About the Authors

Chao Tian

Affiliations Rowe Program in Human Genetics, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Biochemistry, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America

Robert M Plenge

Affiliations Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America , Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Michael Ransom

Affiliations Rowe Program in Human Genetics, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Biochemistry, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America

Annette Lee

Affiliation The Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore LIJ Health System, Manhasset, New York, United States of America

Pablo Villoslada

Affiliation Center for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

Carlo Selmi

Affiliations Department of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Division of Internal Medicine, San Paolo Hospital School of Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

Lars Klareskog

Affiliation Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Ann E Pulver

Affiliation Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Lihong Qi

Affiliations Rowe Program in Human Genetics, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America

Peter K Gregersen

Affiliation The Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore LIJ Health System, Manhasset, New York, United States of America

Michael F Seldin

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mfseldin@ucdavis.edu

Affiliations Rowe Program in Human Genetics, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Biochemistry, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America , Department of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

The study was conceived by CT and MFS and designed by CT, RMP, PKG, and MFS. RMP, AL, PV, CS, LK, AEP, PKG, and MFS recruited individuals and obtained and prepared DNA samples used in these studies. Analyses were performed by CT, RMP, MR, LQ, PKG, and MFS. The manuscript was written by CT and MFS with contributions from RMP, PV, CS, LK, and PKG.