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Humans vary substantially in their willingness to take risks. In a combined sample of over 1 million individuals, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of general risk tolerance, adventurousness, and risky behaviors in the driving, drinking, smoking, and sexual domains. Across all GWAS, we identified hundreds of associated loci, including 99 loci associated with general risk tolerance. We report evidence of substantial shared genetic influences across risk tolerance and the risky behaviors: 46 of the 99 general risk tolerance loci contain a lead SNP for at least one of our other GWAS, and general risk tolerance is genetically correlated ([Formula: see text] ~ 0.25 to 0.50) with a range of risky behaviors. Bioinformatics analyses imply that genes near SNPs associated with general risk tolerance are highly expressed in brain tissues and point to a role for glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission. We found no evidence of enrichment for genes previously hypothesized to relate to risk tolerance.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/s41588-018-0309-3

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nat Genet

Publication Date

02/2019

Volume

51

Pages

245 - 257

Keywords

Behavior, Case-Control Studies, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetics, Behavioral, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide