A twin analysis to estimate genetic and environmental factors contributing to variation in weighted gene co‐expression network module eigengenes

Multivariate network‐based analytic methods such as weighted gene co‐expression network analysis are frequently applied to human and animal gene‐expression data to estimate the first principal component of a module, or module eigengene (ME). MEs are interpreted as multivariate summaries of correlated gene‐expression patterns and network connectivity across genes within a module. As such, they have the potential to elucidate the mechanisms by which molecular genomic variation contributes to individual differences in complex traits. Although increasingly used to test for associations between modules and complex traits, the genetic and environmental etiology of MEs has not been empirically established. It is unclear if, and to what degree, individual differences in blood‐derived MEs reflect random variation versus familial aggregation arising from heritable or shared environmental influences. We used biometrical genetic analyses to estimate the contribution of genetic and environmental influences on MEs derived from blood lymphocytes collected on a sample of N = 661 older male twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA) whose mean age at assessment was 67.7 years (SD = 2.6 years, range = 62–74 years). Of the 26 detected MEs, 14 (56%) had statistically significant additive genetic variation with an average heritability of 44% (SD = 0.08, range = 35%–64%). Despite the relatively small sample size, this demonstration of significant family aggregation including estimates of heritability in 14 of the 26 MEs suggests that blood‐based MEs are reliable and merit further exploration in terms of their associations with complex traits and diseases.