian randomization showed positive bidirectional effects between neuroticism and depression and anxiety, while a negative bidirectional effect was observed for agreeableness and these psychiatric traits. This study improves our comprehensive understanding of the genetic architecture underlying personality traits and their relationship to other complex human traits."

How Genes Shape Personality Traits: New Links Are Discovered < Yale School of Medicine



Fig. 1: Personality GWAS meta-analysis and genetic correlations among the five personality traits.


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