Cited 1 times since 2024 (5.9 per year) source: EuropePMC Nature, Volume 628, Issue 8006, 6 1 2024, Pages 130-138 Genome-wide characterization of circulating metabolic biomarkers. Karjalainen MK, Karthikeyan S, Oliver-Williams C, Sliz E, Allara E, Fung WT, Surendran P, Zhang W, Jousilahti P, Kristiansson K, Salomaa V, Goodwin M, Hughes DA, Boehnke M, Fernandes Silva L, Yin X, Mahajan A, Neville MJ, van Zuydam NR, de Mutsert R, Li-Gao R, Mook-Kanamori DO, Demirkan A, Liu J, Noordam R, Trompet S, Chen Z, Kartsonaki C, Li L, Lin K, Hagenbeek FA, Hottenga JJ, Pool R, Ikram MA, van Meurs J, Haller T, Milaneschi Y, Kähönen M, Mishra PP, Joshi PK, Macdonald-Dunlop E, Mangino M, Zierer J, Acar IE, Hoyng CB, Lechanteur YTE, Franke L, Kurilshikov A, Zhernakova A, Beekman M, van den Akker EB, Kolcic I, Polasek O, Rudan I, Gieger C, Waldenberger M, Asselbergs FW, China Kadoorie Biobank Collaborative Group, Estonian Biobank Research Team, FinnGen, Hayward C, Fu J, den Hollander AI, Menni C, Spector TD, Wilson JF, Lehtimäki T, Raitakari OT, Penninx BWJH, Esko T, Walters RG, Jukema JW, Sattar N, Ghanbari M, Willems van Dijk K, Karpe F, McCarthy MI, Laakso M, Järvelin MR, Timpson NJ, Perola M, Kooner
Genome-wide association analyses using high-throughput metabolomics platforms have led to novel insights into the biology of human metabolism1-7. This detailed knowledge of the genetic determinants of systemic metabolism has been pivotal for uncovering how genetic pathways influence biological mechanisms and complex diseases8-11. Here we present a genome-wide association study for 233 circulating metabolic traits quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in up to 136,016 participants from 33 cohorts. We identify more than 400 independent loci and assign probable causal genes at two-thirds of these using manual curation of plausible biological candidates. We highlight the importance of sample and participant characteristics that can have significant effects on genetic associations. We use detailed metabolic profiling of lipoprotein- and lipid-associated variants to better characterize how known lipid loci and novel loci affect lipoprotein metabolism at a granular level. We demonstrate the translational utility of comprehensively phenotyped molecular data, characterizing the metabolic associations of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. Finally, we observe substantial genetic pleiotropy for multiple metabolic pathways and illustrate the importance of careful instrument selection in Mendelian randomization analysis, revealing a putative causal relationship between acetone and hypertension. Our publicly available results provide a foundational resource for the community to examine the role of metabolism across diverse diseases.
