151
|
Shiota Y, Hirosawa T, Yoshimura Y, Tanaka S, Hasegawa C, Iwasaki S, An KM, Soma D, Sano M, Yokoyama S, Kikuchi M. A common variant of CNTNAP2 is associated with sub-threshold autistic traits and intellectual disability. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0260548. [PMID: 34898614 PMCID: PMC8668106 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Sub-threshold autistic traits are common in the general population. Children with sub-threshold autistic traits have difficulties with social adaptation. Contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CNTNAP2) is associated with the development of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the single-nucleotide polymorphism rs2710102 (G/A) of CNTNAP2 is suggested to contribute to sub-threshold social impairments and intellectual disabilities. We recruited 67 children with Autistic disorder (AD) (49 boys, 18 girls, aged 38–98 months) and 57 typically developing (TD) children (34 boys, 23 girls, aged 53–90 months). We assessed the participants’ intelligence and social reciprocity using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from the buccal mucosa and genotyped for rs2710102. A chi-square test revealed a significant association between genotype and group [χ2(2) = 6.56, p = 0.038]. When a co-dominant model was assumed, the results from linear regression models demonstrated that TD children with A-carriers (AA + AG) presented higher SRS T-scores [t(55) = 2.11, p = 0.039] and lower simultaneous processing scale scores of K-ABC [t(55) = -2.19, p = 0.032] than those with GG homozygotes. These associations were not significant in children with ASD. TD children with the rs2710102 A-allele may have more sub-threshold autistic traits than those with GG homozygotes, reflected in higher SRS scores and lower simultaneous processing scale scores. These results support the use of genetic evidence to detect sub-threshold autistic traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuka Shiota
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Tetsu Hirosawa
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
- * E-mail:
| | - Yuko Yoshimura
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Sanae Tanaka
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Chiaki Hasegawa
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Sumie Iwasaki
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Kyung-min An
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Daiki Soma
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Masuhiko Sano
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Shigeru Yokoyama
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Mitsuru Kikuchi
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of Fukui, Kanazawa, Japan
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
152
|
Baslan T, Kovaka S, Sedlazeck FJ, Zhang Y, Wappel R, Tian S, Lowe SW, Goodwin S, Schatz MC. High resolution copy number inference in cancer using short-molecule nanopore sequencing. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:e124. [PMID: 34551429 PMCID: PMC8643650 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome copy number is an important source of genetic variation in health and disease. In cancer, Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) can be inferred from short-read sequencing data, enabling genomics-based precision oncology. Emerging Nanopore sequencing technologies offer the potential for broader clinical utility, for example in smaller hospitals, due to lower instrument cost, higher portability, and ease of use. Nonetheless, Nanopore sequencing devices are limited in the number of retrievable sequencing reads/molecules compared to short-read sequencing platforms, limiting CNA inference accuracy. To address this limitation, we targeted the sequencing of short-length DNA molecules loaded at optimized concentration in an effort to increase sequence read/molecule yield from a single nanopore run. We show that short-molecule nanopore sequencing reproducibly returns high read counts and allows high quality CNA inference. We demonstrate the clinical relevance of this approach by accurately inferring CNAs in acute myeloid leukemia samples. The data shows that, compared to traditional approaches such as chromosome analysis/cytogenetics, short molecule nanopore sequencing returns more sensitive, accurate copy number information in a cost effective and expeditious manner, including for multiplex samples. Our results provide a framework for short-molecule nanopore sequencing with applications in research and medicine, which includes but is not limited to, CNAs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Timour Baslan
- Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sam Kovaka
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Fritz J Sedlazeck
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Yanming Zhang
- Cytogenetics Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Robert Wappel
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
| | - Sha Tian
- Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Scott W Lowe
- Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Sara Goodwin
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
| | - Michael C Schatz
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.,Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|
153
|
Abstract
In the last 40 years, there has been a huge increase in autism genetics research and a rapidly growing number of discoveries. We now know autism is one of the most highly heritable disorders with negligible shared environmental contributions. Recent discoveries also show that rare variants of large effect size as well as small effect common gene variants all contribute to autism risk. These discoveries challenge traditional diagnostic boundaries and highlight huge heterogeneity in autism. In this review, we consider some of the key findings that are shaping current understanding of autism and what these discoveries mean for clinicians.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anita Thapar
- Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences and MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Hadyn Ellis Building, Cardiff, Maindy Road, Wales, CF24 4HQ, UK.
| | - Michael Rutter
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Kings College London, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
154
|
Scott AJ, Chiang C, Hall IM. Structural variants are a major source of gene expression differences in humans and often affect multiple nearby genes. Genome Res 2021; 31:2249-2257. [PMID: 34544830 PMCID: PMC8647827 DOI: 10.1101/gr.275488.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Structural variants (SVs) are an important source of human genome diversity, but their functional effects are poorly understood. We mapped 61,668 SVs in 613 individuals from the GTEx project and measured their effects on gene expression. We estimate that common SVs are causal at 2.66% of eQTLs, a 10.5-fold enrichment relative to their abundance in the genome. Duplications and deletions were the most impactful variant types, whereas the contribution of mobile element insertions was small (0.12% of eQTLs, 1.9-fold enriched). Multitissue analysis of eQTLs revealed that gene-altering SVs show more constitutive effects than other variant types, with 62.09% of coding SV-eQTLs active in all tissues with eQTL activity compared with 23.08% of coding SNV- and indel-eQTLs. Noncoding SVs, SNVs and indels show broadly similar patterns. We also identified 539 rare SVs associated with nearby gene expression outliers. Of these, 62.34% are noncoding SVs that affect gene expression but have modest enrichment at regulatory elements, showing that rare noncoding SVs are a major source of gene expression differences but remain difficult to predict from current annotations. Both common and rare SVs often affect the expression of multiple genes: SV-eQTLs affect an average of 1.82 nearby genes, whereas SNV- and indel-eQTLs affect an average of 1.09 genes, and 21.34% of rare expression-altering SVs show effects on two to nine different genes. We also observe significant effects on rare gene expression changes extending 1 Mb from the SV. This provides a mechanism by which individual SVs may have strong or pleiotropic effects on phenotypic variation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra J Scott
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, USA
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
| | - Colby Chiang
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, USA
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
| | - Ira M Hall
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, USA
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
- Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA
| |
Collapse
|
155
|
Rosenthal SB, Willsey HR, Xu Y, Mei Y, Dea J, Wang S, Curtis C, Sempou E, Khokha MK, Chi NC, Willsey AJ, Fisch KM, Ideker T. A convergent molecular network underlying autism and congenital heart disease. Cell Syst 2021; 12:1094-1107.e6. [PMID: 34411509 PMCID: PMC8602730 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2021.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, have an elevated incidence of congenital heart disease, but the extent to which these conditions share molecular mechanisms remains unknown. Here, we use network genetics to identify a convergent molecular network underlying autism and congenital heart disease. This network is impacted by damaging genetic variants from both disorders in multiple independent cohorts of patients, pinpointing 101 genes with shared genetic risk. Network analysis also implicates risk genes for each disorder separately, including 27 previously unidentified genes for autism and 46 for congenital heart disease. For 7 genes with shared risk, we create engineered disruptions in Xenopus tropicalis, confirming both heart and brain developmental abnormalities. The network includes a family of ion channels, such as the sodium transporter SCN2A, linking these functions to early heart and brain development. This study provides a road map for identifying risk genes and pathways involved in co-morbid conditions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sara Brin Rosenthal
- Center for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Helen Rankin Willsey
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Yuxiao Xu
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Yuan Mei
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Jeanselle Dea
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Sheng Wang
- Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Charlotte Curtis
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Emily Sempou
- Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Department of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Mustafa K Khokha
- Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Department of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Neil C Chi
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Arthur Jeremy Willsey
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
| | - Kathleen M Fisch
- Center for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
| | - Trey Ideker
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
156
|
Comprehensive characterization of copy number variation (CNV) called from array, long- and short-read data. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:826. [PMID: 34789167 PMCID: PMC8596897 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-08082-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND SNP arrays, short- and long-read genome sequencing are genome-wide high-throughput technologies that may be used to assay copy number variants (CNVs) in a personal genome. Each of these technologies comes with its own limitations and biases, many of which are well-known, but not all of them are thoroughly quantified. RESULTS We assembled an ensemble of public datasets of published CNV calls and raw data for the well-studied Genome in a Bottle individual NA12878. This assembly represents a variety of methods and pipelines used for CNV calling from array, short- and long-read technologies. We then performed cross-technology comparisons regarding their ability to call CNVs. Different from other studies, we refrained from using the golden standard. Instead, we attempted to validate the CNV calls by the raw data of each technology. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirms that long-read platforms enable recalling CNVs in genomic regions inaccessible to arrays or short reads. We also found that the reproducibility of a CNV by different pipelines within each technology is strongly linked to other CNV evidence measures. Importantly, the three technologies show distinct public database frequency profiles, which differ depending on what technology the database was built on.
Collapse
|
157
|
Burstein O, Geva R. The Brainstem-Informed Autism Framework: Early Life Neurobehavioral Markers. Front Integr Neurosci 2021; 15:759614. [PMID: 34858145 PMCID: PMC8631363 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2021.759614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have long-term implications on functioning at multiple levels. In this perspective, we offer a brainstem-informed autism framework (BIAF) that traces the protracted neurobehavioral manifestations of ASD to early life brainstem dysfunctions. Early life brainstem-mediated markers involving functions of autonomic/arousal regulation, sleep-wake homeostasis, and sensorimotor integration are delineated. Their possible contributions to the early identification of susceptible infants are discussed. We suggest that the BIAF expands our multidimensional understanding of ASD by focusing on the early involvement of brainstem systems. Importantly, we propose an integrated BIAF screener that brings about the prospect of a sensitive and reliable early life diagnostic scheme for weighing the risk for ASD. The BIAF screener could provide clinicians substantial gains in the future and may carve customized interventions long before the current DSM ASD phenotype is manifested using dyadic co-regulation of brainstem-informed autism markers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Or Burstein
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Ronny Geva
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
158
|
Guo S, Wu X, Pei J, Wang X, Bao P, Xiong L, Chu M, Liang C, Yan P, Guo X. Genome-wide CNV analysis reveals variants associated with high-altitude adaptation and meat traits in Qaidam cattle. ELECTRON J BIOTECHN 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ejbt.2021.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
|
159
|
Adil KJ, Gonzales EL, Remonde CG, Boo KJ, Jeon SJ, Shin CY. Autism-Like Behavioral Phenotypes in Mice Treated with Systemic N-Methyl-D-Aspartate. Biomol Ther (Seoul) 2021; 30:232-237. [PMID: 34702791 PMCID: PMC9047488 DOI: 10.4062/biomolther.2021.133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) having core characteristics of social interaction problems and repetitive behaviors and interests affects individuals at varying degrees and comorbidities, making it difficult to determine the precise etiology underlying the symptoms. Given its heterogeneity, ASD is difficult to treat and the development of therapeutics is slow due to the scarcity of animal models that are easy to produce and screen with. Based on the theory of excitation/inhibition imbalance in the brain with ASD which involves glutamatergic and/or GABAergic neurotransmission, a pharmacologic agent to modulate these receptors might be a good starting point for modeling. N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) is an amino acid derivative acting as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor and therefore imitates the action of the neurotransmitter glutamate on that receptor. In contrast to glutamate, NMDA selectively binds to and regulates the NMDA receptor, but not other glutamate receptors such as AMPA and kainite receptors. Given this role, we aimed to determine whether NMDA administration could result in autistic-like behavior in adolescent mice. Both male and female mice were treated with saline or NMDA (50 and 75 mg/kg) and were tested on various behavior experiments. Interestingly, acute NMDA-treated mice showed social deficits and repetitive behavior similar to ASD phenotypes. These results support the excitation/inhibition imbalance theory of ASD and that NMDA injection can be used as a pharmacologic model of ASD-like behaviors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Keremkleroo Jym Adil
- School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience Research, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Edson Luck Gonzales
- School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience Research, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Chilly Gay Remonde
- School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience Research, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyung-Jun Boo
- School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience Research, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Se Jin Jeon
- School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience Research, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Chan Young Shin
- School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience Research, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| |
Collapse
|
160
|
Moniem Ali R, El-Wakeel HA, Al-Saleh DF, Shukri MI, Ansari KMN. Autism spectrum disorder in architecture perspective: a review of the literature and bibliometric assessment of research indexed in Web of Science. F1000Res 2021; 10:1087. [PMID: 35923662 PMCID: PMC9326241 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.54437.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 09/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Purpose: The primary objective of this research paper was to explore the current state-of-the-art research on autism spectrum disorder from a designer's perspective. An increasing number of scholarly publications in this discipline have urged researcher interest in this topic; however, there is still a lack of quantitative analysis. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze global research output on autism spectrum disorder from a designer's perspective during 1992-2021. Methodology: A bibliometric method was employed to analyze the published literature from 1992-2021. 812 papers were downloaded from the Web of Science core collection for analysis focused on annual growth of literature, prolific authors, authorship pattern, productive organizations, countries, international collaboration, literature trends by keyword analysis, and identifying the funding agencies. Various bibliometrics and scientometrics software were used to analyze the data, namely Bibexcel, Biblioshiny, and VOS viewer. Results: There were 812 research papers published in 405 sources during 1992-2021. 2019 was noted as the most productive year (NP=101), and 2014 received the highest number of citations (TC=6634). Researchers preferred to publish as journal articles (NP=538; TC=24922). The University of Toronto, Canada, was identified as a productive institution with 42 publications and 5358 citations. The USA was the leading producing country with 433 publications, and most of the researchers publish their work in the journal "Scientific Reports" (NP=16). The word "autism" (NP=257) and "architecture" (NP=165) were the most frequently used keywords in autism research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Reham Moniem Ali
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hala A. El-Wakeel
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Deema Faisal Al-Saleh
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mai Ibrahim Shukri
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Khadeeja M N Ansari
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|
161
|
Somatic Mosaicism and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12111699. [PMID: 34828306 PMCID: PMC8619103 DOI: 10.3390/genes12111699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 10/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a genetically heterogenous neurodevelopmental disorder. In the early years of next-generation sequencing, de novo germline variants were shown to contribute to ASD risk. These germline mutations are present in all of the cells of an affected individual and can be detected in any tissue, including clinically accessible DNA sources such as blood or saliva. In recent years, studies have also implicated de novo somatic variants in ASD risk. These somatic mutations arise postzygotically and are present in only a subset of the cells of an affected individual. Depending on the developmental time and progenitor cell in which a somatic mutation occurs, it may be detectable in some tissues and not in others. Somatic mutations detectable at relatively low sequencing coverage in clinically accessible tissues are suggested to contribute to 3-5% of simplex ASD diagnoses, and "brain limited" somatic mutations have been identified in postmortem ASD brain tissue. Somatic mutations likely represent the genetic diagnosis in a proportion of otherwise unexplained individuals with ASD, and brain limited somatic mutations can be used as markers to discover risk genes, cell types, brain regions, and cellular pathways important for ASD pathogenesis and to potentially target for therapeutics.
Collapse
|
162
|
Moniem Ali R, El-Wakeel HA, Al-Saleh DF, Shukri MI, Ansari KMN. Autism spectrum disorder in architecture perspective: a review of the literature and bibliometric assessment of research indexed in Web of Science. F1000Res 2021; 10:1087. [PMID: 35923662 PMCID: PMC9326241 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.54437.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE An increasing number of scholarly publications on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have urged researcher interest in this topic; however, there is still a lack of quantitative analysis. Therefore, this study aims to cover the knowledge gap between the amount of literature published on ASD research on architectural and designers' perspectives compared to the medical and psychological fields. The study has analyzed global research output on ASD from a designer's perspective to recognize this gap related to designing the physical environment. Methodology: The bibliometric method was employed to analyze the published literature from 1992-to 2021. 812 papers were downloaded from the Web of Science for analysis based on annual growth of literature, prolific authors, authorship pattern, organizations, countries, international collaboration, and subject development by keywords and thematic map analyses. Various bibliometric and scientometric software was used to analyze the data, namely Bibexcel, Biblioshiny, and VOS viewer. RESULTS The812 research papers were published in 405 sources. 2019 appeared as a productive year (NP=101), and 2014 received the highest number of citations (TC=6634). Researchers preferred to publish as journal articles (NP=538; TC=24922). The University of Toronto, Canada, was identified as a productive institution with 42 publications and 5358 citations. The USA was the leading producing country with 433 publications, and most of the researchers published in the journal " Scientific Reports" (NP=16). The word autism (NP=257) and architecture (NP=165) were more frequently used keywords. CONCLUSION The study identified a massive gap in the development of literature in ASD for architecture design and built environment perspective, the most important and trending keywords are missing, and the analyses also showed a lack of subject development. The authors have suggested areas and keywords for further research to fulfill the gap in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Reham Moniem Ali
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hala A. El-Wakeel
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Deema Faisal Al-Saleh
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mai Ibrahim Shukri
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| | - Khadeeja M N Ansari
- Interior Design Department, College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, PO. 1982, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|
163
|
Jiang Y, Fu X, Zhang Y, Wang SF, Zhu H, Wang WK, Zhang L, Wu P, Wong CCL, Li J, Ma J, Guan JS, Huang Y, Hui J. Rett syndrome linked to defects in forming the MeCP2/Rbfox/LASR complex in mouse models. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5767. [PMID: 34599184 PMCID: PMC8486766 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26084-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Rett syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurological disorder and a leading cause of intellectual disability in young females. RTT is mainly caused by mutations found in the X-linked gene encoding methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Despite extensive studies, the molecular mechanism underlying RTT pathogenesis is still poorly understood. Here, we report MeCP2 as a key subunit of a higher-order multiunit protein complex Rbfox/LASR. Defective MeCP2 in RTT mouse models disrupts the assembly of the MeCP2/Rbfox/LASR complex, leading to reduced binding of Rbfox proteins to target pre-mRNAs and aberrant splicing of Nrxns and Nlgn1 critical for synaptic plasticity. We further show that MeCP2 disease mutants display defective condensate properties and fail to promote phase-separated condensates with Rbfox proteins in vitro and in cultured cells. These data link an impaired function of MeCP2 with disease mutation in splicing control to its defective properties in mediating the higher-order assembly of the MeCP2/Rbfox/LASR complex. MeCP2 mutations can cause Rett syndrome, a severe childhood neurological disorder. Here the authors show that MeCP2 mediates the higher-order assembly of a large splicing complex Rbfox/LASR, which is disrupted in the mouse models of Rett syndrome.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yan Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Xing Fu
- Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 201602, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuhan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Genetics and Development, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 200438, Shanghai, China.,Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200092, Shanghai, China
| | - Shen-Fei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Hong Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei-Kang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Lin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Andrology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Ping Wu
- National Facility for Protein Science in Shanghai, Zhangjiang Lab, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 201210, Shanghai, China
| | - Catherine C L Wong
- National Facility for Protein Science in Shanghai, Zhangjiang Lab, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 201210, Shanghai, China.,Center for Precision Medicine Multi-Omics Research, Peking University Health Science Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, 100191, Beijing, China
| | - Jinsong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Andrology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Jinbiao Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Genetics and Development, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 200438, Shanghai, China
| | - Ji-Song Guan
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 201210, Shanghai, China.,Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China
| | - Ying Huang
- Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200092, Shanghai, China.
| | - Jingyi Hui
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China.
| |
Collapse
|
164
|
Havdahl A, Niarchou M, Starnawska A, Uddin M, van der Merwe C, Warrier V. Genetic contributions to autism spectrum disorder. Psychol Med 2021; 51:2260-2273. [PMID: 33634770 PMCID: PMC8477228 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291721000192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (autism) is a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by early childhood-onset impairments in communication and social interaction alongside restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. This review summarizes recent developments in human genetics research in autism, complemented by epigenetic and transcriptomic findings. The clinical heterogeneity of autism is mirrored by a complex genetic architecture involving several types of common and rare variants, ranging from point mutations to large copy number variants, and either inherited or spontaneous (de novo). More than 100 risk genes have been implicated by rare, often de novo, potentially damaging mutations in highly constrained genes. These account for substantial individual risk but a small proportion of the population risk. In contrast, most of the genetic risk is attributable to common inherited variants acting en masse, each individually with small effects. Studies have identified a handful of robustly associated common variants. Different risk genes converge on the same mechanisms, such as gene regulation and synaptic connectivity. These mechanisms are also implicated by genes that are epigenetically and transcriptionally dysregulated in autism. Major challenges to understanding the biological mechanisms include substantial phenotypic heterogeneity, large locus heterogeneity, variable penetrance, and widespread pleiotropy. Considerable increases in sample sizes are needed to better understand the hundreds or thousands of common and rare genetic variants involved. Future research should integrate common and rare variant research, multi-omics data including genomics, epigenomics, and transcriptomics, and refined phenotype assessment with multidimensional and longitudinal measures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- A. Havdahl
- Nic Waals Institute, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, PROMENTA Research Center, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - M. Niarchou
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN, USA
| | - A. Starnawska
- The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Denmark
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark
- Center for Genomics for Personalized Medicine, CGPM, and Center for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - M. Uddin
- College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, UAE
| | - C. van der Merwe
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, MA, USA
| | - V. Warrier
- Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, UK
| |
Collapse
|
165
|
Eyring KW, Geschwind DH. Three decades of ASD genetics: building a foundation for neurobiological understanding and treatment. Hum Mol Genet 2021; 30:R236-R244. [PMID: 34313757 PMCID: PMC8861370 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddab176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Methodological advances over the last three decades have led to a profound transformation in our understanding of the genetic origins of neuropsychiatric disorders. This is exemplified by the study of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) for which microarrays, whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing have yielded over a hundred causal loci. Genome-wide association studies in ASD have also been fruitful, identifying 5 genome-wide significant loci thus far and demonstrating a substantial role for polygenic inherited risk. Approaches rooted in systems biology and functional genomics have increasingly placed genes implicated by risk variants into biological context. Genetic risk affects a finite group of cell-types and biological processes, converging primarily on early stages of brain development (though, the expression of many risk genes persists through childhood). Coupled with advances in stem cell-based human in vitro model systems, these findings provide a basis for developing mechanistic models of disease pathophysiology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katherine W Eyring
- Neurogenetics Program, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Daniel H Geschwind
- Neurogenetics Program, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Center For Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics and Institute for Precision Health, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| |
Collapse
|
166
|
Carollo A, Bonassi A, Lim M, Gabrieli G, Setoh P, Dimitriou D, Aryadoust V, Esposito G. Developmental disabilities across the world: A scientometric review from 1936 to 2020. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2021; 117:104031. [PMID: 34333315 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2021] [Revised: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Developmental disabilities have been largely studied in the past years. Their etiological mechanisms have been underpinned to the interactions between genetic and environmental factors. These factors show variability across the world. Thus, it is important to understand where the set of knowledge obtained on developmental disabilities originates from and whether it is generalizable to low- and middle-income countries. AIMS This study aims to understand the origins of the available literature on developmental disabilities, keeping a focus on parenting, and identify the main trend of research. METHODS AND PROCEDURE A sample of 11,315 publications from 1936 to 2020 were collected from Scopus and a graphical country analysis was conducted. Furthermore, a qualitative approach enabled the clustering of references by keywords into four main areas: "Expression of the disorder", "Physiological Factors", "How it is studied" and "Environmental factors". For each area, a document co-citation analysis (DCA) on CiteSpace software was performed. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Results highlight the leading role of North America in the study of developmental disabilities. Trends in the literature and the documents' scientific relevance are discussed in details. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Results demand for investigation in different socio-economical settings to generalize our knowledge. What this paper adds? The current paper tries to provide insight into the origins of the literature on developmental disabilities with a focus on parenting, together with an analysis of the trends of research in the field. The paper consisted of a multi-disciplinary and multi-method review. In fact, the review tried to integrate the analysis of the relation between developmental disabilities with a closer look at the scientific contributions to the field across the world. Specifically, the paper integrates a total of 11,315 papers published on almost a century of research (from 1936 to 2020). An initial qualitative analysis on keywords was combined to a subsequent quantitative approach in order to maximize the comprehension of the impact of almost a century of scientific contributions. Specifically, documents were studied with temporal and structural metrics on a scientometric approach. This allowed the exploration of patterns within the literature available on Scopus in a quantitative way. This method not only assessed the importance of single documents within the network. As a matter of fact, the document co-citation analysis used on CiteSpace software provided insight into the relations existing between multiple documents in the field of research. As a result, the leading role of North America in the literature of developmental disabilities and parenting emerged. This was accompanied by the review of the main trends of research within the existing literature.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Carollo
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Andrea Bonassi
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy; Mobile and Social Computing Lab, Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento, Italy
| | - Mengyu Lim
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Giulio Gabrieli
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Peipei Setoh
- Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Dagmara Dimitriou
- Sleep Research and Education Laboratory, UCL Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom
| | - Vahid Aryadoust
- National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy; Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore; Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
| |
Collapse
|
167
|
Du L, Zahra A, Jia M, Wang Q, Wu J. Understanding the Functional Expression of Na+-Coupled SLC4 Transporters in the Renal and Nervous Systems: A Review. Brain Sci 2021; 11:1276. [PMID: 34679341 PMCID: PMC8534249 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11101276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Acid-base homeostasis is crucial for numerous physiological processes. Na+/HCO3- cotransporters (NBCs) belong to the solute carrier 4 (SLC4) family, which regulates intracellular pH as well as HCO3- absorption and secretion. However, knowledge of the structural functions of these proteins remains limited. Electrogenic NBC (NBCe-1) is thought to be the primary factor promoting the precise acid-base equilibrium in distinct cell types for filtration and reabsorption, as well as the function of neurons and glia. NBC dysregulation is strongly linked to several diseases. As such, the need for special drugs that interfere with the transmission function of NBC is becoming increasingly urgent. In this review, we focus on the structural and functional characteristics of NBCe1, and discuss the roles of NBCe1 in the kidney, central nervous system (CNS), and related disorders, we also summarize the research on NBC inhibitors. NBCe1 and the related pathways should be further investigated, so that new medications may be developed to address the related conditions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Le Du
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China; (L.D.); (A.Z.)
| | - Aqeela Zahra
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China; (L.D.); (A.Z.)
| | - Meng Jia
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China; (M.J.); (Q.W.)
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Disease, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Qun Wang
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China; (M.J.); (Q.W.)
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Disease, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Jianping Wu
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China; (L.D.); (A.Z.)
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China; (M.J.); (Q.W.)
- Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Disease, Beijing 100070, China
- Health Science Center, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434023, China
| |
Collapse
|
168
|
Jiang Y, Urresti J, Pagel KA, Pramod AB, Iakoucheva LM, Radivojac P. Prioritizing de novo autism risk variants with calibrated gene- and variant-scoring models. Hum Genet 2021; 141:1595-1613. [PMID: 34549350 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-021-02356-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing studies in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have identified hundreds of thousands of exonic variants. Only a handful of them, primarily loss-of-function variants, have been shown to increase the risk for ASD, while the contributory roles of other variants, including most missense variants, remain unknown. New approaches that combine tissue-specific molecular profiles with patients' genetic data can thus play an important role in elucidating the functional impact of exonic variation and improve understanding of ASD pathogenesis. Here, we integrate spatio-temporal gene co-expression networks from the developing human brain and protein-protein interaction networks to first reach accurate prioritization of ASD risk genes based on their connectivity patterns with previously known high-confidence ASD risk genes. We subsequently integrate these gene scores with variant pathogenicity predictions to further prioritize individual exonic variants based on the positive-unlabeled learning framework with gene- and variant-score calibration. We demonstrate that this approach discriminates among variants between cases and controls at the high end of the prediction range. Finally, we experimentally validate our top-scoring de novo mutation NP_001243143.1:p.Phe309Ser in the sodium/potassium-transporting ATPase ATP1A3 to disrupt protein binding with different partners.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuxiang Jiang
- Department of Computer Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Jorge Urresti
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Kymberleigh A Pagel
- Department of Computer Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.,Institute for Computational Medicine, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Akula Bala Pramod
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Lilia M Iakoucheva
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| | - Predrag Radivojac
- Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
169
|
Neri de Souza Reis V, Tahira AC, Daguano Gastaldi V, Mari P, Portolese J, Feio dos Santos AC, Lisboa B, Mari J, Caetano SC, Brunoni D, Bordini D, Silvestre de Paula C, Vêncio RZN, Quackenbush J, Brentani H. Environmental Influences Measured by Epigenetic Clock and Vulnerability Components at Birth Impact Clinical ASD Heterogeneity. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12091433. [PMID: 34573415 PMCID: PMC8467464 DOI: 10.3390/genes12091433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Although Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is recognized as being heavily influenced by genetic factors, the role of epigenetic and environmental factors is still being established. This study aimed to identify ASD vulnerability components based on familial history and intrauterine environmental stress exposure, explore possible vulnerability subgroups, access DNA methylation age acceleration (AA) as a proxy of stress exposure during life, and evaluate the association of ASD vulnerability components and AA to phenotypic severity measures. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to search the vulnerability components from 67 mothers of autistic children. We found that PC1 had a higher correlation with psychosocial stress (maternal stress, maternal education, and social class), and PC2 had a higher correlation with biological factors (psychiatric family history and gestational complications). Comparing the methylome between above and below PC1 average subgroups we found 11,879 statistically significant differentially methylated probes (DMPs, p < 0.05). DMPs CpG sites were enriched in variably methylated regions (VMRs), most showing environmental and genetic influences. Hypermethylated probes presented higher rates in different regulatory regions associated with functional SNPs, indicating that the subgroups may have different affected regulatory regions and their liability to disease explained by common variations. Vulnerability components score moderated by epigenetic clock AA was associated with Vineland Total score (p = 0.0036, adjR2 = 0.31), suggesting risk factors with stress burden can influence ASD phenotype.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Viviane Neri de Souza Reis
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
| | - Ana Carolina Tahira
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
- Instituto Butantan, São Paulo 05503-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Vinícius Daguano Gastaldi
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
| | - Paula Mari
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
| | - Joana Portolese
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
| | - Ana Cecilia Feio dos Santos
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
- Laboratório de Pesquisas Básicas em Malária—Entomologia, Seção de Parasitologia—Instituto Evandro Chagas/SVS/MS, Ananindeua 66093-020, PA, Brazil
| | - Bianca Lisboa
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
| | - Jair Mari
- Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo 04023-062, SP, Brazil; (J.M.); (S.C.C.); (D.B.); (C.S.d.P.)
| | - Sheila C. Caetano
- Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo 04023-062, SP, Brazil; (J.M.); (S.C.C.); (D.B.); (C.S.d.P.)
| | - Décio Brunoni
- Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM), São Paulo 01302-907, SP, Brazil;
| | - Daniela Bordini
- Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo 04023-062, SP, Brazil; (J.M.); (S.C.C.); (D.B.); (C.S.d.P.)
| | - Cristiane Silvestre de Paula
- Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo 04023-062, SP, Brazil; (J.M.); (S.C.C.); (D.B.); (C.S.d.P.)
- Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM), São Paulo 01302-907, SP, Brazil;
| | - Ricardo Z. N. Vêncio
- Departamento de Computação e Matemática FFCLRP-USP, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-901, SP, Brazil;
| | - John Quackenbush
- Center for Cancer Computational Biology, Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA; or
- Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Helena Brentani
- Departamento & Instituto de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, SP, Brazil; (V.N.d.S.R.); (A.C.T.); (V.D.G.); (P.M.); (J.P.); (A.C.F.d.S.); (B.L.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +55-(11)-99-931-4349
| |
Collapse
|
170
|
Marrus N, Turner TN, Forsen E, Bolster D, Marvin A, Whitehouse A, Klinger L, Gurnett CA, Constantino JN. Genetic counseling as preventive intervention: toward individual specification of transgenerational autism risk. J Neurodev Disord 2021; 13:39. [PMID: 34530736 PMCID: PMC8447585 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-021-09389-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most heritable of all neuropsychiatric syndromes, most affected children are born to unaffected parents. Recently, we reported an average increase of 3-5% over general population risk of ASD among offspring of adults who have first-degree relatives with ASD in a large epidemiologic family sample. A next essential step is to investigate whether there are measurable characteristics of individual parents placing them at higher or lower recurrence risk, as this information could allow more personalized genetic counseling. METHODS We assembled what is to our knowledge the largest collection of data on the ability of four measurable characteristics of unaffected prospective parents to specify risk for autism among their offspring: (1) sub clinical autistic trait burden, (2) parental history of a sibling with ASD, (3) transmitted autosomal molecular genetic abnormalities, and (4) parental age. Leveraging phenotypic and genetic data in curated family cohorts, we evaluate the respective associations between these factors and child outcome when autism is present in the family in the parental generation. RESULTS All four characteristics were associated with elevation in offspring risk; however, the magnitude of their predictive power-with the exception of isolated rare inherited pathogenic variants -does not yet reach a threshold that would typically be considered actionable for reproductive decision-making. CONCLUSIONS Individual specification of risk to offspring of adults in ASD-affected families is not straightforwardly improved by ascertainment of parental phenotype, and it is not yet clear whether genomic screening of prospective parents in families affected by idiopathic ASD is warranted as a clinical standard. Systematic screening of affected family members for heritable pathogenic variants, including rare sex-linked mutations, will identify a subset of families with substantially elevated transmission risk. Polygenic risk scores are only weakly predictive at this time but steadily improving and ultimately may enable more robust prediction either singly or when combined with the risk variables examined in this study.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Natasha Marrus
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave; Box 8504, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
| | - Tychele N Turner
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave; Box 8108, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Elizabeth Forsen
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave; Box 8504, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Drew Bolster
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave; Box 8504, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Alison Marvin
- Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities, Kennedy Krieger Institute, PACT Building/Office 121B; 7000 Tudsbury Road, Baltimore, MD, 21244, USA
| | - Andrew Whitehouse
- Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children's Hospital, 15 Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, WA, 6009, USA
| | - Laura Klinger
- TEACCH Autism Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box #7180, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7180, USA
| | - Christina A Gurnett
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave; Box 8111, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - J N Constantino
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave; Box 8504, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| |
Collapse
|
171
|
Jiang P, Ollodart AR, Sudhesh V, Herr AJ, Dunham MJ, Harris K. A modified fluctuation assay reveals a natural mutator phenotype that drives mutation spectrum variation within Saccharomyces cerevisiae. eLife 2021; 10:68285. [PMID: 34523420 PMCID: PMC8497059 DOI: 10.7554/elife.68285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Although studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have provided many insights into mutagenesis and DNA repair, most of this work has focused on a few laboratory strains. Much less is known about the phenotypic effects of natural variation within S. cerevisiae’s DNA repair pathways. Here, we use natural polymorphisms to detect historical mutation spectrum differences among several wild and domesticated S. cerevisiae strains. To determine whether these differences are likely caused by genetic mutation rate modifiers, we use a modified fluctuation assay with a CAN1 reporter to measure de novo mutation rates and spectra in 16 of the analyzed strains. We measure a 10-fold range of mutation rates and identify two strains with distinctive mutation spectra. These strains, known as AEQ and AAR, come from the panel’s ‘Mosaic beer’ clade and share an enrichment for C > A mutations that is also observed in rare variation segregating throughout the genomes of several Mosaic beer and Mixed origin strains. Both AEQ and AAR are haploid derivatives of the diploid natural isolate CBS 1782, whose rare polymorphisms are enriched for C > A as well, suggesting that the underlying mutator allele is likely active in nature. We use a plasmid complementation test to show that AAR and AEQ share a mutator allele in the DNA repair gene OGG1, which excises 8-oxoguanine lesions that can cause C > A mutations if left unrepaired.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pengyao Jiang
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
| | - Anja R Ollodart
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States.,Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
| | - Vidha Sudhesh
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
| | - Alan J Herr
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
| | - Maitreya J Dunham
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
| | - Kelley Harris
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, United States.,Department of Computational Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, United States
| |
Collapse
|
172
|
Huang T, Li J, Jia B, Sang H. CNV-MEANN: A Neural Network and Mind Evolutionary Algorithm-Based Detection of Copy Number Variations From Next-Generation Sequencing Data. Front Genet 2021; 12:700874. [PMID: 34484298 PMCID: PMC8415314 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.700874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Copy number variation (CNV), is defined as repetitions or deletions of genomic segments of 1 Kb to 5 Mb, and is a major trigger for human disease. The high-throughput and low-cost characteristics of next-generation sequencing technology provide the possibility of the detection of CNVs in the whole genome, and also greatly improve the clinical practicability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing. However, current methods for the detection of CNVs are easily affected by sequencing and mapping errors, and uneven distribution of reads. In this paper, we propose an improved approach, CNV-MEANN, for the detection of CNVs, involving changing the structure of the neural network used in the MFCNV method. This method has three differences relative to the MFCNV method: (1) it utilizes a new feature, mapping quality, to replace two features in MFCNV, (2) it considers the influence of the loss categories of CNV on disease prediction, and refines the output structure, and (3) it uses a mind evolutionary algorithm to optimize the backpropagation (neural network) neural network model, and calculates individual scores for each genome bin to predict CNVs. Using both simulated and real datasets, we tested the performance of CNV-MEANN and compared its performance with those of seven widely used CNV detection methods. Experimental results demonstrated that the CNV-MEANN approach outperformed other methods with respect to sensitivity, precision, and F1-score. The proposed method was able to detect many CNVs that other approaches could not, and it reduced the boundary bias. CNV-MEANN is expected to be an effective method for the analysis of changes in CNVs in the genome.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tihao Huang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China
| | - Junqing Li
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China
| | - Baoxian Jia
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China
| | - Hongyan Sang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China
| |
Collapse
|
173
|
Yoon S, Munoz A, Yamrom B, Lee YH, Andrews P, Marks S, Wang Z, Reeves C, Winterkorn L, Krieger AM, Buja A, Pradhan K, Ronemus M, Baldwin KK, Levy D, Wigler M, Iossifov I. Rates of contributory de novo mutation in high and low-risk autism families. Commun Biol 2021; 4:1026. [PMID: 34471188 PMCID: PMC8410909 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02533-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism arises in high and low-risk families. De novo mutation contributes to autism incidence in low-risk families as there is a higher incidence in the affected of the simplex families than in their unaffected siblings. But the extent of contribution in low-risk families cannot be determined solely from simplex families as they are a mixture of low and high-risk. The rate of de novo mutation in nearly pure populations of high-risk families, the multiplex families, has not previously been rigorously determined. Moreover, rates of de novo mutation have been underestimated from studies based on low resolution microarrays and whole exome sequencing. Here we report on findings from whole genome sequence (WGS) of both simplex families from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) and multiplex families from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE). After removing the multiplex samples with excessive cell-line genetic drift, we find that the contribution of de novo mutation in multiplex is significantly smaller than the contribution in simplex. We use WGS to provide high resolution CNV profiles and to analyze more than coding regions, and revise upward the rate in simplex autism due to an excess of de novo events targeting introns. Based on this study, we now estimate that de novo events contribute to 52-67% of cases of autism arising from low risk families, and 30-39% of cases of all autism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Seungtai Yoon
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Adriana Munoz
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Boris Yamrom
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yoon-Ha Lee
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Peter Andrews
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Steven Marks
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Zihua Wang
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Abba M Krieger
- Statistics Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Andreas Buja
- Statistics Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Kith Pradhan
- Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - Michael Ronemus
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kristin K Baldwin
- Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Dan Levy
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
| | - Michael Wigler
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA
- New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ivan Iossifov
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, NY, USA.
- New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
174
|
Traetta ME, Uccelli NA, Zárate SC, Gómez Cuautle D, Ramos AJ, Reinés A. Long-Lasting Changes in Glial Cells Isolated From Rats Subjected to the Valproic Acid Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Pharmacol 2021; 12:707859. [PMID: 34421599 PMCID: PMC8374432 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2021.707859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Synaptic alterations concomitant with neuroinflammation have been described in patients and experimental models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the role of microglia and astroglia in relation to synaptic changes is poorly understood. Male Wistar rats prenatally exposed to valproic acid (VPA, 450 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline (control) at embryonic day 10.5 were used to study synapses, microglia, and astroglia in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) at postnatal days 3 and 35 (PND3 and PND35). Primary cultures of cortical neurons, microglia, and astroglia isolated from control and VPA animals were used to study each cell type individually, neuron-microglia and microglia-astroglia crosstalk. In the PFC of VPA rats, synaptic changes characterized by an increase in the number of excitatory synapses were evidenced at PND3 and persisted until PND35. At PND3, microglia and astroglia from VPA animals were morphologically similar to those of age-matched controls, whereas at PND35, reactive microgliosis and astrogliosis were observed in the PFC of VPA animals. Cortical neurons isolated from VPA rats mimicked in vitro the synaptic pattern seen in vivo. Cortical microglia and astroglia isolated from VPA animals exhibited reactive morphology, increased pro-inflammatory cytokines, and a compromised miRNA processing machinery. Microglia from VPA animals also showed resistance to a phagocytic challenge. In the presence of neurons from VPA animals, microglia isolated from VPA rats revealed a non-reactive morphology and promoted neurite outgrowth, while microglia from control animals displayed a reactive profile and promoted dendritic retraction. In microglia-astroglia co-cultures, microglia from VPA animals displayed a reactive profile and exacerbated astrocyte reactivity. Our study indicates that cortical microglia from VPA animals are insensitive or adapted to neuronal cues expressed by neurons from VPA animals. Further, long-term in vivo microgliosis could be the result of altered microglia-astroglia crosstalk in VPA animals. Thus, our study highlights cortical microglia-astroglia communication as a new mechanism implicated in neuroinflammation in ASD; consequently, we propose that this crosstalk is a potential target for interventions in this disorder.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marianela Evelyn Traetta
- Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. E. De Robertis" (IBCN), CONICET - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Cátedra de Farmacología, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Nonthué Alejandra Uccelli
- Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. E. De Robertis" (IBCN), CONICET - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Sandra Cristina Zárate
- Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Histología, Embriología, Biología Celular y Genética, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas (INBIOMED), CONICET - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Dante Gómez Cuautle
- Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. E. De Robertis" (IBCN), CONICET - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alberto Javier Ramos
- Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. E. De Robertis" (IBCN), CONICET - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Histología, Embriología, Biología Celular y Genética, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Analía Reinés
- Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. E. De Robertis" (IBCN), CONICET - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Cátedra de Farmacología, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| |
Collapse
|
175
|
Chiliński M, Sengupta K, Plewczynski D. From DNA human sequence to the chromatin higher order organisation and its biological meaning: Using biomolecular interaction networks to understand the influence of structural variation on spatial genome organisation and its functional effect. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2021; 121:171-185. [PMID: 34429265 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The three-dimensional structure of the human genome has been proven to have a significant functional impact on gene expression. The high-order spatial chromatin is organised first by looping mediated by multiple protein factors, and then it is further formed into larger structures of topologically associated domains (TADs) or chromatin contact domains (CCDs), followed by A/B compartments and finally the chromosomal territories (CTs). The genetic variation observed in human population influences the multi-scale structures, posing a question regarding the functional impact of structural variants reflected by the variability of the genes expression patterns. The current methods of evaluating the functional effect include eQTLs analysis which uses statistical testing of influence of variants on spatially close genes. Rarely, non-coding DNA sequence changes are evaluated by their impact on the biomolecular interaction network (BIN) reflecting the cellular interactome that can be analysed by the classical graph-theoretic algorithms. Therefore, in the second part of the review, we introduce the concept of BIN, i.e. a meta-network model of the complete molecular interactome developed by integrating various biological networks. The BIN meta-network model includes DNA-protein binding by the plethora of protein factors as well as chromatin interactions, therefore allowing connection of genomics with the downstream biomolecular processes present in a cell. As an illustration, we scrutinise the chromatin interactions mediated by the CTCF protein detected in a ChIA-PET experiment in the human lymphoblastoid cell line GM12878. In the corresponding BIN meta-network the DNA spatial proximity is represented as a graph model, combined with the Proteins-Interaction Network (PIN) of human proteome using the Gene Association Network (GAN). Furthermore, we enriched the BIN with the signalling and metabolic pathways and Gene Ontology (GO) terms to assert its functional context. Finally, we mapped the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) from the GWAS studies and identified the chromatin mutational hot-spots associated with a significant enrichment of SNPs related to autoimmune diseases. Afterwards, we mapped Structural Variants (SVs) from healthy individuals of 1000 Genomes Project and identified an interesting example of the missing protein complex associated with protein Q6GYQ0 due to a deletion on chromosome 14. Such an analysis using the meta-network BIN model is therefore helpful in evaluating the influence of genetic variation on spatial organisation of the genome and its functional effect in a cell.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz Chiliński
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics, Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland; Laboratory of Functional and Structural Genomics, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Banacha 2c, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Kaustav Sengupta
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Genomics, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Banacha 2c, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Dariusz Plewczynski
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics, Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland; Laboratory of Functional and Structural Genomics, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Banacha 2c, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
| |
Collapse
|
176
|
Ju J, Yang X, Jiang J, Wang D, Zhang Y, Zhao X, Fang X, Liao H, Zheng L, Li S, Hou ST, Liang L, Pan Y, Li H, Li N. Structural and Lipidomic Alterations of Striatal Myelin in 16p11.2 Deletion Mouse Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Cell Neurosci 2021; 15:718720. [PMID: 34483844 PMCID: PMC8416256 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.718720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Myelin abnormalities have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we seek to discover myelin-related changes in the striatum, a key brain region responsible for core ASD features, using the 16p11.2 deletion (16p11.2±) mouse model of ASD. We found downregulated expression of multiple myelin genes and decreased myelin thickness in the striatum of 16p11.2± mice versus wild type controls. Moreover, given that myelin is the main reservoir of brain lipids and that increasing evidence has linked dysregulation of lipid metabolism to ASD, we performed lipidomic analysis and discovered decreased levels of certain species of sphingomyelin, hexosyl ceramide and their common precursor, ceramide, in 16p11.2± striatum, all of which are major myelin components. We further identified lack of ceramide synthase 2 as the possible reason behind the decrease in these lipid species. Taken together, our data suggest a role for myelin and myelin lipids in ASD development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jun Ju
- Tomas Lindahl Nobel Laureate Laboratory, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xiuyan Yang
- Tomas Lindahl Nobel Laureate Laboratory, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jian Jiang
- Tomas Lindahl Nobel Laureate Laboratory, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Dilong Wang
- Tomas Lindahl Nobel Laureate Laboratory, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yumeng Zhang
- Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, Division of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Xiaofeng Zhao
- Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Organ Development and Regeneration, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaoyi Fang
- Department of Neonatology, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Huanquan Liao
- The Clinical Neuroscience Center, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Lei Zheng
- Department of Anesthesiology, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Shupeng Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenomics, School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
| | - Sheng-Tao Hou
- Brain Research Centre and Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Liyang Liang
- Department of Pediatrics, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yihang Pan
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digestive Cancer Research, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Huiliang Li
- Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, Division of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ningning Li
- Tomas Lindahl Nobel Laureate Laboratory, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
- China-UK Institute for Frontier Science, Shenzhen, China
| |
Collapse
|
177
|
Mechanisms Underlying the Suppression of Chromosome Rearrangements by Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12081232. [PMID: 34440406 PMCID: PMC8392746 DOI: 10.3390/genes12081232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Chromosome rearrangements are structural variations in chromosomes, such as inversions and translocations. Chromosome rearrangements have been implicated in a variety of human diseases. Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a broad range of clinical and cellular phenotypes. At the cellular level, one of the most prominent features of A-T cells is chromosome rearrangement, especially that in T lymphocytes. The gene that is defective in A-T is ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM). The ATM protein is a serine/threonine kinase and plays a central role in the cellular response to DNA damage, particularly DNA double-strand breaks. In this review, the mechanisms by which ATM suppresses chromosome rearrangements are discussed.
Collapse
|
178
|
Fyke W, Velinov M. FMR1 and Autism, an Intriguing Connection Revisited. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12081218. [PMID: 34440392 PMCID: PMC8394635 DOI: 10.3390/genes12081218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) represents a distinct phenotype of behavioral dysfunction that includes deficiencies in communication and stereotypic behaviors. ASD affects about 2% of the US population. It is a highly heritable spectrum of conditions with substantial genetic heterogeneity. To date, mutations in over 100 genes have been reported in association with ASD phenotypes. Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common single-gene disorder associated with ASD. The gene associated with FXS, FMR1 is located on chromosome X. Accordingly, the condition has more severe manifestations in males. FXS results from the loss of function of FMR1 due to the expansion of an unstable CGG repeat located in the 5'' untranslated region of the gene. About 50% of the FXS males and 20% of the FXS females meet the Diagnostic Statistical Manual 5 (DSM-5) criteria for ASD. Among the individuals with ASD, about 3% test positive for FXS. FMRP, the protein product of FMR1, is a major gene regulator in the central nervous system. Multiple pathways regulated by FMRP are found to be dysfunctional in ASD patients who do not have FXS. Thus, FXS presents the opportunity to study cellular phenomena that may have wider applications in the management of ASD and to develop new strategies for ASD therapy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William Fyke
- SUNY Downstate Medical Center, SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA;
- Graduate Program in Neural and Behavioral Science, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA
| | - Milen Velinov
- Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
- Child Health Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|
179
|
Abstract
Autism is a common and complex neurologic disorder whose scientific underpinnings have begun to be established in the past decade. The essence of this breakthrough has been a focus on families, where genetic analyses are strongest, versus large-scale, case-control studies. Autism genetics has progressed in parallel with technology, from analyses of copy number variation to whole-exome sequencing (WES) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Gene mutations causing complete loss of function account for perhaps one-third of cases, largely detected through WES. This limitation has increased interest in understanding the regulatory variants of genes that contribute in more subtle ways to the disorder. Strategies combining biochemical analysis of gene regulation, WGS analysis of the noncoding genome, and machine learning have begun to succeed. The emerging picture is that careful control of the amounts of transcription, mRNA, and proteins made by key brain genes-stoichiometry-plays a critical role in defining the clinical features of autism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert B Darnell
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA;
| |
Collapse
|
180
|
Recent ultra-rare inherited variants implicate new autism candidate risk genes. Nat Genet 2021; 53:1125-1134. [PMID: 34312540 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-021-00899-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Autism is a highly heritable complex disorder in which de novo mutation (DNM) variation contributes significantly to risk. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 3,474 families, we investigate another source of large-effect risk variation, ultra-rare variants. We report and replicate a transmission disequilibrium of private, likely gene-disruptive (LGD) variants in probands but find that 95% of this burden resides outside of known DNM-enriched genes. This variant class more strongly affects multiplex family probands and supports a multi-hit model for autism. Candidate genes with private LGD variants preferentially transmitted to probands converge on the E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase complex, intracellular transport and Erb signaling protein networks. We estimate that these variants are approximately 2.5 generations old and significantly younger than other variants of similar type and frequency in siblings. Overall, private LGD variants are under strong purifying selection and appear to act on a distinct set of genes not yet associated with autism.
Collapse
|
181
|
Trost B, Loureiro LO, Scherer SW. Discovery of genomic variation across a generation. Hum Mol Genet 2021; 30:R174-R186. [PMID: 34296264 PMCID: PMC8490016 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddab209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the past 30 years (the timespan of a generation), advances in genomics technologies have revealed tremendous and unexpected variation in the human genome and have provided increasingly accurate answers to long-standing questions of how much genetic variation exists in human populations and to what degree the DNA complement changes between parents and offspring. Tracking the characteristics of these inherited and spontaneous (or de novo) variations has been the basis of the study of human genetic disease. From genome-wide microarray and next-generation sequencing scans, we now know that each human genome contains over 3 million single nucleotide variants when compared with the ~ 3 billion base pairs in the human reference genome, along with roughly an order of magnitude more DNA—approximately 30 megabase pairs (Mb)—being ‘structurally variable’, mostly in the form of indels and copy number changes. Additional large-scale variations include balanced inversions (average of 18 Mb) and complex, difficult-to-resolve alterations. Collectively, ~1% of an individual’s genome will differ from the human reference sequence. When comparing across a generation, fewer than 100 new genetic variants are typically detected in the euchromatic portion of a child’s genome. Driven by increasingly higher-resolution and higher-throughput sequencing technologies, newer and more accurate databases of genetic variation (for instance, more comprehensive structural variation data and phasing of combinations of variants along chromosomes) of worldwide populations will emerge to underpin the next era of discovery in human molecular genetics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brett Trost
- The Centre for Applied Genomics and Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Livia O Loureiro
- The Centre for Applied Genomics and Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Stephen W Scherer
- The Centre for Applied Genomics and Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.,McLaughlin Centre and Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
182
|
Biological implications of genetic variations in autism spectrum disorders from genomics studies. Biosci Rep 2021; 41:229227. [PMID: 34240107 PMCID: PMC8298259 DOI: 10.1042/bsr20210593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition characterized by atypical social interaction and communication together with repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. The prevalence of ASD has been increased these years. Compelling evidence has shown that genetic factors contribute largely to the development of ASD. However, knowledge about its genetic etiology and pathogenesis is limited. Broad applications of genomics studies have revealed the importance of gene mutations at protein-coding regions as well as the interrupted non-coding regions in the development of ASD. In this review, we summarize the current evidence for the known molecular genetic basis and possible pathological mechanisms as well as the risk genes and loci of ASD. Functional studies for the underlying mechanisms are also implicated. The understanding of the genetics and genomics of ASD is important for the genetic diagnosis and intervention for this condition.
Collapse
|
183
|
Chu C, Wu H, Xu F, Ray JW, Britt A, Robinson SS, Lupo PJ, Murphy CRC, Dreyer CF, Lee PDK, Hu PC, Dong J. Phenotypes Associated with 16p11.2 Copy Number Gains and Losses at a Single Institution. Lab Med 2021; 51:642-648. [PMID: 32537635 DOI: 10.1093/labmed/lmaa026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Chromosome 16p11.2 is one of the susceptible sites for recurrent copy number variations (CNVs) due to flanking near-identical segmental duplications. Five segmental duplications, named breakpoints 1 to 5 (BP1-BP5), have been defined as recombination hotspots within 16p11.2. Common CNVs on 16p11.2 include a proximal ~593 kb between BP4 and BP5, and a distal ~220 kb between BP2 and BP3. We performed a search for patients carrying 16p11.2 CNVs, as detected using chromosome microarray (CMA), in the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), in Galveston. From March 2013 through April 2018, a total of 1200 CMA results were generated for germline testing, and 14 patients tested positive for 16p11.2 CNVs, of whom 7 had proximal deletion, 2 had distal deletion, 4 had proximal duplication, and 1 had distal duplication. Herein, we provide detailed phenotype data for these patients. Our study results show that developmental delay, abnormal body weight, behavioral problems, and hypotonia are common phenotypes associated with 16p11.2 CNVs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Caleb Chu
- School of Health Professions, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Haotian Wu
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Fangling Xu
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Joseph W Ray
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Allison Britt
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Sally S Robinson
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Pamela J Lupo
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | | | - Charles F Dreyer
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Phillip D K Lee
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| | - Peter C Hu
- School of Health Professions, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Jianli Dong
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
| |
Collapse
|
184
|
Chattopadhyay A, Teoh ZH, Wu CY, Juang JMJ, Lai LC, Tsai MH, Wu CH, Lu TP, Chuang EY. CNVIntegrate: the first multi-ethnic database for identifying copy number variations associated with cancer. DATABASE-THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL DATABASES AND CURATION 2021; 2021:6321046. [PMID: 34259866 PMCID: PMC8278790 DOI: 10.1093/database/baab044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Revised: 05/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Human copy number variations (CNVs) and copy number alterations (CNAs) are DNA segments (>1000 base pairs) of duplications or deletions with respect to the reference genome, potentially causing genomic imbalance leading to diseases such as cancer. CNVs further cause genetic diversity in healthy populations and are predominant drivers of gene/genome evolution. Initiatives have been taken by the research community to establish large-scale databases to comprehensively characterize CNVs in humans. Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) is one such endeavor that catalogs CNVs, of nearly 60 000 healthy individuals across five demographic clusters. Furthermore, large projects such as the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) and the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) combine CNA data from cancer-affected individuals and large panels of human cancer cell lines, respectively. However, we lack a structured and comprehensive CNV/CNA resource including both healthy individuals and cancer patients across large populations. CNVIntegrate is the first web-based system that hosts CNV and CNA data from both healthy populations and cancer patients, respectively, and concomitantly provides statistical comparisons between copy number frequencies of multiple ethnic populations. It further includes, for the first time, well-cataloged CNV and CNA data from Taiwanese healthy individuals and Taiwan Breast Cancer data, respectively, along with imported resources from ExAC, COSMIC and CCLE. CNVIntegrate offers a CNV/CNA-data hub for structured information retrieval for clinicians and scientists towards important drug discoveries and precision treatments. Database URL: http://cnvintegrate.cgm.ntu.edu.tw/.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amrita Chattopadhyay
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Center of Genomic and Precision Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan
| | - Zi Han Teoh
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Chi-Yun Wu
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Jyh-Ming Jimmy Juang
- Cardiovascular Center and Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10008, Taiwan.,College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
| | - Liang-Chuan Lai
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Center of Genomic and Precision Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.,Graduate Institute of Physiology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
| | - Mong-Hsun Tsai
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Center of Genomic and Precision Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.,Institute of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10672, Taiwan.,Center for Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10672, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Hsin Wu
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Pin Lu
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Center of Genomic and Precision Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.,Department of Public Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan
| | - Eric Y Chuang
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Center of Genomic and Precision Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.,Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.,Master Program for Biomedical Engineering, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
| |
Collapse
|
185
|
Padhi EM, Hayeck TJ, Cheng Z, Chatterjee S, Mannion BJ, Byrska-Bishop M, Willems M, Pinson L, Redon S, Benech C, Uguen K, Audebert-Bellanger S, Le Marechal C, Férec C, Efthymiou S, Rahman F, Maqbool S, Maroofian R, Houlden H, Musunuri R, Narzisi G, Abhyankar A, Hunter RD, Akiyama J, Fries LE, Ng JK, Mehinovic E, Stong N, Allen AS, Dickel DE, Bernier RA, Gorkin DU, Pennacchio LA, Zody MC, Turner TN. Coding and noncoding variants in EBF3 are involved in HADDS and simplex autism. Hum Genomics 2021; 15:44. [PMID: 34256850 PMCID: PMC8278787 DOI: 10.1186/s40246-021-00342-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous research in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) has indicated an important contribution of protein-coding (coding) de novo variants (DNVs) within specific genes. The role of de novo noncoding variation has been observable as a general increase in genetic burden but has yet to be resolved to individual functional elements. In this study, we assessed whole-genome sequencing data in 2671 families with autism (discovery cohort of 516 families, replication cohort of 2155 families). We focused on DNVs in enhancers with characterized in vivo activity in the brain and identified an excess of DNVs in an enhancer named hs737. RESULTS We adapted the fitDNM statistical model to work in noncoding regions and tested enhancers for excess of DNVs in families with autism. We found only one enhancer (hs737) with nominal significance in the discovery (p = 0.0172), replication (p = 2.5 × 10-3), and combined dataset (p = 1.1 × 10-4). Each individual with a DNV in hs737 had shared phenotypes including being male, intact cognitive function, and hypotonia or motor delay. Our in vitro assessment of the DNVs showed they all reduce enhancer activity in a neuronal cell line. By epigenomic analyses, we found that hs737 is brain-specific and targets the transcription factor gene EBF3 in human fetal brain. EBF3 is genome-wide significant for coding DNVs in NDDs (missense p = 8.12 × 10-35, loss-of-function p = 2.26 × 10-13) and is widely expressed in the body. Through characterization of promoters bound by EBF3 in neuronal cells, we saw enrichment for binding to NDD genes (p = 7.43 × 10-6, OR = 1.87) involved in gene regulation. Individuals with coding DNVs have greater phenotypic severity (hypotonia, ataxia, and delayed development syndrome [HADDS]) in comparison to individuals with noncoding DNVs that have autism and hypotonia. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we identify DNVs in the hs737 enhancer in individuals with autism. Through multiple approaches, we find hs737 targets the gene EBF3 that is genome-wide significant in NDDs. By assessment of noncoding variation and the genes they affect, we are beginning to understand their impact on gene regulatory networks in NDDs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Evin M Padhi
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8232, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Tristan J Hayeck
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Zhang Cheng
- Center for Epigenomics, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Sumantra Chatterjee
- Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - Brandon J Mannion
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | | | - Marjolaine Willems
- University of Montpellier, département de Génétique, maladies rares médecine personnalisée, U 1298, CHU Montpellier, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Lucile Pinson
- University of Montpellier, département de Génétique, maladies rares médecine personnalisée, U 1298, CHU Montpellier, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Sylvia Redon
- CHU Brest, Inserm, Univ Brest, EFS,UMR 1078, GGB, F-29200, Brest, France
| | - Caroline Benech
- CHU Brest, Inserm, Univ Brest, EFS,UMR 1078, GGB, F-29200, Brest, France
| | - Kevin Uguen
- CHU Brest, Inserm, Univ Brest, EFS,UMR 1078, GGB, F-29200, Brest, France
| | | | - Cédric Le Marechal
- CHU Brest, Inserm, Univ Brest, EFS,UMR 1078, GGB, F-29200, Brest, France
| | - Claude Férec
- CHU Brest, Inserm, Univ Brest, EFS,UMR 1078, GGB, F-29200, Brest, France
| | - Stephanie Efthymiou
- Department of Neuromuscular Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Fatima Rahman
- Development and Behavioral Pediatrics Department, Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Shazia Maqbool
- Department of Neuromuscular Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
- Development and Behavioral Pediatrics Department, Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Reza Maroofian
- Department of Neuromuscular Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Henry Houlden
- Department of Neuromuscular Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | | | | | | | - Riana D Hunter
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jennifer Akiyama
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Lauren E Fries
- Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - Jeffrey K Ng
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8232, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Elvisa Mehinovic
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8232, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Nick Stong
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Andrew S Allen
- Center for Statistical Genetics and Genomics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
- Division of Integrative Genomics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Diane E Dickel
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Raphael A Bernier
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - David U Gorkin
- Center for Epigenomics, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - Len A Pennacchio
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, 94598, USA
| | | | - Tychele N Turner
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8232, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
186
|
A white paper on a neurodevelopmental framework for drug discovery in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2021; 48:49-88. [PMID: 33781629 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2021.02.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
In the last decade there has been a revolution in terms of genetic findings in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), with many discoveries critical for understanding their aetiology and pathophysiology. Clinical trials in single-gene disorders such as fragile X syndrome highlight the challenges of investigating new drug targets in NDDs. Incorporating a developmental perspective into the process of drug development for NDDs could help to overcome some of the current difficulties in identifying and testing new treatments. This paper provides a summary of the proceedings of the 'New Frontiers Meeting' on neurodevelopmental disorders organised by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology in conjunction with the Innovative Medicines Initiative-sponsored AIMS-2-TRIALS consortium. It brought together experts in developmental genetics, autism, NDDs, and clinical trials from academia and industry, regulators, patient and family associations, and other stakeholders. The meeting sought to provide a platform for focused communication on scientific insights, challenges, and methodologies that might be applicable to the development of CNS treatments from a neurodevelopmental perspective. Multidisciplinary translational consortia to develop basic and clinical research in parallel could be pivotal to advance knowledge in the field. Although implementation of clinical trials for NDDs in paediatric populations is widely acknowledged as essential, safety concerns should guide each aspect of their design. Industry and academia should join forces to improve knowledge of the biology of brain development, identify the optimal timing of interventions, and translate these findings into new drugs, allowing for the needs of users and families, with support from regulatory agencies.
Collapse
|
187
|
McCracken JT, Anagnostou E, Arango C, Dawson G, Farchione T, Mantua V, McPartland J, Murphy D, Pandina G, Veenstra-VanderWeele J. Drug development for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Progress, challenges, and future directions. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2021; 48:3-31. [PMID: 34158222 PMCID: PMC10062405 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2021.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
In 2017, facing lack of progress and failures encountered in targeted drug development for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders, the ISCTM with the ECNP created the ASD Working Group charged to identify barriers to progress and recommending research strategies for the field to gain traction. Working Group international academic, regulatory and industry representatives held multiple in-person meetings, teleconferences, and subgroup communications to gather a wide range of perspectives on lessons learned from extant studies, current challenges, and paths for fundamental advances in ASD therapeutics. This overview delineates the barriers identified, and outlines major goals for next generation biomedical intervention development in ASD. Current challenges for ASD research are many: heterogeneity, lack of validated biomarkers, need for improved endpoints, prioritizing molecular targets, comorbidities, and more. The Working Group emphasized cautious but unwavering optimism for therapeutic progress for ASD core features given advances in the basic neuroscience of ASD and related disorders. Leveraging genetic data, intermediate phenotypes, digital phenotyping, big database discovery, refined endpoints, and earlier intervention, the prospects for breakthrough treatments are substantial. Recommendations include new priorities for expanded research funding to overcome challenges in translational clinical ASD therapeutic research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James T McCracken
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States.
| | | | - Celso Arango
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Univesitario Gregorio Maranon, and School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain
| | - Geraldine Dawson
- Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
| | - Tiffany Farchione
- Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
| | - Valentina Mantua
- Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
| | | | - Declan Murphy
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom
| | - Gahan Pandina
- Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, Janssen Research & Development, Pennington, New Jersey, United States
| | | |
Collapse
|
188
|
Liu G, Zhang J. A Cluster-Based Approach for the Discovery of Copy Number Variations From Next-Generation Sequencing Data. Front Genet 2021; 12:699510. [PMID: 34262604 PMCID: PMC8273656 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.699510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The next-generation sequencing technology offers a wealth of data resources for the detection of copy number variations (CNVs) at a high resolution. However, it is still challenging to correctly detect CNVs of different lengths. It is necessary to develop new CNV detection tools to meet this demand. In this work, we propose a new CNV detection method, called CBCNV, for the detection of CNVs of different lengths from whole genome sequencing data. CBCNV uses a clustering algorithm to divide the read depth segment profile, and assigns an abnormal score to each read depth segment. Based on the abnormal score profile, Tukey's fences method is adopted in CBCNV to forecast CNVs. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on simulated data sets, and is compared with those of several existing methods. The experimental results prove that the performance of CBCNV is better than those of several existing methods. The proposed method is further tested and verified on real data sets, and the experimental results are found to be consistent with the simulation results. Therefore, the proposed method can be expected to become a routine tool in the analysis of CNVs from tumor-normal matched samples.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Junying Zhang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, China
| |
Collapse
|
189
|
Fyke W, Premoli M, Echeverry Alzate V, López-Moreno JA, Lemaire-Mayo V, Crusio WE, Marsicano G, Wöhr M, Pietropaolo S. Communication and social interaction in the cannabinoid-type 1 receptor null mouse: Implications for autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2021; 14:1854-1872. [PMID: 34173729 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Clinical and preclinical findings have suggested a role of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the etiopathology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous mouse studies have investigated the role of ECS in several behavioral domains; however, none of them has performed an extensive assessment of social and communication behaviors, that is, the main core features of ASD. This study employed a mouse line lacking the primary endocannabinoid receptor (CB1r) and characterized ultrasonic communication and social interaction in CB1-/- , CB1+/- , and CB1+/+ males and females. Quantitative and qualitative alterations in ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) were observed in CB1 null mice both during early development (i.e., between postnatal days 4 and 10), and at adulthood (i.e., at 3 months of age). Adult mutants also showed marked deficits in social interest in the three-chamber test and social investigation in the direct social interaction test. These behavioral alterations were mostly observed in both sexes and appeared more marked in CB1-/- than CB1+/- mutant mice. Importantly, the adult USV alterations could not be attributed to differences in anxiety or sensorimotor abilities, as assessed by the elevated plus maze and auditory startle tests. Our findings demonstrate the role of CB1r in social communication and behavior, supporting the use of the CB1 full knockout mouse in preclinical research on these ASD-relevant core domains. LAY SUMMARY: The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is important for brain development and neural function and is therefore likely to be involved in neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here we investigated changes in social behavior and communication, which are core features of ASD, in male and female mice lacking the chief receptor of this system. Our results show that loss of this receptor results in several changes in social behavior and communication both during early development and in adulthood, thus supporting the role of the ECS in these ASD-core behavioral domains.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William Fyke
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, EPHE, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France.,Graduate Program in Neural and Behavioral Science, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
| | - Marika Premoli
- Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Victor Echeverry Alzate
- Department of Psychobiology and Methodology on Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, Madrid Complutense University, Spain.,Unidad Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Malaga University, Spain
| | - José A López-Moreno
- Department of Psychobiology and Methodology on Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, Madrid Complutense University, Spain
| | | | - Wim E Crusio
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, EPHE, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France
| | - Giovanni Marsicano
- University of Bordeaux, INSERM, U862 NeuroCentre Magendie, Group Endocannabinoids and Neuroadaptation, Bordeaux, France
| | - Markus Wöhr
- KU Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Unit Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Biological Psychology, Social and Affective Neuroscience Research Group, Leuven, Belgium.,KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven, Belgium.,Faculty of Psychology, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.,Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
190
|
Arnett AB, Wang T, Eichler EE, Bernier RA. Reflections on the genetics-first approach to advancements in molecular genetic and neurobiological research on neurodevelopmental disorders. J Neurodev Disord 2021; 13:24. [PMID: 34148555 PMCID: PMC8215789 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-021-09371-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID), are common diagnoses with highly heterogeneous phenotypes and etiology. The genetics-first approach to research on NDDs has led to the identification of hundreds of genes conferring risk for ASD, ID, and related symptoms. MAIN BODY Although relatively few individuals with NDDs share likely gene-disruptive (LGD) mutations in the same gene, characterization of overlapping functions, protein networks, and temporospatial expression patterns among these genes has led to increased understanding of the neurobiological etiology of NDDs. This shift in focus away from single genes and toward broader gene-brain-behavior pathways has been accelerated by the development of publicly available transcriptomic databases, cell type-specific research methods, and sequencing of non-coding genomic regions. CONCLUSIONS The genetics-first approach to research on NDDs has advanced the identification of critical protein function pathways and temporospatial expression patterns, expanding the impact of this research beyond individuals with single-gene mutations to the broader population of patients with NDDs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anne B Arnett
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD, Box 357920, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Tianyun Wang
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Evan E Eichler
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Raphael A Bernier
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, CHDD, Box 357920, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| |
Collapse
|
191
|
Choi L, An JY. Genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorder: Lessons from large-scale genomic studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 128:244-257. [PMID: 34166716 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 06/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a strong genetic component. Recently developed genomic technologies, including microarray and next-generation sequencing (NGS), have enabled researchers to genetic analyses aimed at identifying genetic variations associated with ASD and to elucidate the genetic architecture of the disorder. Large-scale microarray, exome sequencing analyses, and robust statistical methods have resulted in successful gene discovery and identification of high-confidence ASD genes from among de novo and inherited variants. Efforts have been made to understand the genetic architecture of ASD using whole-genome sequencing and genome-wide association studies aimed at identifying noncoding mutations and common variants associated with ASD. In addition, the development of systems biology approaches has resulted in the integration of genetic findings with functional genomic datasets, thereby providing a unique insight into the functional convergence of ASD risk genes and their neurobiology. In this review, we summarize the latest findings of ASD genetic studies involving large cohorts and discuss their implications in ASD neurobiology and in clinical practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leejee Choi
- School of Biosystem and Biomedical Science, College of Health Science, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea; Department of Integrated Biomedical and Life Science, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Joon-Yong An
- School of Biosystem and Biomedical Science, College of Health Science, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea; Department of Integrated Biomedical and Life Science, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea; Transdisciplinary Major in Learning Health Systems, Department of Healthcare Sciences, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea; BK21FOUR R&E Center for Learning Health Systems, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea.
| |
Collapse
|
192
|
Freitag CM, Chiocchetti AG, Haslinger D, Yousaf A, Waltes R. [Genetic risk factors and their influence on neural development in autism spectrum disorders]. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR KINDER-UND JUGENDPSYCHIATRIE UND PSYCHOTHERAPIE 2021; 50:187-202. [PMID: 34128703 DOI: 10.1024/1422-4917/a000803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Genetic risk factors and their influence on neural development in autism spectrum disorders Abstract. Abstract. Autism spectrum disorders are etiologically based on genetic and specific gene x biologically relevant environmental risk factors. They are diagnosed based on behavioral characteristics, such as impaired social communication and stereotyped, repetitive behavior and sensory as well as special interests. The genetic background is heterogeneous, i. e., it comprises diverse genetic risk factors across the disorder and high interindividual differences of specific genetic risk factors. Nevertheless, risk factors converge regarding underlying biological mechanisms and shared pathways, which likely cause the autism-specific behavioral characteristics. The current selective literature review summarizes differential genetic risk factors and focuses particularly on mechanisms and pathways currently being discussed by international research. In conclusion, clinically relevant aspects and open translational research questions are presented.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christine M Freitag
- Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
| | - Andreas G Chiocchetti
- Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
| | - Denise Haslinger
- Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
| | - Afsheen Yousaf
- Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
| | - Regina Waltes
- Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
| |
Collapse
|
193
|
Mosley TJ, Johnston HR, Cutler DJ, Zwick ME, Mulle JG. Sex-specific recombination patterns predict parent of origin for recurrent genomic disorders. BMC Med Genomics 2021; 14:154. [PMID: 34107974 PMCID: PMC8190997 DOI: 10.1186/s12920-021-00999-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Structural rearrangements of the genome, which generally occur during meiosis and result in large-scale (> 1 kb) copy number variants (CNV; deletions or duplications ≥ 1 kb), underlie genomic disorders. Recurrent pathogenic CNVs harbor similar breakpoints in multiple unrelated individuals and are primarily formed via non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR). Several pathogenic NAHR-mediated recurrent CNV loci demonstrate biases for parental origin of de novo CNVs. However, the mechanism underlying these biases is not well understood. METHODS We performed a systematic, comprehensive literature search to curate parent of origin data for multiple pathogenic CNV loci. Using a regression framework, we assessed the relationship between parental CNV origin and the male to female recombination rate ratio. RESULTS We demonstrate significant association between sex-specific differences in meiotic recombination and parental origin biases at these loci (p = 1.07 × 10-14). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that parental origin of CNVs is largely influenced by sex-specific recombination rates and highlight the need to consider these differences when investigating mechanisms that cause structural variation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Trenell J Mosley
- Graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Laney Graduate School, Emory University, 201 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael Street, Whitehead Building Suite 300, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - H Richard Johnston
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael Street, Whitehead Building Suite 300, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
- Emory Integrated Computational Core, Emory University, 101 Woodruff Circle, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - David J Cutler
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael Street, Whitehead Building Suite 300, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - Michael E Zwick
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael Street, Whitehead Building Suite 300, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, 2015 Uppergate Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - Jennifer G Mulle
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael Street, Whitehead Building Suite 300, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
- Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
194
|
Guo M, Li S, Zhou Y, Li M, Wen Z. Comparative Analysis for the Performance of Long-Read-Based Structural Variation Detection Pipelines in Tandem Repeat Regions. Front Pharmacol 2021; 12:658072. [PMID: 34163355 PMCID: PMC8215501 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2021.658072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
There has been growing recognition of the vital links between structural variations (SVs) and diverse diseases. Research suggests that, with much longer DNA fragments and abundant contextual information, long-read technologies have advantages in SV detection even in complex repetitive regions. So far, several pipelines for calling SVs from long-read sequencing data have been proposed and used in human genome research. However, the performance of these pipelines is still lack of deep exploration and adequate comparison. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated the performance of three commonly used long-read SV detection pipelines, namely PBSV, Sniffles and PBHoney, especially the performance on detecting the SVs in tandem repeat regions (TRRs). Evaluated by using a robust benchmark for germline SV detection as the gold standard, we thoroughly estimated the precision, recall and F1 score of insertions and deletions detected by the pipelines. Our results revealed that all these pipelines clearly exhibited better performance outside TRRs than that in TRRs. The F1 scores of Sniffles in and outside TRRs were 0.60 and 0.76, respectively. The performance of PBSV was similar to that of Sniffles, and was generally higher than that of PBHoney. In conclusion, our findings can be benefit for choosing the appropriate pipelines in real practice and are good complementary to the application of long-read sequencing technologies in the research of rare diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mingkun Guo
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shihai Li
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yifan Zhou
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Menglong Li
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Zhining Wen
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.,Medical Big Data Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| |
Collapse
|
195
|
Giovanniello J, Ahrens S, Yu K, Li B. Sex-Specific Stress-Related Behavioral Phenotypes and Central Amygdala Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of 16p11.2 Microdeletion. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 1:59-69. [PMID: 36324434 PMCID: PMC9616311 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Revised: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Substantial evidence indicates that a microdeletion on human chromosome 16p11.2 is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Carriers of this deletion show divergent symptoms besides the core features of autism spectrum disorder, such as anxiety and emotional symptoms. The neural mechanisms underlying these symptoms are poorly understood. Methods We used mice heterozygous for a deletion allele of the genomic region corresponding to the human 16p11.2 microdeletion locus (i.e., 16p11.2 del/+ mice) and their sex-matched wild-type littermates for the study and examined their anxiety-related behaviors, auditory perception, and central amygdala circuit function using behavioral, circuit tracing, and electrophysiological techniques. Results Mice heterozygous for a deletion allele of the genomic region corresponding to the human 16p11.2 microdeletion locus (i.e., 16p11.2 del/+ mice) had sex-specific anxiety-related behavioral and neural circuit changes. Specifically, we found that female, but not male, 16p11.2 del/+ mice showed enhanced fear generalization-a hallmark of anxiety disorders-after auditory fear conditioning and displayed increased anxiety-like behaviors after physical restraint stress. Notably, such sex-specific behavioral changes were paralleled by an increase in activity in central amygdala neurons projecting to the globus pallidus in female, but not male, 16p11.2 del/+ mice. Conclusions Together, these results reveal female-specific anxiety phenotypes related to 16p11.2 microdeletion syndrome and a potential underlying neural circuit mechanism. Our study therefore identifies previously underappreciated sex-specific behavioral and neural changes in a genetic model of 16p11.2 microdeletion syndrome and highlights the importance of investigating female-specific aspects of this syndrome for targeted treatment strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Giovanniello
- School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
| | - Sandra Ahrens
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
| | - Kai Yu
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
| | - Bo Li
- School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
| |
Collapse
|
196
|
Chung WK, Roberts TP, Sherr EH, Snyder LG, Spiro JE. 16p11.2 deletion syndrome. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2021; 68:49-56. [PMID: 33667823 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2021.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 01/09/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The 16p11.2 BP4 and BP5 region, is a recurrent ∼600kb copy number variant (CNV), and deletions are one of the most frequent etiologies of neurodevelopmental disorders and autism spectrum disorder with an incidence of approximately 1/2000. Deletion carriers have delays in early neurodevelopment that most specifically impair speech, phonology and language in 70%. Intelligence quotient is shifted 1.8 standard deviations lower than family controls without the deletion. Other common neurobehavioral conditions include motor coordination difficulties (60%) and autism (20-25%). Unprovoked seizures are common (24%) and readily treated and resolve with age in many. Obesity evolves throughout childhood and by adulthood 75% are obese. Congenital anomalies are more common than the general population. The deletion is associated with an increase in brain volumes across all areas of the brain, changes in the white matter microstructural properties, and early electrophysiological cortical responses from auditory cortex. Studies of genetically defined conditions, particularly CNVs that are not associated with profound disabilities, provide homogeneity to study genetic impact on brain development, structure, and function to better understand complex neurobehavioral phenotypes such as autism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wendy K Chung
- Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, Simons Foundation, New York, NY, United States.
| | - Timothy Pl Roberts
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Dept. of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
| | - Elliott H Sherr
- Department of Neurology, Weill Institute of Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, United States
| | | | - John E Spiro
- Simons Foundation, 160 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, United States
| |
Collapse
|
197
|
Maury EA, Walsh CA. Somatic copy number variants in neuropsychiatric disorders. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2021; 68:9-17. [PMID: 33444936 PMCID: PMC8205940 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2020.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 12/19/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Copy number variants (CNVs) have been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, with rare-inherited and de novo CNVs (dnCNVs) having large effects on disease liability. Recent studies started exploring a class of dnCNVs that occur post-zygotically, and are therefore present in some but not all cells of the body. Analogous to conditional mutations in animal models, the presence of risk mutations in a fraction of cells has the potential to enlighten how damaging mutations affect cell-type/cell-circuit specific pathologies leading to neuropsychiatric manifestations. Although mosaic CNVs appear to contribute to a modest fraction of risk (0.3-0.5%), expanding our insights about them with more sensitive experimental and statistical methods, has the potential to help clarify mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo A Maury
- Division of Genetics and Genomics, Manton Center for Orphan Disease, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Bioinformatics & Integrative Genomics Program and Harvard/MIT MD-PHD Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Christopher A Walsh
- Division of Genetics and Genomics, Manton Center for Orphan Disease, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
198
|
Sakamoto Y, Shimoyama S, Furukawa T, Adachi M, Takahashi M, Mikami T, Kuribayashi M, Osato A, Tsushima D, Saito M, Ueno S, Nakamura K. Copy number variations in Japanese children with autism spectrum disorder. Psychiatr Genet 2021; 31:79-87. [PMID: 33591083 PMCID: PMC8115735 DOI: 10.1097/ypg.0000000000000276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occurs worldwide, most genomic studies on ASD were performed on those of Western ancestry. We hypothesized ASD-related copy number variations (CNVs) of Japanese individuals might be different from those of Western individuals. METHODS Subjects were recruited from the Hirosaki 5-year-old children's developmental health check-up (HFC) between 2013 and 2016 (ASD group; n = 68, control group; n = 124). This study conducted CNV analysis using genomic DNA from peripheral blood of 5-year-old Japanese children. Fisher's exact test was applied for profiling subjects and CNV loci. RESULTS Four ASD-related CNVs: deletion at 12p11.1, duplications at 4q13.2, 8p23.1 and 18q12.3 were detected (P = 0.015, 0.024, 0.009, 0.004, respectively). Specifically, the odds ratio of duplication at 18q12.3 was highest among the 4 CNVs (odds ratio, 8.13). CONCLUSIONS Four CNVs: microdeletion at 12p11.1, microduplications at 4q13.2, 8p23.1 and 18q12.3 were detected as ASD-related CNVs in Japanese children in this study. Although these CNVs were consistent with several reports by Western countries at cytoband levels, these did not consistent at detailed genomic positions and sizes. Our data indicate the possibility that these CNVs are characteristic of Japanese children with ASD. We conclude that Japanese individuals with ASD may harbor CNVs different from those of Western individuals with ASD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Masaki Adachi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
| | - Michio Takahashi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
| | | | - Michito Kuribayashi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
| | | | | | - Manabu Saito
- Departments of Neuropsychiatry
- Research Center for Child Mental Development
| | - Shinya Ueno
- Neurophysiology
- Research Center for Child Mental Development
| | - Kazuhiko Nakamura
- Departments of Neuropsychiatry
- Research Center for Child Mental Development
| |
Collapse
|
199
|
Su C, Argenziano M, Lu S, Pippin JA, Pahl MC, Leonard ME, Cousminer DL, Johnson ME, Lasconi C, Wells AD, Chesi A, Grant SFA. 3D promoter architecture re-organization during iPSC-derived neuronal cell differentiation implicates target genes for neurodevelopmental disorders. Prog Neurobiol 2021; 201:102000. [PMID: 33545232 PMCID: PMC8096691 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2021.102000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Neurodevelopmental disorders are thought to arise from interrupted development of the brain at an early age. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of loci associated with susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders; however, which noncoding variants regulate which genes at these loci is often unclear. To implicate neuronal GWAS effector genes, we performed an integrated analysis of transcriptomics, epigenomics and chromatin conformation changes during the development from Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) into neurons using a combination of high-resolution promoter-focused Capture-C, ATAC-seq and RNA-seq. We observed that gene expression changes during the NPC-to-neuron transition were highly dependent on both promoter accessibility changes and long-range interactions which connect distal cis-regulatory elements (enhancer or silencers) to developmental-stage-specific genes. These genome-scale promoter-cis-regulatory-element atlases implicated 454 neurodevelopmental disorder-associated, putative causal variants mapping to 600 distal targets. These putative effector genes were significantly enriched for pathways involved in the regulation of neuronal development and chromatin organization, with 27 % expressed in a stage-specific manner. The intersection of open chromatin and chromatin conformation revealed development-stage-specific gene regulatory architectures during neuronal differentiation, providing a rich resource to aid characterization of the genetic and developmental basis of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chun Su
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Mariana Argenziano
- Heart Institute, University of South Florida, 560 Channelside Dr, Tampa FL 33602, United States
| | - Sumei Lu
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - James A Pippin
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Matthew C Pahl
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Michelle E Leonard
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Diana L Cousminer
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Matthew E Johnson
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Chiara Lasconi
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Andrew D Wells
- Department of Pathology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Alessandra Chesi
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Struan F A Grant
- Division of Human Genetics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| |
Collapse
|
200
|
Cross-platform validation of neurotransmitter release impairments in schizophrenia patient-derived NRXN1-mutant neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2025598118. [PMID: 34035170 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025598118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Heterozygous NRXN1 deletions constitute the most prevalent currently known single-gene mutation associated with schizophrenia, and additionally predispose to multiple other neurodevelopmental disorders. Engineered heterozygous NRXN1 deletions impaired neurotransmitter release in human neurons, suggesting a synaptic pathophysiological mechanism. Utilizing this observation for drug discovery, however, requires confidence in its robustness and validity. Here, we describe a multicenter effort to test the generality of this pivotal observation, using independent analyses at two laboratories of patient-derived and newly engineered human neurons with heterozygous NRXN1 deletions. Using neurons transdifferentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells that were derived from schizophrenia patients carrying heterozygous NRXN1 deletions, we observed the same synaptic impairment as in engineered NRXN1-deficient neurons. This impairment manifested as a large decrease in spontaneous synaptic events, in evoked synaptic responses, and in synaptic paired-pulse depression. Nrxn1-deficient mouse neurons generated from embryonic stem cells by the same method as human neurons did not exhibit impaired neurotransmitter release, suggesting a human-specific phenotype. Human NRXN1 deletions produced a reproducible increase in the levels of CASK, an intracellular NRXN1-binding protein, and were associated with characteristic gene-expression changes. Thus, heterozygous NRXN1 deletions robustly impair synaptic function in human neurons regardless of genetic background, enabling future drug discovery efforts.
Collapse
|