Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is an essential messenger of sexual differentiation in the foetus and is an emerging biomarker of postnatal reproductive function in females. Due to a paucity of adequately sized studies, the genetic determinants of circulating AMH levels are poorly characterized. In sam...

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Main Authors: Perry, John R.B., McMahon, George, Day, Felix R., Ring, Susan M, Nelson, Scott M., Lawlor, Debbie A.
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2016
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4706112/
id pubmed-4706112
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-47061122016-01-11 Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males Perry, John R.B. McMahon, George Day, Felix R. Ring, Susan M Nelson, Scott M. Lawlor, Debbie A. Association Studies Articles Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is an essential messenger of sexual differentiation in the foetus and is an emerging biomarker of postnatal reproductive function in females. Due to a paucity of adequately sized studies, the genetic determinants of circulating AMH levels are poorly characterized. In samples from 2815 adolescents aged 15 from the ALSPAC study, we performed the first genome-wide association study of serum AMH levels across a set of ∼9 m ‘1000 Genomes Reference Panel’ imputed genetic variants. Genetic variants at the AMH protein-coding gene showed considerable allelic heterogeneity, with both common variants [rs4807216 (PMale = 2 × 10−49, Beta: ∼0.9 SDs per allele), rs8112524 (PMale = 3 × 10−8, Beta: ∼0.25)] and low-frequency variants [rs2385821 (PMale = 6 × 10−31, Beta: ∼1.2, frequency 3.6%)] independently associated with apparently large effect sizes in males, but not females. For all three SNPs, we highlight mechanistic links to AMH gene function and demonstrate highly significant sex interactions (PHet 0.0003–6.3 × 10−12), culminating in contrasting estimates of trait variance explained (24.5% in males versus 0.8% in females). Using these SNPs as a genetic proxy for AMH levels, we found no evidence in additional datasets to support a biological role for AMH in complex traits and diseases in men. Oxford University Press 2016-01-15 2015-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC4706112/ /pubmed/26604150 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddv465 Text en © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Perry, John R.B.
McMahon, George
Day, Felix R.
Ring, Susan M
Nelson, Scott M.
Lawlor, Debbie A.
spellingShingle Perry, John R.B.
McMahon, George
Day, Felix R.
Ring, Susan M
Nelson, Scott M.
Lawlor, Debbie A.
Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males
author_facet Perry, John R.B.
McMahon, George
Day, Felix R.
Ring, Susan M
Nelson, Scott M.
Lawlor, Debbie A.
author_sort Perry, John R.B.
title Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males
title_short Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males
title_full Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males
title_fullStr Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males
title_full_unstemmed Genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the AMH gene locus that strongly predict serum AMH levels in males
title_sort genome-wide association study identifies common and low-frequency variants at the amh gene locus that strongly predict serum amh levels in males
description Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is an essential messenger of sexual differentiation in the foetus and is an emerging biomarker of postnatal reproductive function in females. Due to a paucity of adequately sized studies, the genetic determinants of circulating AMH levels are poorly characterized. In samples from 2815 adolescents aged 15 from the ALSPAC study, we performed the first genome-wide association study of serum AMH levels across a set of ∼9 m ‘1000 Genomes Reference Panel’ imputed genetic variants. Genetic variants at the AMH protein-coding gene showed considerable allelic heterogeneity, with both common variants [rs4807216 (PMale = 2 × 10−49, Beta: ∼0.9 SDs per allele), rs8112524 (PMale = 3 × 10−8, Beta: ∼0.25)] and low-frequency variants [rs2385821 (PMale = 6 × 10−31, Beta: ∼1.2, frequency 3.6%)] independently associated with apparently large effect sizes in males, but not females. For all three SNPs, we highlight mechanistic links to AMH gene function and demonstrate highly significant sex interactions (PHet 0.0003–6.3 × 10−12), culminating in contrasting estimates of trait variance explained (24.5% in males versus 0.8% in females). Using these SNPs as a genetic proxy for AMH levels, we found no evidence in additional datasets to support a biological role for AMH in complex traits and diseases in men.
publisher Oxford University Press
publishDate 2016
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4706112/
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