Beyond Heritability

Johnson, Wendy; Turkheimer, Eric; Gottesman, Irving I.; Bouchard, Thomas J.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01639.x

Cited by 127 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Finally, the shared environment influences meal-pattern-related behaviors for the most part. Overall these results reinforce the notion that the familial context and, later on, the environment outside the home can contribute substantially to eating habits during childhood and, in some cases, could modulate the expression of genetic predispositions [39]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Genetic and environmental influences on eating behaviors in 2.5- and 9-year-old children: a longitudinal twin study

Dubois

Diasparra

Bédard

et al. 2013

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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BackgroundEating behaviors during childhood are related both to children’s diet quality and to their weight status. A better understanding of the determinants of eating behavior during childhood is essential for carrying out effective dietary interventions.MethodsWe assessed the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to variations in selected eating behaviors in early and late childhood. Information on eating behaviors came from questionnaires administered to parents of children participating in the Quebec Newborn Twin Study when the twins were 2.5 and 9 years old (n = 692 children). Dichotomous variables were derived and analyzed using structural equation modeling, as part of a classic twin study design. We performed univariate and bivariate longitudinal analyses to quantify sources of variation and covariation across ages, for several eating behavior traits.ResultsWe found moderate to strong heritability for traits related to appetite such as eating too much, not eating enough and eating too fast. Univariate analysis estimates varied from 0.71 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.87) to 0.89 (0.75, 0.96) in younger children and from 0.44 (0.18, 0.66) to 0.56 (0.28, 0.78) in older children. Bivariate longitudinal analyses indicated modest to moderate genetic correlations across ages (rA varying from 0.34 to 0.58). Common genetic influences explained 17% to 43% of the phenotypic correlation between 2.5 and 9 years for these appetite-related behaviors. In 9-year-old children, food acceptance traits, such as refusing to eat and being fussy about food, had high heritability estimates, 0.84 (0.63, 0.94) and 0.85 (0.59, 0.96) respectively, while in younger children, the shared environment (i.e., common to both twins) contributed most to phenotypic variance. Variances in meal-pattern-related behaviors were mostly explained by shared environmental influences.ConclusionsGenetic predispositions explain a large part of the variations in traits related to appetite during childhood, though our results suggest that as children get older, appetite-related behaviors become more sensitive to environmental influences outside the home. Still, for several traits environmental influences shared by twins appear to have the largest relative importance. This finding supports the notion that familial context has considerable potential to influence the development of healthy eating habits throughout childhood.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Genetic and environmental influences on eating behaviors in 2.5- and 9-year-old children: a longitudinal twin study

Dubois

Diasparra

Bédard

et al. 2013

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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“…shared among related individuals), factors and their interactions (J. Blangero et al, 2005; Johnson, Turkheimer, Gottesman, & Bouchard, 2010). Typically, these methods contrast phenotype values for individuals based upon their expected genetic relationship due to Mendelian transmission (e.g., 1 for monozygotic twins; .5 for first degree relatives or 0.25 for second degree relatives) or their expected environmental relationship (e.g.…”

Section: What Have We Learned From Family Studies?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive genomics: Searching for the genetic roots of neuropsychological functioning.

Bearden¹,

Glahn²

2017

Neuropsychology

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Objective Human cognition has long been known to be under substantial genetic control. With the complete mapping of the human genome, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for many complex traits have proliferated; however, the highly polygenic nature of intelligence has made the identification of the precise genes that influence both global and specific cognitive abilities more difficult than anticipated. Methods Here, we review the latest developments in the genomics of cognition, including a discussion of methodological advances in the genetic analysis of complex traits, and shared genetic contributions to cognitive abilities and neuropsychiatric disorders. Results A wealth of twin and family studies have provided compelling evidence for a strong heritable component of both global and specific cognitive abilities, and for the existence of ‘generalist genes’ responsible for a large portion of the variance in diverse cognitive abilities. Increasingly sophisticated analytic tools and ever-larger sample sizes are now facilitating the identification of specific genetic and molecular underpinnings of cognitive abilities, leading to optimism regarding possibilities for novel treatments for illnesses related to cognitive function. Conclusions We conclude with a set of future directions for the field, which will further accelerate discoveries regarding the biological pathways relevant to cognitive abilities. These, in turn, may be further interrogated in order to link biological mechanisms to behavior.

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“…Interesting models for the study of variations in DNA methylation profiles are the monozygotic twins, as they have almost the same DNA sequence, but frequently show phenotypic discordance [41,42,43,44,45]. Monozygotic twins methylation profile can be very similar, not only by the nearly identical DNA sequence that they possess, but also because both individuals are subjected to one common pre- and post-natal environment [46].…”

Section: Epigenetic Modifications and Depressive Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic Modifications of Major Depressive Disorder

Saavedra

Molina-Márquez

Saavedra

et al. 2016

IJMS

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Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a chronic disease whose neurological basis and pathophysiology remain poorly understood. Initially, it was proposed that genetic variations were responsible for the development of this disease. Nevertheless, several studies within the last decade have provided evidence suggesting that environmental factors play an important role in MDD pathophysiology. Alterations in epigenetics mechanism, such as DNA methylation, histone modification and microRNA expression could favor MDD advance in response to stressful experiences and environmental factors. The aim of this review is to describe genetic alterations, and particularly altered epigenetic mechanisms, that could be determinants for MDD progress, and how these alterations may arise as useful screening, diagnosis and treatment monitoring biomarkers of depressive disorders.

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Beyond Heritability

Cited by 127 publications

References 18 publications

Genetic and environmental influences on eating behaviors in 2.5- and 9-year-old children: a longitudinal twin study

Genetic and environmental influences on eating behaviors in 2.5- and 9-year-old children: a longitudinal twin study

Cognitive genomics: Searching for the genetic roots of neuropsychological functioning.

Epigenetic Modifications of Major Depressive Disorder

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