SYDNEY, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- A landmark study has used whole-genome sequencing to measure how strongly genes shape traits like height, weight, and risk of diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.
The study, published in Nature, used the DNA sequences of 347,630 people of European descent from the UK Biobank to quantify how much trait differences between people can be explained by genetic factors, known as heritability, according to a Thursday news release from Australia's University of Queensland (UQ), which co-led the study with U.S. biotechnology company Illumina.
Whole genome sequencing allows the accurate measurement of most genetic variants, unlike traditional methods using data from relatives and twin studies, said Professor Loic Yengo from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
"An outstanding question in human genetics has been how much twin-based estimates of heritability could be replicated using modern genomic technologies when applied to unrelated individuals," Yengo said, adding the study demonstrates for the first time that this approach works.
Among 34 traits and diseases studied, including height, body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, and heart disease, researchers found genetic factors explain on average 30 percent of differences between people, ranging from 74 percent for height to 12 percent for fertility.
Traditional methods can overestimate genetic effects since relatives and twins share not only genes but also environmental factors, Yengo said, noting that while family-based estimates put genetic influence on a person's BMI at 50 percent, genomic sequencing put it at 35 percent.
The next step is to map gene variants to explain why some people develop diseases and others don't, enabling early identification and prevention, he added. ■
