Partitioning variance in cortical morphometry into genetic, environmental, and subject-specific components

Diana M Smith; Pravesh Parekh; Joseph Kennedy; Robert Loughnan; Oleksandr Frei; Thomas E Nichols; Ole A Andreassen; Terry L Jernigan; Anders M Dale

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhae234

Partitioning variance in cortical morphometry into genetic, environmental, and subject-specific components

Cereb Cortex. 2024 Jun 4;34(6):bhae234. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae234.

Authors

Diana M Smith^{1

2

3

4}, Pravesh Parekh⁵, Joseph Kennedy^{3

4}, Robert Loughnan⁶, Oleksandr Frei^{5

7}, Thomas E Nichols^{8

9}, Ole A Andreassen⁵, Terry L Jernigan^{3

10

11

12}, Anders M Dale^{4

10

11

12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Scientist Training Program, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
² Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
³ Center for Human Development, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
⁴ Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
⁵ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Problemveien 11, 0313 Oslo, Norway.
⁶ Population Neuroscience and Genetics Lab, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
⁷ Centre for Bioinformatics, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Problemveien 11, 0313 Oslo, Norway.
⁸ Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK.
⁹ Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
¹¹ Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
¹³ Department of Neuroscience, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

PMID: 38850213
PMCID: PMC11161865 (available on 2025-06-08)
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae234

Abstract

The relative contributions of genetic variation and experience in shaping the morphology of the adolescent brain are not fully understood. Using longitudinal data from 11,665 subjects in the ABCD Study, we fit vertex-wise variance components including family effects, genetic effects, and subject-level effects using a computationally efficient framework. Variance in cortical thickness and surface area is largely attributable to genetic influence, whereas sulcal depth is primarily explained by subject-level effects. Our results identify areas with heterogeneous distributions of heritability estimates that have not been seen in previous work using data from cortical regions. We discuss the biological importance of subject-specific variance and its implications for environmental influences on cortical development and maturation.

Keywords: heritability; intra-class correlation; mixed effects models.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Cerebral Cortex* / anatomy & histology
Cerebral Cortex* / diagnostic imaging
Cerebral Cortex* / growth & development
Child
Environment
Female
Gene-Environment Interaction
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Male

Abstract

MeSH terms

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