论文标题：The genetics of university success

期刊：Scientific Reports

作者：Emily Smith-Woolley, Ziada Ayorech, Philip S. Dale, Sophie von Stumm, Robert Plomin

发表时间：2018/10/18

数字识别码: 10.1038/s41598-018-32621-w

原文链接：: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32621-w?utm_source=Other_website&utm_medium=Website_links&utm_content=RenLi-MixedBrand-multijournal-Multidisciplinary-China&utm_campaign=ORG_USG_JRCN_RL_article_promotion_sciencenet_Oct_4th

微信链接：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LBp-O4TDog_C9VtM_rcLxQ

《科学报告》近日发表的一项研究The genetics of university success指出，基因会在某种程度上影响年轻人是否上大学、院校选择以及在校成绩。

图1图源：Pixabay

英国伦敦国王学院心理学与神经科学学院精神病学研究所的Ziada Ayorech及同事分析了来自3000个个体和3000对双胞胎的遗传信息，检验基因在多大程度上可以解释不同年轻人在大学教育相关指标中存在的差异。通过比较同卵双胞胎和异卵双胞胎，作者发现遗传因素可以解释 A-level考试（英国大学入学考试）成绩中57%的差异、大学择校中51%的差异、报考大学的质量（基于学术声誉和就业前景等因素评估）中57%的差异以及在校成绩中46%的差异。

既往研究显示，遗传因素可以解释中小学生在学习成绩方面存在的大量差异。但是本研究的作者认为这种遗传影响会一直延续到大学阶段。作者认为这可能是因为大学能让学生根据自己受基因影响的倾向自由选择课程和环境。此外，作者发现，虽然家庭或学校这种“公共”环境会影响是否上大学的决定，个体或“独特”的环境才是可以部分解释大学成绩存在差异的原因。

图2：加性遗传（A）、公共环境（C）和非公共环境（E）的模型拟合结果和95％置信区间，用于分析大学入学考试成绩、大学入学率、学校质量、大学成功与否等方面的差异。

图源：Smith-Woolley

作者不但通过双胞胎剖析了遗传和环境因素对衡量大学成功的指标的影响，还单独通过DNA证实了大学期间的成功与否会受到遗传因素的影响。

摘要：University success, which includes enrolment in and achievement at university, as well as quality of the university, have all been linked to later earnings, health and wellbeing. However, little is known about the causes and correlates of differences in university-level outcomes. Capitalizing on both quantitative and molecular genetic data, we perform the first genetically sensitive investigation of university success with a UK-representative sample of 3,000 genotyped individuals and 3,000 twin pairs. Twin analyses indicate substantial additive genetic influence on university entrance exam achievement (57%), university enrolment (51%), university quality (57%) and university achievement (46%). We find that environmental effects tend to be non-shared, although the shared environment is substantial for university enrolment. Furthermore, using multivariate twin analysis, we show moderate to high genetic correlations between university success variables (0.27–0.76). Analyses using DNA alone also support genetic influence on university success. Indeed, a genome-wide polygenic score, derived from a 2016 genome-wide association study of years of education, predicts up to 5% of the variance in each university success variable. These findings suggest young adults select and modify their educational experiences in part based on their genetic propensities and highlight the potential for DNA-based predictions of real-world outcomes, which will continue to increase in predictive power.

阅读论文全文请访问: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32621-w?utm_source=Other_website&utm_medium=Website_links&utm_content=RenLi-MixedBrand-multijournal-Multidisciplinary-China&utm_campaign=ORG_USG_JRCN_RL_article_promotion_sciencenet_Oct_4th

期刊介绍：Scientific Reports (https://www.nature.com/srep/) is an online, open access journal from the publishers of Nature. We publish scientifically valid primary research from all areas of the natural and clinical sciences.

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（来源：科学网）