{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"submitter":["Di Y"],"funding":["U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)","U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health"],"pagination":["540"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11076565"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["7(1)"],"pubmed_abstract":["The genetic influence on human vocal pitch in tonal and non-tonal languages remains largely unknown. In tonal languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, pitch changes differentiate word meanings, whereas in non-tonal languages, such as Icelandic, pitch is used to convey intonation. We addressed this question by searching for genetic associations with interindividual variation in median pitch in a Chinese major depression case-control cohort and compared our results with a genome-wide association study from Iceland. The same genetic variant, rs11046212-T in an intron of the ABCC9 gene, was one of the most strongly associated loci with median pitch in both samples. Our meta-analysis revealed four genome-wide significant hits, including two novel associations. The discovery of genetic variants influencing vocal pitch across both tonal and non-tonal languages suggests the possibility of a common genetic contribution to the human vocal system shared in two distinct populations with languages that differ in tonality (Icelandic and Mandarin)."],"journal":["Communications biology"],"pubmed_title":["Genetic association analysis of human median voice pitch identifies a common locus for tonal and non-tonal languages."],"pmcid":["PMC11076565"],"funding_grant_id":["MH-122596"],"pubmed_authors":["Alwan A","Ravi V","Mefford J","Flint J","Rahmani E","Wang J","Gorla A","Di Y","Zhu T"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Genetic association analysis of human median voice pitch identifies a common locus for tonal and non-tonal languages.","description":"The genetic influence on human vocal pitch in tonal and non-tonal languages remains largely unknown. In tonal languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, pitch changes differentiate word meanings, whereas in non-tonal languages, such as Icelandic, pitch is used to convey intonation. We addressed this question by searching for genetic associations with interindividual variation in median pitch in a Chinese major depression case-control cohort and compared our results with a genome-wide association study from Iceland. The same genetic variant, rs11046212-T in an intron of the ABCC9 gene, was one of the most strongly associated loci with median pitch in both samples. Our meta-analysis revealed four genome-wide significant hits, including two novel associations. The discovery of genetic variants influencing vocal pitch across both tonal and non-tonal languages suggests the possibility of a common genetic contribution to the human vocal system shared in two distinct populations with languages that differ in tonality (Icelandic and Mandarin).","dates":{"release":"2024-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2024 May","modification":"2026-04-08T19:55:08.623Z","creation":"2026-04-08T14:34:41.255Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC11076565","cross_references":{"pubmed":["38714798"],"doi":["10.1038/s42003-024-06198-2"]}}