One of the strengths of our study design was that the genotyping platform we used allowed for fine mapping of regions already known to contain genetic variants that affect lung function. For example, we were able to identify a novel signal in NPNT that was independent of the previously reported signal of association at this locus (spanning GSTCD, INTS12, and NPNT). The independent NPNT signal captured by the genotyped variant rs34712979 was not detected in previous or concurrent studies because it was neither directly genotyped nor imputed with sufficient quality; this finding highlights a further advantage of the UK BiLEVE and UK Biobank array design.
