Plomin, Robert and von Stumm, Sophie orcid.org/0000-0002-0447-5471 (2022) Polygenic scores:prediction versus explanation. Molecular psychiatry. pp. 49-52. ISSN 1359-4184
Abstract
During the past decade, polygenic scores have become a fast-growing area of research in the behavioural sciences. The ability to directly assess people’s genetic propensities has transformed research by making it possible to add genetic predictors of traits to any study. The value of polygenic scores in the behavioural sciences rests on using inherited DNA differences to predict, from birth, common disorders and complex traits in unrelated individuals in the population. This predictive power of polygenic scores does not require knowing anything about the processes that lie between genes and behaviour. It also does not mandate disentangling the extent to which the prediction is due to assortative mating, genotype–environment correlation, or even population stratification. Although bottom-up explanation from genes to brain to behaviour will remain the long-term goal of the behavioural sciences, prediction is also a worthy achievement because it has immediate practical utility for identifying individuals at risk and is the necessary first step towards explanation. A high priority for research must be to increase the predictive power of polygenic scores to be able to use them as an early warning system to prevent problems.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Funding Information: RP is supported in part by the UK Medical Research Council (MR/M021475/1) with additional support from the US National Institutes of Health (AG04938). SvS is supported by a Jacobs Fellowship and a Nuffield award (EDO/44110). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Education (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 25 May 2022 08:40 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 18:26 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01348-y |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41380-021-01348-y |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:187330 |
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Description: Polygenic scores: prediction versus explanation
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