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Linkage Analyses of IQ in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) Sample

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Intelligence, as measured by standardized psychological tests, has been shown to be highly heritable, though identifying specific genes influencing general intelligence has proven difficult. We conducted genome-wide linkage analyses to identify chromosomal regions containing genes influencing intelligence, as measured by WAIS full-scale IQ (FSIQ), performance IQ (PIQ) and verbal IQ (VIQ). Non-parametric multipoint linkage analyses were conducted with Merlin-regress software, using a sample of 1111 genotyped and phenotyped individuals from 201 families, ascertained as part of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). The strongest evidence of linkage was obtained for FSIQ on chromosome 6 (LOD=3.28, 12 cM) near the marker D6S1006. This region was also implicated with suggestive linkage in a recently published genome screen of IQ in Australian and Dutch twin pairs, and it has been implicated in linkage studies of developmental dyslexia. Our findings provide further support that chromosome 6p contains gene(s) affecting intelligence.

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Acknowledgments

The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) (Principal Investigator: H. Begleiter; Co-Principal Investigators: L. Bierut, H. Edenberg, V. Hesselbrock, B. Porjesz) includes nine different centers where data collection, analysis, and storage take place. The nine sites and Principal Investigators and Co-Investigators are: University of Connecticut (V. Hesselbrock); Indiana University (H. Edenberg, J. Nurnberger Jr., P.M. Conneally, T. Foroud); University of Iowa (S. Kuperman, R. Crowe); SUNY HSCB (B. Porjesz, H. Begleiter); Washington University in St. Louis (L. Bierut, A. Goate, J. Rice); University of California at San Diego (M. Schuckit); Howard University (R. Taylor); Rutgers University (J. Tischfield); Southwest Foundation (L. Almasy). Zhaoxia Ren serves as the NIAAA Staff Collaborator. This national collaborative study is supported by the NIH Grant U10AA08401 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Partial support was also provided by NCRR Grant M01-RR06192 to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine GCRC.

In memory of Theodore Reich, M.D., Co-Principal Investigator of COGA since its inception and one of the founders of modern psychiatric genetics, we acknowledge his immeasurable and fundamental scientific contributions to COGA and the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Danielle M. Dick, Fazil Aliev, Laura Bierut, Alison Goate, John Rice, Anthony Hinrichs, Sarah Bertelsen, Jen C. Wang & Gerald Dunn

  2. Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Fazil Aliev

  3. University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Sam Kuperman & John Kramer

  4. University of California at San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Marc Schuckit

  5. Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    John Nurnberger Jr.

  6. SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Bernice Porjesz & Henri Beglieter

  7. University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA

    Victor Hesselbrock

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, Box 8134, 660 South Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Danielle M. Dick

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  1. Danielle M. Dick
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Correspondence to Danielle M. Dick.

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Dick, D.M., Aliev, F., Bierut, L. et al. Linkage Analyses of IQ in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) Sample. Behav Genet 36, 77–86 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-005-9009-8

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