Given the likely close biological interaction between the regulation of age at menarche and adiposity, we hypothesized that adipose tissue eSNPs might show a preponderance of associations with age at menarche. Of the 5,184 adipose eSNPs identified in the Icelandic Family Adipose cohort26, 23 were significantly associated with age at menarche after correction for multiple testing (using a 1/n P-value threshold for 5,184 independent tests (P<1.9 × 10−4)) (Supplementary Table 11). Of these adipose eSNPs, rs10835211 (menarche P-value=9.4×10−6) is near BDNF, which is a BMI locus and is implicated in eating behavior and body weight regulation27,28. rs7160413 (menarche P-value=2.2×10−5) is near DLK1, a gene implicated in early onset puberty29. rs133934508 (menarche P-value=3.6×10−5) is associated with expression of PITX1, which encodes a pituitary transcriptional regulator30.
