Publications by authors named "Unnur Thorsteindottir"

Article Synopsis
  • - The research identifies 389 genetic signals related to the timing of menarche (first menstrual period) in up to 370,000 women, showing how genetics influence this aspect of puberty and link it to adult diseases.
  • - Findings indicate that about 7.4% of the population variation in menarche age can be explained by these genetic signals, with a notable enrichment of associated genes in neural tissues.
  • - The study suggests that the timing of puberty has causal relationships with certain cancers, independently of factors like body mass index (BMI), highlighting the intricate genetic factors influencing puberty and its long-term health effects.
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The Y chromosome is frequently lost in hematopoietic cells, which represents the most common somatic alteration in men. However, the mechanisms that regulate mosaic loss of chromosome Y (mLOY), and its clinical relevance, are unknown. We used genotype-array-intensity data and sequence reads from 85,542 men to identify 19 genomic regions (P < 5 × 10) that are associated with mLOY.

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Sequence-based variation in gene expression is a key driver of disease risk. Common variants regulating expression in cis have been mapped in many expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) studies, typically in single tissues from unrelated individuals. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of gene expression across multiple tissues conducted in a large set of mono- and dizygotic twins that allows systematic dissection of genetic (cis and trans) and non-genetic effects on gene expression.

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Genome-wide association studies have identified many genetic variants associated with complex traits. However, at only a minority of loci have the molecular mechanisms mediating these associations been characterized. In parallel, whereas cis regulatory patterns of gene expression have been extensively explored, the identification of trans regulatory effects in humans has attracted less attention.

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