TY - JOUR
T1 - Nationwide genomic study in Denmark reveals remarkable population homogeneity
AU - Athanasiadis, Georgios
AU - Cheng, Jade Yu
AU - Vilhjálmsson, Bjarni Jóhann
AU - Jørgensen, Frank G.
AU - Als, Thomas D.
AU - Le Hellard, Stephanie
AU - Espeseth, Thomas
AU - Sullivan, Patrick F.
AU - Hultman, Christina M
AU - Kjærgaard, Peter C.
AU - Schierup, Mikkel H
AU - Mailund, Thomas
N1 - Copyright © 2016, The Genetics Society of America.
PY - 2016/10
Y1 - 2016/10
N2 - Denmark has played a substantial role in the history of Northern Europe. Through a nationwide scientific outreach initiative, we collected genetic and anthropometrical data from ~800 high school students and used them to elucidate the genetic makeup of the Danish population, as well as to assess polygenic predictions of phenotypic traits in adolescents. We observed remarkable homogeneity across different geographic regions, although we could still detect weak signals of genetic structure reflecting the history of the country. Denmark presented genomic affinity with primarily neighboring countries with overall resemblance of decreasing weight from Britain, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. A Polish admixture signal was detected in Zealand and Funen and our date estimates coincided with historical evidence of Wend settlements in the south of Denmark. We also observed considerably diverse demographic histories among Scandinavian countries, with Denmark having the smallest current effective population size compared to Norway and Sweden. Finally, we found that polygenic prediction of self-reported adolescent height in the population was remarkably accurate (R2 = 0.639±0.015). The high homogeneity of the Danish population could render population structure a lesser concern for the upcoming large-scale gene-mapping studies in the country.
AB - Denmark has played a substantial role in the history of Northern Europe. Through a nationwide scientific outreach initiative, we collected genetic and anthropometrical data from ~800 high school students and used them to elucidate the genetic makeup of the Danish population, as well as to assess polygenic predictions of phenotypic traits in adolescents. We observed remarkable homogeneity across different geographic regions, although we could still detect weak signals of genetic structure reflecting the history of the country. Denmark presented genomic affinity with primarily neighboring countries with overall resemblance of decreasing weight from Britain, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. A Polish admixture signal was detected in Zealand and Funen and our date estimates coincided with historical evidence of Wend settlements in the south of Denmark. We also observed considerably diverse demographic histories among Scandinavian countries, with Denmark having the smallest current effective population size compared to Norway and Sweden. Finally, we found that polygenic prediction of self-reported adolescent height in the population was remarkably accurate (R2 = 0.639±0.015). The high homogeneity of the Danish population could render population structure a lesser concern for the upcoming large-scale gene-mapping studies in the country.
U2 - 10.1534/genetics.116.189241
DO - 10.1534/genetics.116.189241
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 27535931
SN - 1943-2631
VL - 204
SP - 711
EP - 722
JO - Genetics
JF - Genetics
IS - 2
ER -