Creativity is heritable and exhibits familial aggregation with psychiatric disorders, but its genomic basis and genetic relationship with psychiatric disorders remain largely unknown. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using an expanded, machine learning-based definition of creativity in individuals of European ancestry from the UK Biobank (n = 241,736) and identified 25 creativity-associated loci. Extensive genetic overlap with psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar I disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and anorexia nervosa, was demonstrated by the genetic correlation, polygenic risk score, and MiXeR analyses. The condFDR and conjFDR analyses identified additional loci for creativity and psychiatric disorders, as well as shared genetic loci between creativity and psychiatric disorders. This GWAS showed significant correlations with GWASs using traditional definitions of creativity and GWASs adjusted for educational attainment. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the genetic architecture of creativity and reveal its polygenic relationships with psychiatric disorders.

Irritability is a heritable core mental trait associated with several psychiatric illnesses. However, the genomic basis of irritability is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to 1) identify the genetic variants associated with irritability and investigate the associated biological pathways, genes, and tissues as well as single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based heritability; 2) explore the relationships between irritability and various traits, including psychiatric disorders; and 3) identify additional and shared genetic variants for irritability and psychiatric disorders. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 379,506 European samples (105,975 cases and 273,531 controls) from the UK Biobank. We utilized various post-GWAS analyses, including linkage disequilibrium score regression, the bivariate causal mixture model (MiXeR), and conditional and conjunctional false discovery rate approaches. This GWAS identified 15 independent loci associated with irritability; the total SNP heritability estimate was 4.19%. Genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders were most pronounced for major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar II disorder (BD II). MiXeR analysis revealed polygenic overlap with schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar I disorder (BD I), and MDD. Conditional false discovery rate analyses identified additional loci associated with SCZ (number [n] of additional SNPs = 105), BD I (n = 54), MDD (n = 107), and irritability (n = 157). Conjunctional false discovery rate analyses identified 85, 41, and 198 shared loci between irritability and SCZ, BD I, and MDD, respectively. Multiple genetic loci were associated with irritability and three main psychiatric disorders. Given that irritability is a cross-disorder trait, these findings may help to elucidate the genomics of psychiatric disorders.