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The Genetics of Educational Attainment, Autism, and Schizophrenia Show Points of Convergence
Objectives: Here, we investigate both the hypothesis using summary data available from large genome-wide association studies and transcriptome studies.
Methods: We examine the relationship between genes robustly associated with edu genes and genes and pathways implicated in autism and schizophrenia. We use genes previously identified for educational attainment using DEPICT, thereby restricting our analysis to Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) with P < 1x10-5. We investigate if these genes are signficantly enriched in transcriptional modules for schizophrenia, autism, and general cognition.
Results: We show that edu genes are highly intolerant to loss of function and are enriched in a gene-coexpression module for cognition. We identify that genes for educational attainment are more frequently mutated in autism and developmental disorders than expected by chance. We also find evidence for enrichment of edu genes in a module dysregulated in schizophrenia.
Conclusions: In conclusion, our results highlight a role for edu genes in both upstream and downstream hypotheses.