To identify genes that are coordinately affected by multiple independent trait-associated SNPs, we performed eQTS analysis. We identified eQTS associations for 2,568 genes and have outlined several examples where the associated genes point to interpretable biology. One possible interpretation of these eQTS associations is in the context of the recently proposed omnigenic model13,14. As explained by Liu et al.14, many weak distal effects could converge on the trait-relevant ‘core’ genes, and eQTS analysis might help to prioritize such genes (Supplementary Note). However, an important limitation is that eQTS analysis can also identify genes which are merely co-regulated with the trait-relevant ones. Therefore, it remains challenging to systematically evaluate which fraction of the detected eQTS genes is causal. While our analysis does not formally prove or disprove the validity of the model by Liu et al.14, and the true implications of this model remain to be investigated, our results can serve as a starting point to follow up on the eQTS genes and to ascertain their role in complex traits. Our eQTS analysis provides a comprehensive resource in blood that can be used to interpret the effects of PGS on a molecular level.
