Unraveling the genetic etiology of adult antisocial behavior: a genome-wide association study.
paper
Cited
Public
- Authors
- Tielbeek, Jorim J; Medland, Sarah E; Benyamin, Beben; Byrne, Enda M; Heath, Andrew C; Madden, Pamela A F; Martin, Nicholas G; Wray, Naomi R; Verweij, Karin J H
- Year
- 2012
- Journal
- PloS one
- PMID
- 23077488
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0045086
- PMCID
- PMC3471931
Crime poses a major burden for society. The heterogeneous nature of criminal behavior makes it difficult to unravel its causes. Relatively little research has been conducted on the genetic influences of criminal behavior. The few twin and adoption studies that have been undertaken suggest that about half of the variance in antisocial behavior can be explained by genetic factors. In order to identify the specific common genetic variants underlying this behavior, we conduct the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) on adult antisocial behavior. Our sample comprised a community sample of 4816 individuals who had completed a self-report questionnaire. No genetic polymorphisms reached genome-wide significance for association with adult antisocial behavior. In addition, none of the traditional candidate genes can be confirmed in our study. While not genome-wide significant, the gene with the strongest association (p-value = 8.7×10(-5)) was DYRK1A, a gene previously related to abnormal brain development and mental retardation. Future studies should use larger, more homogeneous samples to disentangle the etiology of antisocial behavior. Biosocial criminological research allows a more empirically grounded understanding of criminal behavior, which could ultimately inform and improve current treatment strategies.
Manhattan plot showing the GWAS results of the combined study design for adult antisocial behavior.X-axis represents the chromosomal location for each SNP, and y-axis the −log10 p-value of the association signal.
LLM interpretation
This is a Manhattan plot displaying GWAS results for adult antisocial behavior, with the x-axis representing chromosomal locations (1–22, X, Y, M) and the y-axis showing the $-\log_{10} p$-value. The data points are color-coded by chromosome, with most signals remaining below a $-\log_{10} p$-value of 6. No individual SNPs appear to cross a typical genome-wide significance threshold (often indicated by a horizontal line, though not explicitly drawn here).
Quantile-Quantile plot showing the association between the observed and expected −log10 p-values.The grey shade area represents the 95% confidence interval. The plot shows the results of the combined study design.
LLM interpretation
This is a Quantile-Quantile (Q-Q) plot comparing observed versus expected $-\log_{10}(P)$ values for a combined study design. The data points closely follow the diagonal identity line, with a genomic inflation factor ($\lambda$) of 1.0086 and a grey shaded area representing the 95% confidence interval. The observed values remain within the confidence interval across the range, indicating no significant systemic deviation from the expected null distribution.
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