Imputation of fluid intelligence scores reduces ascertainment bias and increases power for analyses of common and rare variants.

Imputation of fluid intelligence scores increases genetic associations from 390 to 550 and identifies 26 neurodevelopmental genes, including 8 novel candidates.

• Why it matters: Understanding the genetics of intelligence can reveal neurobiological mechanisms and aid in discovering genes linked to neurodevelopmental conditions. The study addresses the limitation of small sample sizes and test bias in previous genetic analyses of intelligence, aiming to improve discovery power.
• What they did: Researchers integrated fluid intelligence tests across UK Biobank data and imputed scores for unmeasured individuals, expanding the sample from approximately 270,000 to over 455,000. They validated that imputed scores genetically resemble measured FI and performed genome-wide association and rare variant analyses to identify significant genes.
• The result: Imputed intelligence boosts the detection of genetic associations and uncovers new genes, supporting its use to enhance genetic discovery and understand neurodevelopmental conditions.