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To identify genetic variants associated with head circumference in infancy, we performed a meta-analysis of seven genome-wide association studies (GWAS) (N = 10,768 individuals of European ancestry enrolled in pregnancy and/or birth cohorts) and followed up three lead signals in six replication studies (combined N = 19,089). rs7980687 on chromosome 12q24 (P = 8.1 x 10(-9)) and rs1042725 on chromosome 12q15 (P = 2.8 x 10(-10)) were robustly associated with head circumference in infancy. Although these loci have previously been associated with adult height(1), their effects on infant head circumference were largely independent of height (P = 3.8 x 10(-7) for rs7980687 and P = 1.3 x 10(-7) for rs1042725 after adjustment for infant height). A third signal, rs11655470 on chromosome 17q21, showed suggestive evidence of association with head circumference (P = 3.9 x 10(-6)). SNPs correlated to the 17q21 signal have shown genome-wide association with adult intracranial volume(2), Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases(3-5), indicating that a common genetic variant in this region might link early brain growth with neurological disease in later life.
The ability of some plant species to dominate communities in new biogeographical ranges has been attributed to an innate higher competitive ability and release from co-evolved specialist enemies. Specifically, invasive success in the new range might be explained by release from biotic negative soil-feedbacks, which control potentially dominant species in their native range. To test this hypothesis, we grew individuals from sixteen phylogenetically paired European grassland species that became either invasive or naturalized in new ranges, in either sterilized soil or in sterilized soil with unsterilized soil inoculum from their native home range. We found that although the native members of invasive species generally performed better than those of naturalized species, these native members of invasive species also responded more negatively to native soil inoculum than did the native members of naturalized species. This supports our hypothesis that potentially invasive species in their native range are held in check by negative soil-feedbacks. However, contrary to expectation, negative soil-feedbacks in potentially invasive species were not much increased by interspecific competition. There was no significant variation among families between invasive and naturalized species regarding their feedback response (negative vs. neutral). Therefore, we conclude that the observed negative soil feedbacks in potentially invasive species may be quite widespread in European families of typical grassland species.