Much of the between-individual variation in risk is genetic, involving large numbers of common alleles,5 rare copy number variants (CNVs)6, and rare coding variants (RCVs)7,8. A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) reported 176 genomic loci containing common alleles associated with schizophrenia9 but the causal variants driving these associations and the biological consequences of these variants are largely unknown. To increase our understanding of the common variant contribution to schizophrenia, we performed the largest GWAS of the disorder to date and analysed the findings to prioritise variants, genes and biological processes that contribute to pathogenesis.
