Abstract
Being a morning person is a behavioural indicator of a person's underlying circadian rhythm. Using genome-wide data from 697,828 UK Biobank and 23andMe participants we increased the number of genetic loci associated with being a morning person from 24 to 351. Using data from 85,760 UK Biobank participants with activity-monitor derived measures of sleep timing we found that the chronotype loci associate with sleep timing: the mean sleep timing of the 5% of individuals carrying the most morningness alleles was 25 minutes earlier than the 5% carrying the fewest. The loci were enriched for genes involved in circadian regulation, cAMP, glutamate and insulin signalling pathways, and those expressed in the retina, hindbrain, hypothalamus, and pituitary. Using Mendelian Randomisation, we show that being a morning person is causally associated with better mental health but does not affect BMI or risk of Type 2 diabetes. This study offers insights into circadian biology and its links to disease in humans.
1 Application
Application ID | Title |
9072 | The Genetics of anthropometric traits ? Height, weight, BMI and waist circumference |
1 Return
Return ID | App ID | Description | Archive Date |
1862 | 9072 | Genome-wide association analyses of chronotype in 697,828 individuals provides insights into circadian rhythms | 14 Jan 2020 |