Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40791441›Full record

ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2025

Principled measures and estimates of trait polygenicity.

Luke J O'Connor, Guy Sella

Abstract readPreprint
In one paragraph

Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Luke J O'ConnorDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.ORCID 0000-0003-2730-9668
Guy SellaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.

Funding

The population genetics of disease risk and other quantitative traitsR01GM115889 · NIGMS · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · PI SELLA, GUY · 2015 to 2025
$2.9M
The functional and phenotypic effects of protein coding genetic variationR35GM155278 · NIGMS · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI Luke Jen O'Connor · 2024 to 2026
$1.3M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM115889NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM155278
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The 'polygenicity' of traits is often invoked and sometimes quantified in quantitative, statistical, and human genetics. What do we mean by the polygenicity of a trait? We propose a principled definition that encompasses a range of polygenicity measures. We show that these measures satisfy certain mathematical properties, we argue that these properties are sensible if not necessary, and we show that, conversely, measures that satisfy these properties also satisfy our definition. We consider four specific measures in greater detail, describe how they differ and show that three of them can be estimated from GWAS summary statistics using an existing method, Fourier Mixture Regression. We estimate these measures for 36 traits in humans. We find a dearth of traits with polygenicity values that fall within the large gap between Mendelian and highly polygenic traits. We discuss the evolutionary and cellular processes underlying trait polygenicity.

Identifiers

PMID40791441
PMCPMC12338567

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.