The Tibetan population residing in high-altitude (HA) regions has adapted to extreme hypoxic environments. However, there is limited understanding of the genetic basis of body compositions in Tibetan population adapted to HA.
We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genetic variants associated with HA and HA-related body composition traits. A total of 755,731 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped using the precision medicine diversity array from 996 Tibetan college students. T-tests and Pearson correlation analysis were used to estimate the association between body compositions and altitude. The mixed linear regression identified the SNPs significantly associated with HA and HA-related body compositions. LASSO regression was used to screen for important SNPs in HA and body compositions.
Significant differences were observed in lean body mass (LBW), muscle mass (MM), total body water (TBW), standard weight (SBW), basal metabolic rate (BMR), total protein (TP), and total inorganic salt (Is) in different altitudes stratification. We identified three SNPs in
These findings provide insight into the genetic basis of body composition in Tibetan college students adapted to HA, and lay the foundation for further investigation into the molecular mechanisms underlying HA adaptation.