Korean medical researchers have found a genetic link between educational attainment and genetics in East Asians.
On Monday, a team of researchers, led by Professor Won Hong-hee and research fellow Kim Jae-young at Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology (SAIHST) and Professor Myung Woo-jae of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, released the results of an internationally collaborated study with Taiwanese research team to study the genetics of educational achievement.
Until now, studies to identify genetic influences on educational attainment have been conducted primarily on Western populations, resulting in the limitation that they are difficult to apply to other demographic groups, including Koreans.
The researchers conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genetic factors that influence educational attainment in East Asians by analyzing samples from 176,400 people at biobanks in Korea and Taiwan.
It is the first time that genetics and educational achievements in East Asians have been analyzed on a large scale with hundreds of thousands of individuals.
According to the researchers, the GWAS analysis of East Asians confirmed the association between educational attainment and genetics, similar to previous European studies. The genetic structure, background, and effects associated with educational achievement in Europe were largely consistent in East Asians, the researchers explained.
The study identified 102 locations strongly associated with educational attainment. However, it is unlikely that the results of this study can be used to predict an individual's educational attainment. The researchers said that social and environmental factors influence educational achievement.
"It is impossible to use genetic variants to predict an individual's educational achievement. The heritability of educational attainment explained by these variants is limited," the researchers said. "The genetic variants associated with educational attainment can explain only 10 percent of the variance in total educational attainment."
The researchers stressed this paves the way for a better understanding of Korean traits. As genetic research capabilities have risen to the level of developed countries, the team said, they have had the opportunity to be recognized in international journals and to branch out into various fields, such as disease treatment for Koreans.
"The significance of our study is that we understand the genetic architecture of educational attainment in East Asians and show that there are many genetic traits that are shared across ethnic groups," Professor Myung said. “These findings can be used to study how educational attainment is associated with various diseases, such as dementia and mental disorders, and to identify ways to prevent and treat these diseases."
The team also added evidence to highlight the diversity of new genetic research.
In identifying which of the genetic variants discerned in the GWAS were more likely to affect educational achievement, the researchers found that the accuracy of their analysis was higher when they considered results from both populations than when they used results from a single population.
They also demonstrated that polygenic score analyses, which aggregate multiple genetic variants associated with educational achievement to predict individual traits, perform better when population diversity is considered.
"This study is noteworthy because it is the largest genetic study of East Asians conducted through international collaboration," Professor Won said. "It is expected to facilitate future genetic studies based on diverse populations and provide a more comprehensive understanding of genetic interactions with educational achievement."
The study was published in a recent issue of Nature Human Behaviour.
The study resulted from an international collaboration supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and Samsung Medical Center.