ArticlePLoS genetics2011
An evolutionary genomic approach to identify genes involved in human birth timing.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of gestational duration and spontaneous preterm birth identifies new maternal risk loci.PLoS genetics · 2023Pooled it
- Finding lost genes in GWAS via integrative-omics analysis reveals novel sub-networks associated with preterm birth.Human molecular genetics · 2016Pooled it
- Multimodal immune phenotyping of maternal peripheral blood in normal human pregnancy.JCI insight · 2020Trial
- An evolutionary genomic perspective on preterm birth, genome editing, and pregnancy in the human species.Frontiers in genome editing · 2026Review
- Cooperative Breeding as a Likely Early Catalyst of Human Evolution.Evolutionary anthropology · 2025Review
- Haplotype-based analysis distinguishes maternal-fetal genetic contribution to pregnancy-related outcomes.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- The hormonal control of parturition.Physiological reviews · 2024Review
- The evolution of human altriciality and brain development in comparative context.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- The Role of Genetics in Preterm Birth.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2023Review
- The implications of exosomes in pregnancy: emerging as new diagnostic markers and therapeutics targets.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2022Review
- Systematic review of preterm birth multi-omic biomarker studies.Expert reviews in molecular medicine · 2022Review
- Management Practices During Perinatal Respiratory Transition of Very Premature Infants.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Review
- Article
- Evolutionary transcriptomics implicateseLife · 2021Article
- Developing a theoretical evolutionary framework to solve the mystery of parturition initiation.eLife · 2020Review
- Transcriptome and regulatory maps of decidua-derived stromal cells inform gene discovery in preterm birth.Science advances · 2020Article
- Accounting for diverse evolutionary forces reveals mosaic patterns of selection on human preterm birth loci.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Transcriptomic analysis of fetal membranes reveals pathways involved in preterm birth.BMC medical genomics · 2019Article
- Genomic and molecular characterization of preterm birth.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Spontaneous premature birth as a target of genomic research.Pediatric research · 2019Review
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors at 9 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Coordination of fetal maturation with birth timing is essential for mammalian reproduction. In humans, preterm birth is a disorder of profound global health significance. The signals initiating parturition in humans have remained elusive, due to divergence in physiological mechanisms between humans and model organisms typically studied. Because of relatively large human head size and narrow birth canal cross-sectional area compared to other primates, we hypothesized that genes involved in parturition would display accelerated evolution along the human and/or higher primate phylogenetic lineages to decrease the length of gestation and promote delivery of a smaller fetus that transits the birth canal more readily. Further, we tested whether current variation in such accelerated genes contributes to preterm birth risk. Evidence from allometric scaling of gestational age suggests human gestation has been shortened relative to other primates. Consistent with our hypothesis, many genes involved in reproduction show human acceleration in their coding or adjacent noncoding regions. We screened >8,400 SNPs in 150 human accelerated genes in 165 Finnish preterm and 163 control mothers for association with preterm birth. In this cohort, the most significant association was in FSHR, and 8 of the 10 most significant SNPs were in this gene. Further evidence for association of a linkage disequilibrium block of SNPs in FSHR, rs11686474, rs11680730, rs12473870, and rs1247381 was found in African Americans. By considering human acceleration, we identified a novel gene that may be associated with preterm birth, FSHR. We anticipate other human accelerated genes will similarly be associated with preterm birth risk and elucidate essential pathways for human parturition.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.