Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jun;9(6):e1003500.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003500. Epub 2013 Jun 6.

Sex-stratified genome-wide association studies including 270,000 individuals show sexual dimorphism in genetic loci for anthropometric traits

Joshua C Randall  1 , Thomas W Winkler, Zoltán Kutalik, Sonja I Berndt, Anne U Jackson, Keri L Monda, Tuomas O Kilpeläinen, Tõnu Esko, Reedik Mägi, Shengxu Li, Tsegaselassie Workalemahu, Mary F Feitosa, Damien C Croteau-Chonka, Felix R Day, Tove Fall, Teresa Ferreira, Stefan Gustafsson, Adam E Locke, Iain Mathieson, Andre Scherag, Sailaja Vedantam, Andrew R Wood, Liming Liang, Valgerdur Steinthorsdottir, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Emmanouil T Dermitzakis, Antigone S Dimas, Fredrik Karpe, Josine L Min, George Nicholson, Deborah J Clegg, Thomas Person, Jon P Krohn, Sabrina Bauer, Christa Buechler, Kristina Eisinger; DIAGRAM Consortium; Amélie Bonnefond, Philippe Froguel; MAGIC Investigators; Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Inga Prokopenko, Lindsay L Waite, Tamara B Harris, Albert Vernon Smith, Alan R Shuldiner, Wendy L McArdle, Mark J Caulfield, Patricia B Munroe, Henrik Grönberg, Yii-Der Ida Chen, Guo Li, Jacques S Beckmann, Toby Johnson, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir, Maris Teder-Laving, Kay-Tee Khaw, Nicholas J Wareham, Jing Hua Zhao, Najaf Amin, Ben A Oostra, Aldi T Kraja, Michael A Province, L Adrienne Cupples, Nancy L Heard-Costa, Jaakko Kaprio, Samuli Ripatti, Ida Surakka, Francis S Collins, Jouko Saramies, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Antti Jula, Veikko Salomaa, Jeanette Erdmann, Christian Hengstenberg, Christina Loley, Heribert Schunkert, Claudia Lamina, H Erich Wichmann, Eva Albrecht, Christian Gieger, Andrew A Hicks, Asa Johansson, Peter P Pramstaller, Sekar Kathiresan, Elizabeth K Speliotes, Brenda Penninx, Anna-Liisa Hartikainen, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Ulf Gyllensten, Dorret I Boomsma, Harry Campbell, James F Wilson, Stephen J Chanock, Martin Farrall, Anuj Goel, Carolina Medina-Gomez, Fernando Rivadeneira, Karol Estrada, André G Uitterlinden, Albert Hofman, M Carola Zillikens, Martin den Heijer, Lambertus A Kiemeney, Andrea Maschio, Per Hall, Jonathan Tyrer, Alexander Teumer, Henry Völzke, Peter Kovacs, Anke Tönjes, Massimo Mangino, Tim D Spector, Caroline Hayward, Igor Rudan, Alistair S Hall, Nilesh J Samani, Antony Paul Attwood, Jennifer G Sambrook, Joseph Hung, Lyle J Palmer, Marja-Liisa Lokki, Juha Sinisalo, Gabrielle Boucher, Heikki Huikuri, Mattias Lorentzon, Claes Ohlsson, Niina Eklund, Johan G Eriksson, Cristina Barlassina, Carlo Rivolta, Ilja M Nolte, Harold Snieder, Melanie M Van der Klauw, Jana V Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Pablo V Gejman, Jianxin Shi, Kevin B Jacobs, Zhaoming Wang, Stephan J L Bakker, Irene Mateo Leach, Gerjan Navis, Pim van der Harst, Nicholas G Martin, Sarah E Medland, Grant W Montgomery, Jian Yang, Daniel I Chasman, Paul M Ridker, Lynda M Rose, Terho Lehtimäki, Olli Raitakari, Devin Absher, Carlos Iribarren, Hanneke Basart, Kees G Hovingh, Elina Hyppönen, Chris Power, Denise Anderson, John P Beilby, Jennie Hui, Jennifer Jolley, Hendrik Sager, Stefan R Bornstein, Peter E H Schwarz, Kati Kristiansson, Markus Perola, Jaana Lindström, Amy J Swift, Matti Uusitupa, Mustafa Atalay, Timo A Lakka, Rainer Rauramaa, Jennifer L Bolton, Gerry Fowkes, Ross M Fraser, Jackie F Price, Krista Fischer, Kaarel Krjutå Kov, Andres Metspalu, Evelin Mihailov, Claudia Langenberg, Jian'an Luan, Ken K Ong, Peter S Chines, Sirkka M Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Timo E Saaristo, Sarah Edkins, Paul W Franks, Göran Hallmans, Dmitry Shungin, Andrew David Morris, Colin N A Palmer, Raimund Erbel, Susanne Moebus, Markus M Nöthen, Sonali Pechlivanis, Kristian Hveem, Narisu Narisu, Anders Hamsten, Steve E Humphries, Rona J Strawbridge, Elena Tremoli, Harald Grallert, Barbara Thorand, Thomas Illig, Wolfgang Koenig, Martina Müller-Nurasyid, Annette Peters, Bernhard O Boehm, Marcus E Kleber, Winfried März, Bernhard R Winkelmann, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso, Dominique Arveiler, Giancarlo Cesana, Kari Kuulasmaa, Jarmo Virtamo, John W G Yarnell, Diana Kuh, Andrew Wong, Lars Lind, Ulf de Faire, Bruna Gigante, Patrik K E Magnusson, Nancy L Pedersen, George Dedoussis, Maria Dimitriou, Genovefa Kolovou, Stavroula Kanoni, Kathleen Stirrups, Lori L Bonnycastle, Inger Njølstad, Tom Wilsgaard, Andrea Ganna, Emil Rehnberg, Aroon Hingorani, Mika Kivimaki, Meena Kumari, Themistocles L Assimes, Inês Barroso, Michael Boehnke, Ingrid B Borecki, Panos Deloukas, Caroline S Fox, Timothy Frayling, Leif C Groop, Talin Haritunians, David Hunter, Erik Ingelsson, Robert Kaplan, Karen L Mohlke, Jeffrey R O'Connell, David Schlessinger, David P Strachan, Kari Stefansson, Cornelia M van Duijn, Gonçalo R Abecasis, Mark I McCarthy, Joel N Hirschhorn, Lu Qi, Ruth J F Loos, Cecilia M Lindgren, Kari E North, Iris M Heid
Affiliations

Sex-stratified genome-wide association studies including 270,000 individuals show sexual dimorphism in genetic loci for anthropometric traits

Joshua C Randall et al. PLoS Genet. 2013 Jun.

Abstract

Given the anthropometric differences between men and women and previous evidence of sex-difference in genetic effects, we conducted a genome-wide search for sexually dimorphic associations with height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip-ratio (133,723 individuals) and took forward 348 SNPs into follow-up (additional 137,052 individuals) in a total of 94 studies. Seven loci displayed significant sex-difference (FDR<5%), including four previously established (near GRB14/COBLL1, LYPLAL1/SLC30A10, VEGFA, ADAMTS9) and three novel anthropometric trait loci (near MAP3K1, HSD17B4, PPARG), all of which were genome-wide significant in women (P<5×10(-8)), but not in men. Sex-differences were apparent only for waist phenotypes, not for height, weight, BMI, or hip circumference. Moreover, we found no evidence for genetic effects with opposite directions in men versus women. The PPARG locus is of specific interest due to its role in diabetes genetics and therapy. Our results demonstrate the value of sex-specific GWAS to unravel the sexually dimorphic genetic underpinning of complex traits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

I have read the journal's policy and we have the following conflicts: Kari Stefansson, Valgerdur Steinthorsdottir, and Gudmar Thorleifsson are employed by deCODE Genetics with stock/stock options in the company. Inês Barroso and spouse own stock in Incyte Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline. Nilesh J Samani holds a Chair supported by the British Heart Foundation and is an NIHR Senior Investigator.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Genome-wide scan for sex-specific genome-wide association highlights numerous loci.
(a) Manhattan plot showing the men-specific (upward, up to 60,586 men) and women-specific (downward, up to 73,137 women) association P-values from the discovery with the 619 selected loci colored by the phenotype for which the locus was selected; (b) QQ-plot showing the sex-specific association P-values as observed against those expected under the null overall phenotypes (black) and for each phenotypes separately (colored).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Genome-wide sex-difference scan fails to pinpoint loci.
(a) Manhattan plot showing sex-difference P-values, (b) QQ plot for sex-difference P-values overall phenotypes (black) and for each phenotype separately (colored).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Overview of design and findings.
Among the 7 identified loci, we defined those close to (<1 cM) published hits , , as near published hits and novel otherwise. Novel loci with sex-combined discovery P-value<5.8×10−5, which is the P-value cut-off corresponding to 5% FDR, were declared as loci that could have been discovered also with sex-combined analysis, and otherwise that these would have been missed without the sex-stratified analyses. FDR = false discovery rate.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Consistently higher effect sizes for women for all seven loci.
Shown are beta-estimates and 95% confidence intervals for the seven identified SNPs (also stating the phenotype for which the SNP was selected for).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

  • The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study.
    Winkler TW, Justice AE, Graff M, Barata L, Feitosa MF, Chu S, Czajkowski J, Esko T, Fall T, Kilpeläinen TO, Lu Y, Mägi R, Mihailov E, Pers TH, Rüeger S, Teumer A, Ehret GB, Ferreira T, Heard-Costa NL, Karjalainen J, Lagou V, Mahajan A, Neinast MD, Prokopenko I, Simino J, Teslovich TM, Jansen R, Westra HJ, White CC, Absher D, Ahluwalia TS, Ahmad S, Albrecht E, Alves AC, Bragg-Gresham JL, de Craen AJ, Bis JC, Bonnefond A, Boucher G, Cadby G, Cheng YC, Chiang CW, Delgado G, Demirkan A, Dueker N, Eklund N, Eiriksdottir G, Eriksson J, Feenstra B, Fischer K, Frau F, Galesloot TE, Geller F, Goel A, Gorski M, Grammer TB, Gustafsson S, Haitjema S, Hottenga JJ, Huffman JE, Jackson AU, Jacobs KB, Johansson Å, Kaakinen M, Kleber ME, Lahti J, Mateo Leach I, Lehne B, Liu Y, Lo KS, Lorentzon M, Luan J, Madden PA, Mangino M, McKnight B, Medina-Gomez C, Monda KL, Montasser ME, Müller G, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nolte IM, Panoutsopoulou K, Pascoe L, Paternoster L, Rayner NW, Renström F, Rizzi F, Rose LM, Ryan KA, Salo P, Sanna S, Scharnagl H, Shi J, Smith AV, Southam L, Stančáková A, Steinthorsdottir V, Strawbridge RJ, Sung YJ, Tachmazidou I, Tanaka T, Thorleifsson G, Trompet S, Pervjakova N, Tyrer JP, V… See abstract for full author list ➔ Winkler TW, et al. PLoS Genet. 2015 Oct 1;11(10):e1005378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005378. eCollection 2015 Oct. PLoS Genet. 2015. PMID: 26426971 Free PMC article.
  • Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium.
    Ng MCY, Graff M, Lu Y, Justice AE, Mudgal P, Liu CT, Young K, Yanek LR, Feitosa MF, Wojczynski MK, Rand K, Brody JA, Cade BE, Dimitrov L, Duan Q, Guo X, Lange LA, Nalls MA, Okut H, Tajuddin SM, Tayo BO, Vedantam S, Bradfield JP, Chen G, Chen WM, Chesi A, Irvin MR, Padhukasahasram B, Smith JA, Zheng W, Allison MA, Ambrosone CB, Bandera EV, Bartz TM, Berndt SI, Bernstein L, Blot WJ, Bottinger EP, Carpten J, Chanock SJ, Chen YI, Conti DV, Cooper RS, Fornage M, Freedman BI, Garcia M, Goodman PJ, Hsu YH, Hu J, Huff CD, Ingles SA, John EM, Kittles R, Klein E, Li J, McKnight B, Nayak U, Nemesure B, Ogunniyi A, Olshan A, Press MF, Rohde R, Rybicki BA, Salako B, Sanderson M, Shao Y, Siscovick DS, Stanford JL, Stevens VL, Stram A, Strom SS, Vaidya D, Witte JS, Yao J, Zhu X, Ziegler RG, Zonderman AB, Adeyemo A, Ambs S, Cushman M, Faul JD, Hakonarson H, Levin AM, Nathanson KL, Ware EB, Weir DR, Zhao W, Zhi D; Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study (BMDCS) Group; Arnett DK, Grant SFA, Kardia SLR, Oloapde OI, Rao DC, Rotimi CN, Sale MM, Williams LK, Zemel BS, Becker DM, Borecki IB, Evans MK, Harris TB, Hirschhorn JN, Li Y, Patel SR, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, Wilson JG, Bowden DW, Cupples LA, Haiman… See abstract for full author list ➔ Ng MCY, et al. PLoS Genet. 2017 Apr 21;13(4):e1006719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006719. eCollection 2017 Apr. PLoS Genet. 2017. PMID: 28430825 Free PMC article.
  • Meta-analysis identifies 13 new loci associated with waist-hip ratio and reveals sexual dimorphism in the genetic basis of fat distribution.
    Heid IM, Jackson AU, Randall JC, Winkler TW, Qi L, Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Zillikens MC, Speliotes EK, Mägi R, Workalemahu T, White CC, Bouatia-Naji N, Harris TB, Berndt SI, Ingelsson E, Willer CJ, Weedon MN, Luan J, Vedantam S, Esko T, Kilpeläinen TO, Kutalik Z, Li S, Monda KL, Dixon AL, Holmes CC, Kaplan LM, Liang L, Min JL, Moffatt MF, Molony C, Nicholson G, Schadt EE, Zondervan KT, Feitosa MF, Ferreira T, Lango Allen H, Weyant RJ, Wheeler E, Wood AR; MAGIC; Estrada K, Goddard ME, Lettre G, Mangino M, Nyholt DR, Purcell S, Smith AV, Visscher PM, Yang J, McCarroll SA, Nemesh J, Voight BF, Absher D, Amin N, Aspelund T, Coin L, Glazer NL, Hayward C, Heard-Costa NL, Hottenga JJ, Johansson A, Johnson T, Kaakinen M, Kapur K, Ketkar S, Knowles JW, Kraft P, Kraja AT, Lamina C, Leitzmann MF, McKnight B, Morris AP, Ong KK, Perry JR, Peters MJ, Polasek O, Prokopenko I, Rayner NW, Ripatti S, Rivadeneira F, Robertson NR, Sanna S, Sovio U, Surakka I, Teumer A, van Wingerden S, Vitart V, Zhao JH, Cavalcanti-Proença C, Chines PS, Fisher E, Kulzer JR, Lecoeur C, Narisu N, Sandholt C, Scott LJ, Silander K, Stark K, Tammesoo ML, Teslovich TM, Timpson NJ, Watanabe RM, Welch R, Chasman … See abstract for full author list ➔ Heid IM, et al. Nat Genet. 2010 Nov;42(11):949-60. doi: 10.1038/ng.685. Epub 2010 Oct 10. Nat Genet. 2010. PMID: 20935629 Free PMC article.
  • Sexual dimorphisms in genetic loci linked to body fat distribution.
    Pulit SL, Karaderi T, Lindgren CM. Pulit SL, et al. Biosci Rep. 2017 Feb 3;37(1):BSR20160184. doi: 10.1042/BSR20160184. Print 2017 Feb 28. Biosci Rep. 2017. PMID: 28073971 Free PMC article. Review.
  • Comprehensive identification of pleiotropic loci for body fat distribution using the NHGRI-EBI Catalog of published genome-wide association studies.
    Kaur Y, Wang DX, Liu HY, Meyre D. Kaur Y, et al. Obes Rev. 2019 Mar;20(3):385-406. doi: 10.1111/obr.12806. Epub 2018 Nov 22. Obes Rev. 2019. PMID: 30565845 Review.
See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Legato M (2004) Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2: New York: Elsevier Academic Press.
    1. Wizemann TM, Pardue ML (2001) Exploring the biological contributions to human health: does sex matter? Washington, DC: National Academies Press. - PubMed
    1. Malina RM (2005) Variation in body composition associated with sex and ethnicity. In: Heymsfield S, editor. Human body composition. 2nd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. pp. 271–298.
    1. Taylor RW, Grant AM, Williams SM, Goulding A (2010) Sex differences in regional body fat distribution from pre- to postpuberty. Obesity 18: 1410–1416. - PubMed
    1. Wells JC (2007) Sexual dimorphism of body composition. Best practice & research Clinical endocrinology & metabolism 21: 415–430. - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding