From Genome-Wide to Environment-Wide: Capturing the Environome

Abstract

Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have shown that genetic influences on individual differences in affect, behavior, and cognition are driven by thousands of DNA variants, each with very small effect sizes. Here, we propose taking inspiration from GWA studies for understanding and modeling the influence of the environment on complex phenotypes. We argue that the availability of DNA microarrays in genetic research is comparable with the advent of digital technologies in psychological science that enable collecting rich, naturalistic observations in real time of the environome, akin to the genome. These data can capture many thousand environmental elements, which we speculate each influence individual differences in affect, behavior, and cognition with very small effect sizes, akin to findings from GWA studies about DNA variants. We outline how the principles and mechanisms of genetic influences on psychological traits can be applied to improve the understanding and models of the environome.

No Evidence That Siblings’ Gender Affects Personality Across Nine Countries

“…Of course, it is possible that the effects of siblings’ gender and birth-order position are even more subtle and thus not detectable even when very large samples are investigated. This interpretation would align with recent suggestions that environmental influences, just like genetic influences, may be driven by thousands of factors, each with very small effect sizes (von Stumm & d’Apice, 2022). However, taking findings from behavioral genetics into account, it seems like these environmental causes are more likely to be found outside of the family environment (Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2014; Vukasović & Bratko, 2015).…”

Gene–environment interaction using polygenic scores: Do polygenic scores for psychopathology moderate predictions from environmental risk to behavior problems?

“…The fundamental problem for prediction is that environmental research has nothing remotely comparable to the genetic code in DNA sequence or the technological advance of SNP chips that assess millions of DNA variants quickly, accurately, and inexpensively. A comparison between the genome and what could be called the environome is instructive (von Stumm & d'Apice, 2022). In the genome, millions of inherited differences in DNA sequence have been identified and their tiny individual associations with a trait can be summed to create polygenic scores.…”

“…Ultimately what will be needed are large-scale collaborations, along the lines of GWA consortia, that can reach the statistical power needed to detect small effects of G, E and their interplay. GWA consortia could be a practical way to begin by incorporating environmental measures in large biobanks that already have GWA genotype data, especially new longitudinal cohorts that could track developmental changes in the environome (von Stumm & d'Apice, 2022). The difficult trade-off will be between quality and depth of environmental assessments versus the need for very large samples.…”

Predicting Alcohol Use From Genome-Wide Polygenic Scores, Environmental Factors, and Their Interactions in Young Adulthood

“…GPS capture inherited DNA differences that are systematically encoded in base pairs (i.e., SNPs) that are directly comparable across loci and remain unchanged from conception throughout life (37). By contrast, environmental factors have no ubiquitous unit of measurement, continuously change across time and contexts, and stem from a broad range of experiences, spanning natural, biophysical, social, cultural, and economic environments (34). Identifying interactions between two domains that are so asymmetrical is inherently complicated, if not impossible.…”