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1. Genome-wide association study reveals sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness.

Author

Hu, Bowen, Shen, Ning, Li, James J., Kang, Hyunseung, Hong, Jinkuk, Fletcher, Jason, Greenberg, Jan, Mailick, Marsha R., and Lu, Qiongshi

Subjects
HERITABILITY, HUMAN genetics, HUMAN genetic variation, HUMAN genome, HORMONE synthesis, GENE frequency
Abstract

Facial attractiveness is a complex human trait of great interest in both academia and industry. Literature on sociological and phenotypic factors associated with facial attractiveness is rich, but its genetic basis is poorly understood. In this paper, we conducted a genome-wide association study to discover genetic variants associated with facial attractiveness using 4,383 samples in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We identified two genome-wide significant loci, highlighted a handful of candidate genes, and demonstrated enrichment for heritability in human tissues involved in reproduction and hormone synthesis. Additionally, facial attractiveness showed strong and negative genetic correlations with BMI in females and with blood lipids in males. Our analysis also suggested sex-specific selection pressure on variants associated with lower male attractiveness. These results revealed sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness and provided fundamental new insights into its genetic basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2019
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2. 'Genes influence facial attractiveness through intricate biological relationships'

Author

Bowen Hu, Jinkuk Hong, Qiongshi Lu, Jason M. Fletcher, Jan S. Greenberg, Marsha R. Mailick, Ning Shen, Hyunseung Kang, and James J. Li

Subjects
Male, Cancer Research, Candidate gene, Multifactorial Inheritance, Heredity, Physiology, Genome-wide association study, QH426-470, medicine.disease_cause, Biochemistry, Computer Applications, Body Mass Index, Beauty, 0302 clinical medicine, Medicine and Health Sciences, Longitudinal Studies, Genetics (clinical), 0303 health sciences, Sex Characteristics, Covariance, Genomics, Lipids, Phenotypes, Cholesterol, Physiological Parameters, Physical Sciences, Perspective, Engineering and Technology, Female, Anatomy, Research Article, Quality Control, Attractiveness, Computer and Information Sciences, Adolescent, Biology, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, 03 medical and health sciences, Industrial Engineering, Genetic variation, medicine, Genome-Wide Association Studies, Genetics, Humans, Allele, Molecular Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Alleles, 030304 developmental biology, Complex Traits, Body Weight, Genetic Variation, Biology and Life Sciences, Computational Biology, Random Variables, Human Genetics, Heritability, Probability Theory, Genome Analysis, Genetic architecture, Evolutionary biology, Genetic Loci, Face, Catalogs, Head, Mathematics, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Genome-Wide Association Study
Abstract

Facial attractiveness is a complex human trait of great interest in both academia and industry. Literature on sociological and phenotypic factors associated with facial attractiveness is rich, but its genetic basis is poorly understood. In this paper, we conducted a genome-wide association study to discover genetic variants associated with facial attractiveness using 4,383 samples in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We identified two genome-wide significant loci, highlighted a handful of candidate genes, and demonstrated enrichment for heritability in human tissues involved in reproduction and hormone synthesis. Additionally, facial attractiveness showed strong and negative genetic correlations with BMI in females and with blood lipids in males. Our analysis also suggested sex-specific selection pressure on variants associated with lower male attractiveness. These results revealed sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness and provided fundamental new insights into its genetic basis., Author summary Facial attractiveness is a complex human trait well integrated into people’s daily life experience with profound influence on human behavior. Despite being widely studied in sociology, psychology, and related fields, its genetic basis remains poorly understood. Using carefully-measured facial attractiveness and dense genotyping data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we identified novel genes for facial attractiveness, assessed the selection signature, and dissected the shared genetic architecture between facial attractiveness and various human traits. Interestingly, sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness was a recurrent pattern observed in almost all our analyses. Our results provided new insights into the genetic basis of facial attractiveness and have broad implications for the complex relationships between attractiveness and various human traits.

Published
2019