The Roslin Institute, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Midlothian, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, Scotland.
MRC HGU at the MRC IGMM, Western General Hospital, University of Edinburgh, Crewe Road South, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU, UK.
Heredity (Edinb). 2019 Aug;123(2):106-116. doi: 10.1038/s41437-019-0185-3. Epub 2019 Feb 5.
Phenotypic correlations among partners for traits such as longevity or late-onset disease have been found to be comparable to phenotypic correlations in first-degree relatives. How these correlations arise in late life is poorly understood. Here we introduce a novel paradigm to establish the presence of indirect assortment on factors correlated across generations, by examining correlations between parents of couples, i.e., in-laws. Using correlations in additive genetic values we further corroborate the presence of indirect assortment on heritable factors. Specifically, using couples from the UK Biobank cohort, we show that longevity and disease history of the parents of White British couples are correlated, with correlations of up to 0.09. The correlations in parental longevity are replicated in the FamiLinx cohort, a larger and geographically more diverse historical ancestry dataset spanning a broader time frame. These correlations in parental longevity significantly (pval < 0.0093 for all pairs of parents) exceed what would be expected due to variations in lifespan based on year and location of birth. For cardiovascular diseases, in particular hypertension, we find significant correlations (r = 0.028, pval = 0.005) in genetic values among partners, supporting a model where partners assort for risk factors to some extent genetically correlated with cardiovascular disease. Partitioning the relative importance of indirect assortative mating and shared common environment will require large, well-characterized longitudinal cohorts aimed at understanding phenotypic correlations among none-blood relatives. Identifying the factors that mediate indirect assortment on longevity and human disease risk will help to unravel factors affecting human disease and ultimately longevity.
人们发现，伴侣之间在长寿或晚年发病等特征上的表型相关性与一级亲属的表型相关性相当。然而，人们对这些相关性在晚年是如何产生的知之甚少。在这里，我们引入了一种新的范例，通过检查夫妻双方的父母（即姻亲）之间的相关性，来确定跨代相关因素是否存在间接选择。利用加性遗传值的相关性，我们进一步证实了遗传因素存在间接选择。具体来说，我们使用来自 UK Biobank 队列的夫妇，表明白种英国家庭的父母的寿命和疾病史是相关的，相关性高达 0.09。在 FamiLinx 队列中，我们复制了父母寿命的相关性，这是一个更大、地理上更具多样性的历史祖先数据集，涵盖了更广泛的时间范围。这些父母寿命的相关性（所有父母对的 pval<0.0093）显著超过了由于出生年份和地点的寿命差异而导致的预期值。对于心血管疾病，特别是高血压，我们发现伴侣之间的遗传值存在显著相关性（r=0.028，pval=0.005），这支持了一种伴侣在一定程度上通过遗传相关的心血管疾病风险因素进行间接选择的模型。要确定间接选择交配和共同环境的相对重要性，需要有大型、特征良好的纵向队列，旨在了解非血缘亲属之间的表型相关性。确定介导长寿和人类疾病风险的间接选择的因素将有助于揭示影响人类疾病并最终影响寿命的因素。
