Intelligence is highly heritable¹ and a major determinant of human health and well-being². Recent genome-wide meta-analyses have identified 24 genomic loci linked to variation in intelligence^3,4,5,6,7, but much about its genetic underpinnings remains to be discovered. Here, we present a large-scale genetic association study of intelligence (n = 269,867), identifying 205 associated genomic loci (190 new) and 1,016 genes (939 new) via positional mapping, expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping, chromatin interaction mapping, and gene-based association analysis. We find enrichment of genetic effects in conserved and coding regions and associations with 146 nonsynonymous exonic variants. Associated genes are strongly expressed in the brain, specifically in striatal medium spiny neurons and hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Gene set analyses implicate pathways related to nervous system development and synaptic structure. We confirm previous strong genetic correlations with multiple health-related outcomes, and Mendelian randomization analysis results suggest protective effects of intelligence for Alzheimer’s disease and ADHD and bidirectional causation with pleiotropic effects for schizophrenia. These results are a major step forward in understanding the neurobiology of cognitive function as well as genetically related neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Neuroticism is an important risk factor for psychiatric traits, including depression¹, anxiety^2,3, and schizophrenia^4,5,6. At the time of analysis, previous genome-wide association studies^{7,8,9,10,11,12} (GWAS) reported 16 genomic loci associated to neuroticism^10,11,12. Here we conducted a large GWAS meta-analysis (n = 449,484) of neuroticism and identified 136 independent genome-wide significant loci (124 new at the time of analysis), which implicate 599 genes. Functional follow-up analyses showed enrichment in several brain regions and involvement of specific cell types, including dopaminergic neuroblasts (P = 3.49 × 10⁻⁸), medium spiny neurons (P = 4.23 × 10⁻⁸), and serotonergic neurons (P = 1.37 × 10⁻⁷). Gene set analyses implicated three specific pathways: neurogenesis (P = 4.43 × 10⁻⁹), behavioral response to cocaine processes (P = 1.84 × 10⁻⁷), and axon part (P = 5.26 × 10⁻⁸). We show that neuroticism’s genetic signal partly originates in two genetically distinguishable subclusters¹³ (‘depressed affect’ and ‘worry’), suggesting distinct causal mechanisms for subtypes of individuals. Mendelian randomization analysis showed unidirectional and bidirectional effects between neuroticism and multiple psychiatric traits. These results enhance neurobiological understanding of neuroticism and provide specific leads for functional follow-up experiments.