Qianqian Peng, Xinxuan Liu, Wenran Li, Han Jing, Jiarui Li, Xingjian Gao, Qi Luo, Charles E Breeze, Siyu Pan, Qiwen Zheng, Guochao Li, Jiaqiang Qian, Liyun Yuan, Na Yuan, Chenglong You, Siyuan Du, Yuanting Zheng, Ziyu Yuan, Jingze Tan, Peilin Jia, Jiucun Wang, Guoqing Zhang, Xianping Lu, Leming Shi, Shicheng Guo, Yun Liu, Ting Ni, Bo Wen, Changqing Zeng, Li Jin, Andrew E Teschendorff, Fan Liu, Sijia Wang
Methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs) are essential for understanding the role of DNA methylation changes in genetic predisposition, yet they have not been fully characterized in East Asians (EAs). Here we identified mQTLs in whole blood from 3,523 Chinese individuals and replicated them in additional 1,858 Chinese individuals from two cohorts. Over 9% of mQTLs displayed specificity to EAs, facilitating the fine-mapping of EA-specific genetic associations, as shown for variants associated with height...
April 19, 2024: Nature Genetics