2019/09/02 by Graham Coop, Coop, Graham
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #FOS: Biological sciences #Genetic Associations and Epidemiology #Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals #Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock #Genomics (q-bio.GN)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1909.00892
openalex publication_date 2019/09/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In the past decade, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have delivered an\nincreasingly broad view of the genetic basis of human phenotypic variation. One\nof the major developments from GWAS is polygenic scores, a genetic predictor of\nan individual's genetic predisposition towards a trait constructed from GWAS.\nThe success of GWAS and polygenic scores seems to suggest that we will soon be\nable to settle debates about whether phenotypic differences among groups are\ndriven in part by genetics. However, answering these questions is more\ncomplicated than it seems at first glance and touches on many old issues about\nthe interpretation of human genetic variation. In this perspective piece, I\noutline the ways in which issues of causality, stratification,\ngene-by-environment interactions, and divergence among groups all complicate\nthe interpretation of among-population polygenic score differences.\n