Could Beethoven Clap to a Musical Beat?
“Begg et al [the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands] focused on possible genetic predispositions to Beethoven’s health ailments. To investigate this, they largely relied on polygenic indices (PGIs), which represent an individual’s genetic propensity for a specific trait, informed by the estimated effects of common DNA variants (typically single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs) derived from a prior genome-wide association study (GWAS) on the trait in question. Such a PGI reflects the aggregate influence of a great many SNPs spread through the genome, each with individually tiny effect sizes, but captures only a fraction of genetic variance overall (at least for most complex traits). Nevertheless, Begg et al. found Beethoven’s PGI for liver cirrhosis at the 96th percentile, and suggested that genetic factors may have contributed to his well-known severe liver disease, over and above effects of heavy drinking and hepatitis. Begg et al did not address Beethoven’s most famed traits, likely because there has not yet been a sufficiently informative GWAS of musical talent. However, in a recent GWAS involving 606,825 individuals with European ancestry, 69 genetic loci were significantly associated with variation in self-reported beat synchronization ability, assessed with the question: “Can you clap in time with a musical beat?” MORE
Image Credit: EurekaAlert