metabolism (see below)22. Three loci show strong associations (P < 10−4) with height (MC4R, RBJ/ADCY3/POMC and MTCH2/NDUFS3). Because BMI is weakly correlated with height (and indeed, the BMI-associated variants as a group show no consistent effect on height), these associations are also suggestive of pleiotropy. Interestingly, analogous to the effects of severe mutations in POMC and MC4R on height and weight23,24, the BMI-increasing alleles of the variants near these genes were associated with decreased (POMC) and increased (MC4R) height, respectively (Supplementary Table 2).
