About the Authors

Vesna Boraska

vb2@sanger.ac.uk (VB); ez1@sanger.ac.uk (EZ)

Affiliations Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Department of Medical Biology, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

Aaron Day-Williams

Affiliation Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Christopher S. Franklin

Affiliation Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Katherine S. Elliott

Affiliation Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Kalliope Panoutsopoulou

Affiliation Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Ioanna Tachmazidou

Affiliation Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Eva Albrecht

Affiliation Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

Stefania Bandinelli

Affiliation Geriatric Unit, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Florence, Italy

Lawrence J. Beilin

Affiliation School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Murielle Bochud

Affiliation Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Gemma Cadby

Affiliation Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Canada

Florian Ernst

Affiliation Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

David M. Evans

Affiliation MRC CAiTE Centre, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Caroline Hayward

Affiliation MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Andrew A. Hicks

Affiliation Center for Biomedicine, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC), Bolzano, Italy, Affiliated Institute of the University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany

Jennifer Huffman

Affiliation MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Cornelia Huth

Affiliation Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

Alan L. James

Affiliations School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, Busselton Population Medical Research Foundation, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia, Department of Pulmonary Physiology/West Australian Sleep Disorders Research Institute, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia

Norman Klopp

Affiliation Unit for Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

Ivana Kolcic

Affiliation Croatian Centre for Global Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

Zoltán Kutalik

Affiliation Department of Medical Genetics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Debbie A. Lawlor

Affiliation MRC CAiTE Centre, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Arthur W. Musk

Affiliations Busselton Population Medical Research Foundation, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia, Schools of Population Health and Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Marina Pehlic

Affiliation Department of Medical Biology, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

Craig E. Pennell

Affiliation School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

John R. B. Perry

Affiliations Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Genetics of Complex Traits, Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

Annette Peters

Affiliation Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

Ozren Polasek

Affiliation Croatian Centre for Global Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

Beate St Pourcain

Affiliation School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Susan M. Ring

Affiliation MRC CAiTE Centre, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Erika Salvi

Affiliations Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, University of Milano, Milano, Italy, Genomics and Bioinformatics Platform, Fondazione Filarete, University of Milano, Milano, Italy

Sabine Schipf

Affiliation Institute for Community Medicine/SHIP-Clinical Epidemiological Research, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Jan A. Staessen

Affiliations Studies Coordinating Centre, Division of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Rehabilitation, Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Alexander Teumer

Affiliation Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Nicholas Timpson

Affiliation MRC CAiTE Centre, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Veronique Vitart

Affiliation MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Nicole M. Warrington

Affiliation School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Hanieh Yaghootkar

Affiliation Genetics of Complex Traits, Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

Tatijana Zemunik

Affiliation Department of Medical Biology, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

Lina Zgaga

Affiliations Centre for Population Health Sciences and Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Ping An

Affiliation Division of Statistical Genomics and Department of Genetics Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America

Verneri Anttila

Affiliations Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Ingrid B. Borecki

Affiliation Division of Statistical Genomics and Department of Genetics Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America

Jostein Holmen

Affiliation HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Levanger, Norway

Ioanna Ntalla

Affiliation Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Athens, Greece

Aarno Palotie

Affiliations Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, Department of Medical Genetics, University and University Central Hospital of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Kirsi H. Pietiläinen

Affiliations Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, Obesity Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland, Department of Public Health, Hjelt Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Juho Wedenoja

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Hjelt Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Bendik S. Winsvold

Affiliations Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

George V. Dedoussis

Affiliation Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Athens, Greece

Jaakko Kaprio

Affiliations Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, Department of Public Health, Hjelt Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Dept of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Helsinki, Finland

Michael A. Province

Affiliation Division of Statistical Genomics and Department of Genetics Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America

John-Anker Zwart

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Michel Burnier

Affiliation Service of Nephrology, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

Harry Campbell

Affiliation Centre for Population Health Sciences and Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Daniele Cusi

Affiliations Genomics and Bioinformatics Platform, Fondazione Filarete, University of Milano, Milano, Italy, Division of Nephrology, San Paolo Hospital, Milano, Italy

George Davey Smith

Affiliation MRC CAiTE Centre, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Timothy M. Frayling

Affiliation Genetics of Complex Traits, Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

Christian Gieger

Affiliation Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

Lyle J. Palmer

Affiliations Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Canada, Prosserman Centre for Health Research, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, Canada

Peter P. Pramstaller

Affiliations Center for Biomedicine, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC), Bolzano, Italy, Affiliated Institute of the University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, Department of Neurology, General Central Hospital, Bolzano, Italy, Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany

Igor Rudan

Affiliations Croatian Centre for Global Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia, Centre for Population Health Sciences and Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Henry Völzke

Affiliation Institute for Community Medicine/SHIP-Clinical Epidemiological Research, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

H. -Erich Wichmann

Affiliations Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany, Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Chair of Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany, Klinikum Grosshadern, Munich, Germany

Alan F. Wright

Affiliation MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Eleftheria Zeggini

vb2@sanger.ac.uk (VB); ez1@sanger.ac.uk (EZ)

Affiliation Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Morgan Building, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

The following commercial companies helped support this study: GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens Healthcare, Siemens AG, Novo Nordisk, Gyllenberg and Biomedicum Helsinki. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: EZ. Performed the experiments: VB. Analyzed the data: VB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ADW CSF KSE KP IT EA SB LJB MB GC FE DME CH AAH JH CH ALJ NK IK ZK DAL AWM MP CEP JRBP AP OP BSP SMR ES SS JAS AT NT VV NMW HY TZ LZ PA VA IBB JH IN AP KHP JW BSW GVD JK MAP JAZ MB HC DC GDS TMF CG LJP PPP IR HV HEW AFW. Wrote the paper: VB EZ.