rs11976076 (LINC02981): Adult Height Variant

Key takeaways

• One of 12,111 variants linked to how tall you grow, found in a study of 5.4 million people across five ancestry groups.
• Sits near LINC02981, a long intergenic non-coding RNA gene (a gene that produces regulatory RNA rather than protein).
• This variant reduces LINC02981 activity in subcutaneous fat, thyroid, breast mammary tissue, and testis.
• Height predictions from this set of variants explain about 40% of height variation in people of European ancestry, but only 10-20% in other ancestries.
• A nearby unnamed gene (ENSG00000280255) shows increased activity in adrenal gland, small intestine, and testis with this same variant.

What the research says rs11976076 is one of 12,111 independent SNPs significantly associated with adult height in a genome-wide study of 5.4 million individuals drawn from 281 cohorts spanning five major ancestry groups (European, East Asian, Hispanic, African, and South Asian); together these 12,111 SNPs account for approximately 40% of phenotypic variance in height in European ancestry populations (or roughly 45% when all HapMap 3 panel SNPs are included). GTEx eQTL data links the alternative allele at this locus to reduced expression of LINC02981 in testis, subcutaneous adipose tissue, thyroid, and breast mammary tissue, and to increased expression of a nearby unnamed gene (ENSG00000280255) in adrenal gland, small intestine terminal ileum, and testis, as well as increased expression of KIAA0087 in adrenal gland GTEx Portal.

Reported associations

• Adult height: rs11976076 is among 12,111 independent SNPs significantly associated with adult height in a genome-wide study of 5.4 million individuals; the full set of 12,111 SNPs explains approximately 40% of height phenotypic variance in European ancestry populations and 10-20% in other ancestry populations.

Evidence quality The height association comes from an exceptionally well-powered GWAS of 5.4 million participants across 281 studies and five major ancestry groups, with European ancestry participants comprising 75.8% of the total sample. The 12,111 identified SNPs are distributed across 7,209 genomic segments covering approximately 21% of the genome, and the authors describe this map as largely saturated for common-variant associations in populations of European ancestry. Prediction accuracy for the full 12,111 SNP set is approximately 40% of height phenotypic variance in European ancestry populations but only 10-20% in other ancestry populations; the study attributes this gap to differences in linkage disequilibrium structure and allele frequencies across populations rather than to differences in the underlying biology of height. The specific p-value and individual effect size for rs11976076 alone are not reported in the available study excerpt. No conflicting studies are present in the data provided.

Tissue-specific expression effects

• LINC02981: The alternative allele is associated with reduced expression in testis, subcutaneous adipose tissue, thyroid, and breast mammary tissue GTEx Portal
• ENSG00000280255: The alternative allele is associated with increased expression in adrenal gland, small intestine terminal ileum, and testis GTEx Portal
• KIAA0087: The alternative allele is associated with increased expression in adrenal gland GTEx Portal

Lifestyle considerations No lifestyle considerations on file for this variant.