Finding genetic factors associated with cognitive abilities

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15587/2519-4984.2021.247416

Keywords:

genetic factors, cognitive abilities, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, candidate genes

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the results of modern genetic studies of human cognitive abilities. Finding genetic factors, associated with cognitive abilities, will have far-reaching ramifications at all levels of understanding from DNA to brain and to behavior. Despite its complexity, cognitive ability is a reasonable candidate for molecular genetic research because it is one of the most heritable features of behavior. The first attempts to find genetic factors, associated with cognitive abilities, focused on genes, involved in brain development and function, but this direction proved to be unproductive, as it turned out that there are about 18.000 genes, and it was too difficult to detect among them those genes that are involved in cognitive processes. In addition, a considerable number of genetic factors of human traits are single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which are in non-coding DNA regions rather than in traditional genes. The effect of each separate SNP is unimportant, and a clear expression of the general cognitive ability is noticeable only if all the associated SNPs are involved. Currently, over 11,000 such SNPs have been identified, which are uneven in different functional regions of the genome: over 60 % in gene introns, almost 30 % in intergenic DNA regions, about 5 % in gene exons, and about 5 % in transcribed regions (downstream, upstream) and frame regions (UTR'5, UTR'3) of genes. Also there are found 74 SNPs, associated with school achievements. These SNPs are disproportionately located in genes that regulate transcription and alternative splicing of other genes, which are expressed in nerve tissues of the brain during its prenatal development. Finding genetic factors that explain the inheritance of cognitive abilities is important for both science and society. Information about these factors can be used in other fields of human science – human genetics and medicine. It will open up new scientific horizons for education too owing to understanding of the genetic aspects of learning and memory

Author Biographies

Valentyn Pomohaibo, Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University

PhD, Professor-Consultant

Department of Special Education and Social Work

Natalia Karapuzova, Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University

PhD, Professor

Department of Elementary Education, Natural and Mathematical Disciplines and Methods of Teaching

Yuliia Pavlenko, Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University

PhD, Associate Professor

Department of Elementary Education, Natural and Mathematical Disciplines and Methods of Teaching

References

  1. Gottfredson, L. S. (1997). Mainstream science on intelligence: An editorial with 52 signatories, history, and bibliography. Intelligence, 24 (1), 13–23. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0160-2896(97)90011-8
  2. Encyclopedia Britannica (2020). Behaviour genetics. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/behaviour-genetics#accordion-article-history
  3. Jensen, A. R. (1998). The g factor: The science of mental ability. Westport, Praeger, 648.
  4. Spearman, C. (1904). “General Intelligence,” Objectively Determined and Measured. The American Journal of Psychology, 15 (2), 201. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1412107
  5. Payton, A. (2009). The Impact of Genetic Research on our Understanding of Normal Cognitive Ageing: 1995 to 2009. Neuropsychology Review, 19 (4), 451–477. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-009-9116-z
  6. Kang, H. J., Kawasawa, Y. I., Cheng, F., Zhu, Y., Xu, X., Li, M. et. al. (2011). Spatio-temporal transcriptome of the human brain. Nature, 478 (7370), 483–489. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10523
  7. Chabris, C. F., Hebert, B. M., Benjamin, D. J., Beauchamp, J., Cesarini, D., van der Loos, M. et. al. (2012). Most Reported Genetic Associations With General Intelligence Are Probably False Positives. Psychological Science, 23 (11), 1314–1323. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611435528
  8. Franić, S., Dolan, C. V., Broxholme, J., Hu, H., Zemojtel, T., Davies, G. E. et. al. (2015). Mendelian and polygenic inheritance of intelligence: A common set of causal genes? Using next-generation sequencing to examine the effects of 168 intellectual disability genes on normal-range intelligence. Intelligence, 49, 10–22. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2014.12.001
  9. Goldberg, T. E., Weinberger, D. R. (2004). Genes and the parsing of cognitive processes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8 (7), 325–335. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2004.05.011
  10. Kovas, Y., Plomin, R. (2006). Generalist genes: implications for the cognitive sciences. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10 (5), 198–203. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.03.001
  11. Winterer, G., Goldman, D. (2003). Genetics of human prefrontal function. Brain Research Reviews, 43 (1), 134–163. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0165-0173(03)00205-4
  12. Bush, W. S., Moore, J. H. (2012). Chapter 11: Genome-Wide Association Studies. PLoS Computational Biology, 8 (12). doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002822
  13. Butcher, L. M., Davis, O. S. P., Craig, I. W., Plomin, R. (2008). Genome-wide quantitative trait locus association scan of general cognitive ability using pooled DNA and 500K single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 7 (4), 435–446. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1601-183x.2007.00368.x
  14. Davies, G., Tenesa, A., Payton, A., Yang, J., Harris, S. E., Liewald, D. et. al. (2011). Genome-wide association studies establish that human intelligence is highly heritable and polygenic. Molecular Psychiatry, 16 (10), 996–1005. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2011.85
  15. Davis, O. S. P., Butcher, L. M., Docherty, S. J., Meaburn, E. L., Curtis, C. J. C., Simpson, M. A. et. al. (2010). A Three-Stage Genome-Wide Association Study of General Cognitive Ability: Hunting the Small Effects. Behavior Genetics, 40 (6), 759–767. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-010-9350-4
  16. Need, A. C., Attix, D. K., McEvoy, J. M., Cirulli, E. T., Linney, K. L., Hunt, P. et. al. (2009). A genome-wide study of common SNPs and CNVs in cognitive performance in the CANTAB. Human Molecular Genetics, 18 (23), 4650–4661. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddp413
  17. Benyamin, B., Pourcain, Bs., Davis, O. S., Davies, G., Hansell, N. K., Visscher, P. M. et. al. (2013). Childhood intelligence is heritable, highly polygenic and associated with FNBP1L. Molecular Psychiatry, 19 (2), 253–258. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.184
  18. Davies, G., Armstrong, N., Bis, J. C., Bressler, J., Chouraki, V., Giddaluru, S. et. al. (2015). Genetic contributions to variation in general cognitive function: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in the CHARGE consortium (N=53 949). Molecular Psychiatry, 20 (2), 183–192. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.188
  19. GeneCards. The Human Gene Database (2020). Available at: https://www.genecards.org/
  20. National Center for Biotechnology Information USA: Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/
  21. MalaCards: The human disease database (2020). Available at: https://www.malacards.org/
  22. Davies, G., Lam, M., Harris, S. E., Trampush, J. W., Luciano, M., Hill, W. D. et. al. (2018). Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function. Nature Communications, 9 (1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04362-x
  23. Zhao, Z., Fu, Y.-X., Hewett-Emmett, D., Boerwinkle, E. (2003). Investigating single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) density in the human genome and its implications for molecular evolution. Gene, 312, 207–213. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1119(03)00670-x
  24. Davies, G., Marioni, R. E., Liewald, D. C., Hill, W. D., Hagenaars, S. P., Harris, S. E. et. al. (2016). Genome-wide association study of cognitive functions and educational attainment in UK Biobank (N=112 151). Molecular Psychiatry, 21 (6), 758–767. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2016.45
  25. Sniekers, S., Stringer, S., Watanabe, K., Jansen, P. R., Coleman, J. R. I., Krapohl, E. et. al. (2017). Genome-wide association meta-analysis of 78,308 individuals identifies new loci and genes influencing human intelligence. Nature Genetics, 49 (7), 1107–1112. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2017.08.013
  26. Hill, W. D., Marioni, R. E., Maghzian, O., Ritchie, S. J., Hagenaars, S. P., McIntosh, A. M. et. al. (2018). A combined analysis of genetically correlated traits identifies 187 loci and a role for neurogenesis and myelination in intelligence. Molecular Psychiatry, 24 (2), 169–181. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-017-0001-5
  27. Okbay, A., Beauchamp, J., Fontana, M. A., Lee, J. J., Pers, T. H., Rietveld, C. et. al. (2016). Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. Nature, 533 (7604), 539–542. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17671
  28. Ward, M. E., McMahon, G., St Pourcain, B., Evans, D. M., Rietveld, C. A., Benjamin, D. J. et. al. (2014). Genetic Variation Associated with Differential Educational Attainment in Adults Has Anticipated Associations with School Performance in Children. PLoS ONE, 9 (7). doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100248
  29. Krapohl, E., Plomin, R. (2015). Genetic link between family socioeconomic status and children’s educational achievement estimated from genome-wide SNPs. Molecular Psychiatry, 21 (3), 437–443. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2015.2
  30. Rietveld, C. A., Esko, T., Davies, G., Pers, T. H., Turley, P., Benyamin, B. et. al. (2014). Common genetic variants associated with cognitive performance identified using the proxy-phenotype method. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111 (38), 13790–13794. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404623111
  31. Luciano, M., Montgomery, G. W., Martin, N. G., Wright, M. J., Bates, T. C. (2011). SNP Sets and Reading Ability: Testing Confirmation of a 10-SNP Set in a Population Sample. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 14 (3), 228–232. doi: https://doi.org/10.1375/twin.14.3.228
  32. Meaburn, E. L., Harlaar, N., Craig, I. W., Schalkwyk, L. C., Plomin, R. (2007). Quantitative trait locus association scan of early reading disability and ability using pooled DNA and 100K SNP microarrays in a sample of 5760 children. Molecular Psychiatry, 13 (7), 729–740. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4002063
  33. Docherty, S. J., Davis, O. S. P., Kovas, Y., Meaburn, E. L., Dale, P. S., Petrill, S. A. et. al. (2010). A genome-wide association study identifies multiple loci associated with mathematics ability and disability. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 9 (2), 234–247. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1601-183x.2009.00553.x
  34. Donati, G., Dumontheil, I., Meaburn, E. L. (2019). Genome‐Wide Association Study of Latent Cognitive Measures in Adolescence: Genetic Overlap With Intelligence and Education. Mind, Brain, and Education, 13 (3), 224–233. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12198
  35. Papassotiropoulos, A., Stephan, D. A., Huentelman, M. J., Hoerndli, F. J., Craig, D. W., Pearson, J. V. et. al. (2006). Common Kibra Alleles Are Associated with Human Memory Performance. Science, 314 (5798), 475–478. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1129837
  36. Stein, J. L., Medland, S. E., Vasquez, A. A., Hibar, D. P., Senstad, R. E., Winkler, A. M. et. al. (2012). Identification of common variants associated with human hippocampal and intracranial volumes. Nature Genetics, 44 (5), 552–561. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2250
  37. Burgess, N., Maguire, E. A., O’Keefe, J. (2002). The Human Hippocampus and Spatial and Episodic Memory. Neuron, 35 (4), 625–641. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00830-9
  38. Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J. et. al. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97 (8), 4398–4403. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070039597
  39. Snyder, J. S., Soumier, A., Brewer, M., Pickel, J., Cameron, H. A. (2011). Adult hippocampal neurogenesis buffers stress responses and depressive behaviour. Nature, 476 (7361), 458–461. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10287
  40. Freitag, C. M., Luders, E., Hulst, H. E., Narr, K. L., Thompson, P. M., Toga, A. W. et. al. (2009). Total Brain Volume and Corpus Callosum Size in Medication-Naïve Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 66 (4), 316–319. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.03.011
  41. Posthuma, D., De Geus, E. J. C., Baaré, W. F. C., Pol, H. E. H., Kahn, R. S., Boomsma, D. I. (2002). The association between brain volume and intelligence is of genetic origin. Nature Neuroscience, 5 (2), 83–84. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0202-83
  42. Stanfield, A. C., McIntosh, A. M., Spencer, M. D., Philip, R., Gaur, S., Lawrie, S. M. (2008). Towards a neuroanatomy of autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies. European Psychiatry, 23 (4), 289–299. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2007.05.006
  43. Knopik, V. S., Neiderhiser, J. M., DeFries, J. C., Plomin, R. (2017). Behavioral Genetics. New York: Worth Publishers, 508.
  44. Luciano, M., Svinti, V., Campbell, A., Marioni, R. E., Hayward, C., Wright, A. F. et. al. (2015). Exome Sequencing to Detect Rare Variants Associated With General Cognitive Ability: A Pilot Study. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 18 (2), 117–125. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/thg.2015.10
  45. Marioni, R. E., Penke, L., Davies, G., Huffman, J. E., Hayward, C., Deary, I. J. (2014). The total burden of rare, non-synonymous exome genetic variants is not associated with childhood or late-life cognitive ability. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281 (1781). doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0117
  46. Plomin, R. (1999). Genetics and general cognitive ability. Nature, 402 (S6761), C25–C29. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/35011520
  47. Spain, S. L., Pedroso, I., Kadeva, N., Miller, M. B., Iacono, W. G., McGue, M. et. al. (2015). A genome-wide analysis of putative functional and exonic variation associated with extremely high intelligence. Molecular Psychiatry, 21 (8), 1145–1151. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2015.108
  48. Luciano, M., Hansell, N. K., Lahti, J., Davies, G., Medland, S. E., Räikkönen, K. et. al. (2011). Whole genome association scan for genetic polymorphisms influencing information processing speed. Biological Psychology, 86 (3), 193–202. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.11.008

Downloads

Published

2021-11-30

How to Cite

Pomohaibo, V., Karapuzova, N., & Pavlenko, Y. (2021). Finding genetic factors associated with cognitive abilities. ScienceRise: Pedagogical Education, (6 (45), 29–34. https://doi.org/10.15587/2519-4984.2021.247416

Issue

Section

Pedagogical Education