Nationwide genomic study in Denmark reveals remarkable population homogeneity

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Georgios Athanasiadis
  • Jade Yu Cheng
  • Bjarni Jóhann Vilhjálmsson
  • Frank G. Jørgensen
  • Thomas D. Als
  • Stephanie Le Hellard
  • Thomas Espeseth
  • Patrick F. Sullivan
  • Christina M Hultman
  • Kjærgaard, Peter C.
  • Mikkel H Schierup
  • Thomas Mailund

Denmark has played a substantial role in the history of Northern Europe. Through a nationwide scientific outreach initiative, we collected genetic and anthropometrical data from ~800 high school students and used them to elucidate the genetic makeup of the Danish population, as well as to assess polygenic predictions of phenotypic traits in adolescents. We observed remarkable homogeneity across different geographic regions, although we could still detect weak signals of genetic structure reflecting the history of the country. Denmark presented genomic affinity with primarily neighboring countries with overall resemblance of decreasing weight from Britain, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. A Polish admixture signal was detected in Zealand and Funen and our date estimates coincided with historical evidence of Wend settlements in the south of Denmark. We also observed considerably diverse demographic histories among Scandinavian countries, with Denmark having the smallest current effective population size compared to Norway and Sweden. Finally, we found that polygenic prediction of self-reported adolescent height in the population was remarkably accurate (R2 = 0.639±0.015). The high homogeneity of the Danish population could render population structure a lesser concern for the upcoming large-scale gene-mapping studies in the country.

Original languageEnglish
JournalGenetics (Print)
Volume204
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)711-722
Number of pages12
ISSN0016-6731
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

ID: 164788714