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Regev O, Shil A, Bronshtein T, Hadar A, Meiri G, Zigdon D, Michaelovski A, Hershkovitz R, Menashe I. Association between rare, genetic variants linked to autism and ultrasonography fetal anomalies in children with autism spectrum disorder. J Neurodev Disord 2024; 16:55. [PMID: 39350038 PMCID: PMC11443733 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-024-09573-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2024] [Indexed: 10/04/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent evidence suggests that certain fetal anomalies detected upon prenatal ultrasound screenings are associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to identify genetic variants associated with fetal ultrasound anomalies (UFAs) in children with ASD. METHODS The study included all children with ASD who are registered in the database of the Azrieli National Center of Autism and Neurodevelopment and for whom both prenatal ultrasound and whole exome sequencing (WES) data were available. We applied our in-house integrative bioinformatics pipeline, AutScore, to these WES data to prioritize rare, gene-disrupting variants (GDVs) probably contributing to ASD susceptibily. Univariate statistics and multivariable regression were used to assess the associations between UFAs and GDVs identified in these children. RESULTS The study sample comprised 126 children, of whom 43 (34.1%) had at least one UFA detected in the prenatal ultrasound scan. A total of 87 candidate ASD genetic variants were detected in 60 children, with 24 (40%) children carrying multiple variants. Children with UFAs were more likely to have loss-of-function (LoF) mutations (aOR = 2.55, 95%CI: 1.13-5.80). This association was particularly noticeable when children with structural anomalies or children with UFAs in their head and brain scans were compared to children without UFAs (any mutation: aOR = 8.28, 95%CI: 2.29-30.01; LoF: aOR = 5.72, 95%CI: 2.08-15.71 and any mutation: aOR = 6.39, 95%CI: 1.34-30.47; LoF: aOR = 4.50, 95%CI: 1.32-15.35, respectively). GDVs associated with UFAs were enriched in genes highly expressed across all tissues (aOR = 2.76, 95%CI: 1.14-6.68). There was a weak, but significant, correlation between the number of mutations and the number of abnormalities detected in the same children (r = 0.21, P = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS The results provide valuable insights into the potential genetic basis of prenatal organogenesis abnormalities associated with ASD and shed light on the complex interplay between genetic factors and fetal development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ohad Regev
- Joyce & Irving Goldman Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Apurba Shil
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Tal Bronshtein
- Joyce & Irving Goldman Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Amnon Hadar
- Clalit Health Services, Beer-Sheva, Israel
- Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Gal Meiri
- Preschool Psychiatric Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
- Azrieli National Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Dikla Zigdon
- Preschool Psychiatric Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
- Azrieli National Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Analya Michaelovski
- Azrieli National Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
- Child Development Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Reli Hershkovitz
- Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Idan Menashe
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
- Azrieli National Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
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Hakizimana O, Hitayezu J, Uyisenga JP, Onohuean H, Palmeira L, Bours V, Alagbonsi AI, Uwineza A. Genetic etiology of autism spectrum disorder in the African population: a scoping review. Front Genet 2024; 15:1431093. [PMID: 39391062 PMCID: PMC11464363 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1431093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2024] [Accepted: 08/28/2024] [Indexed: 10/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) characterized by significant impairments in social, communicative, and behavioral abilities. However, only a limited number of studies address the genetic basis of ASD in the African population. This study aims to document the genes associated with ASD in Africa and the techniques used to identify them. Additionally, genes identified elsewhere but not yet in Africa are also noted. Methods Online databases such as Wiley Online Library, PubMed, and Africa Journal Online were used. The review was conducted using the keyword related to genetic and genomic ASD study in the African population. Result In this scoping review, 40 genetic studies on ASD in Africa were reviewed. The Egyptian and South African populations were the most studied, with 25 and 5 studies, respectively. Countries with fewer studies included Tunisia (4), East African countries (3), Libya (1), Nigeria (1), and Morocco (1). Some 61 genes responsible for ASD were identified in the African population: 26 were identified using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method, 22 were identified using sequencing technologies, and 12 genes and one de novo chromosomal aberration were identified through other techniques. No African study identified any ASD gene with genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Notably, at least 20 ASD risk genes reported in non-African countries were yet to be confirmed in Africa's population. Conclusion There are insufficient genetic studies on ASD in the African population, with sample size being a major limitation in most genetic association studies, leading to inconclusive results. Thus, there is a need to conduct more studies with large sample sizes to identify other genes associated with ASD in Africa's population using high-throughput sequencing technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Hakizimana
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
- Center for Human Genetics, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sart-Tilman, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
| | - Janvier Hitayezu
- Department of Pediatrics, University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Jeanne P. Uyisenga
- Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Hope Onohuean
- Biopharmaceutics Unit, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Kampala International University, Bushenyi, Uganda
| | - Leonor Palmeira
- Center for Human Genetics, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sart-Tilman, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
| | - Vincent Bours
- Center for Human Genetics, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sart-Tilman, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
| | - Abdullateef Isiaka Alagbonsi
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Annette Uwineza
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
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Anitha A, Banerjee M, Thanseem I, Prakash A, Melempatt N, Sumitha PS, Iype M, Thomas SV. Rare Pathogenic Variants Identified in Whole Exome Sequencing of Monozygotic Twins With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Pediatr Neurol 2024; 158:113-123. [PMID: 39038432 DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2024.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Revised: 05/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a childhood-onset complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by problems with communication and social interaction and restricted, repetitive, stereotyped behavior. The prevalence of ASD is one in 36 children. The genetic architecture of ASD is complex in spite of its high heritability. To identify the potential candidate genes of ASD, we carried out a comprehensive genetic study of monozygotic (MZ) twins concordant or discordant for ASD. METHODS Five MZ twins and their parents were recruited for the study. Four of the twins were concordant, whereas one was discordant for ASD. Whole exome sequencing was conducted for the twins and their parents. The exome DNA was enriched using Twist Human Customized Core Exome Kit, and paired-end sequencing was performed on HiSeq system. RESULTS We identified several rare and pathogenic variants (homozygous recessive, compound heterozygous, de novo) in ASD-affected individuals. CONCLUSION We report novel variants in individuals diagnosed with ASD. Several of these genes are involved in brain-related functions and not previously reported in ASD. Intriguingly, some of the variants were observed in the genes involved in sensory perception (auditory [MYO15A, PLEC, CDH23, UBR3, GPSM2], olfactory [OR9K2], gustatory [TAS2R31], and visual [CDH23, UBR3]). This is the first comprehensive genetic study of MZ twins in an Indian population. Further validation is required to determine whether these variants are associated with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayyappan Anitha
- Department of Neurogenetics, Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCONS), Palakkad, Kerala, India.
| | - Moinak Banerjee
- Department of Neurobiology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Ismail Thanseem
- Department of Neurogenetics, Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCONS), Palakkad, Kerala, India
| | - Anil Prakash
- Department of Neurobiology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Nisha Melempatt
- Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology (ASLP), ICCONS, Palakkad, Kerala, India
| | - P S Sumitha
- Department of Neurogenetics, Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCONS), Palakkad, Kerala, India
| | - Mary Iype
- Department of Neurology, ICCONS, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India; Department of Neurology, ICCONS, Shoranur, Kerala, India; Department of Pediatric Neurology, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Sanjeev V Thomas
- Department of Neurology, ICCONS, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India; Department of Neurology, ICCONS, Shoranur, Kerala, India
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Tuñon-Ortiz A, Tränkner D, Brockway SN, Raines O, Mahnke A, Grega M, Zelikowsky M, Williams ME. Inhibitory neurons marked by a connectivity molecule regulate memory precision. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.05.602304. [PMID: 39005261 PMCID: PMC11245094 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.05.602304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
The CA3 region is central to hippocampal function during learning and memory and has a unique connectivity. CA3 pyramidal neurons are the targets of huge, excitatory mossy fiber synapses from DG axons and have a high degree of excitatory recurrent connectivity. Thus, inhibition likely plays an outsized importance in constraining excitation and shaping CA3 ensembles during learning and memory. Here, we investigate the function of a never-before studied set of dendrite-targeting, GABAergic neurons defined by expression of the synaptic adhesion molecule, Kirrel3. We discovered that activating Kirrel3-expressing GABAergic neurons specifically impairs memory discrimination and inhibits CA3 pyramidal neurons in novel contexts. Kirrel3 is required for DG-to-GABA synapse formation and variants in Kirrel3 are strong risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders. Thus, our work suggests that Kirrel3-GABA neurons are a critical source of feed-forward inhibition from DG to CA3 during the encoding and retrieval of contextual memories, a function which may be specifically disrupted in some brain disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnulfo Tuñon-Ortiz
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Dimitri Tränkner
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Sarah N Brockway
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Olivia Raines
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Abbey Mahnke
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Matthew Grega
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Moriel Zelikowsky
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
| | - Megan E Williams
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
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Hong JS, Tindall JM, Tindall SR, Sorscher EJ. Mutation accumulation in H. sapiens F508del CFTR countermands dN/dS type genomic analysis. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0305832. [PMID: 39024311 PMCID: PMC11257350 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2024] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms that underlie de novo mutations (DNMs) can be essential for interpreting human evolution, including aspects such as rapidly diverging genes, conservation of non-coding regulatory elements, and somatic DNA adaptation, among others. DNM accumulation in Homo sapiens is often limited to evaluation of human trios or quads across a single generation. Moreover, human SNPs in exons, pseudogenes, or other non-coding elements can be ancient and difficult to date, including polymorphisms attributable to founder effects and identity by descent. In this report, we describe multigenerational evolution of a human coding locus devoid of natural selection, and delineate patterns and principles by which DNMs have accumulated over the past few thousand years. We apply a data set comprising cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) alleles from 2,393 individuals homozygous for the F508del defect. Additional polymorphism on the F508del background diversified subsequent to a single mutational event during recent human history. Because F508del CFTR is without function, SNPs observed on this haplotype are effectively attributable to factors that govern accumulating de novo mutations. We show profound enhancement of transition, synonymous, and positionally repetitive polymorphisms, indicating appearance of DNMs in a manner evolutionarily designed to protect protein coding DNA against mutational attrition while promoting diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeong S. Hong
- Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Janice M. Tindall
- Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Samuel R. Tindall
- Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Eric J. Sorscher
- Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
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6
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Wertenbroek R, Hofmeister RJ, Xenarios I, Thoma Y, Delaneau O. Improving population scale statistical phasing with whole-genome sequencing data. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011092. [PMID: 38959269 PMCID: PMC11251608 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 07/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Haplotype estimation, or phasing, has gained significant traction in large-scale projects due to its valuable contributions to population genetics, variant analysis, and the creation of reference panels for imputation and phasing of new samples. To scale with the growing number of samples, haplotype estimation methods designed for population scale rely on highly optimized statistical models to phase genotype data, and usually ignore read-level information. Statistical methods excel in resolving common variants, however, they still struggle at rare variants due to the lack of statistical information. In this study we introduce SAPPHIRE, a new method that leverages whole-genome sequencing data to enhance the precision of haplotype calls produced by statistical phasing. SAPPHIRE achieves this by refining haplotype estimates through the realignment of sequencing reads, particularly targeting low-confidence phase calls. Our findings demonstrate that SAPPHIRE significantly enhances the accuracy of haplotypes obtained from state of the art methods and also provides the subset of phase calls that are validated by sequencing reads. Finally, we show that our method scales to large data sets by its successful application to the extensive 3.6 Petabytes of sequencing data of the last UK Biobank 200,031 sample release.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rick Wertenbroek
- University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- School of Engineering and Management Vaud (HEIG-VD), HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Yverdon-les-Bains, Vaud, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Yann Thoma
- School of Engineering and Management Vaud (HEIG-VD), HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Yverdon-les-Bains, Vaud, Switzerland
| | - Olivier Delaneau
- Regeneron Genetics Center, Tarrytown, New York, United States of America
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Nautiyal H, Jaiswar A, Jha PK, Dwivedi S. Exploring key genes and pathways associated with sex differences in autism spectrum disorder: integrated bioinformatic analysis. Mamm Genome 2024; 35:280-295. [PMID: 38594551 DOI: 10.1007/s00335-024-10036-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogenous neurodevelopmental disorder marked by functional abnormalities in brain that causes social and linguistic difficulties. The incidence of ASD is more prevalent in males compared to females, but the underlying mechanism, as well as molecular indications for identifying sex-specific differences in ASD symptoms remain unknown. Thus, impacting the development of personalized strategy towards pharmacotherapy of ASD. The current study employs an integrated bioinformatic approach to investigate the genes and pathways uniquely associated with sex specific differences in autistic individuals. Based on microarray dataset (GSE6575) extracted from the gene expression omnibus, the dysregulated genes between the autistic and the neurotypical individuals for both sexes were identified. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed to ascertain biological activities linked to the dysregulated genes. Protein-protein interaction network analysis was carried out to identify hub genes. The identified hub genes were examined to determine their functions and involvement in the associated pathways using Enrichr. Additionally, hub genes were validated from autism-associated databases and the potential small molecules targeting the hub genes were identified. The present study utilized whole blood transcriptomic gene expression analysis data and identified 2211 and 958 differentially expressed unique genes in males and females respectively. The functional enrichment analysis revealed that male hub genes were functionally associated with RNA polymerase II mediated transcriptional regulation whereas female hub genes were involved in intracellular signal transduction and cell migration. The top male hub genes exhibited functional enrichment in tyrosine kinase signalling pathway. The pathway enrichment analysis of male hub genes indicates the enrichment of papillomavirus infection. Female hub genes were enriched in androgen receptor signalling pathway and functionally enriched in focal adhesion specific excision repair. Identified drug like candidates targeting these genes may serve as a potential sex specific therapeutics. Wortmannin for males, 5-Fluorouracil for females had the highest scores. Targeted and sex-specific pharmacotherapies may be created for the management of ASD. The current investigation identifies sex-specific molecular signatures derived from whole blood which may serve as a potential peripheral sex-specific biomarkers for ASD. The study also uncovers the possible pharmacological interventions against the selected genes/pathway, providing support in development of therapeutic strategies to mitigate ASD. However, experimental proofs on biological systems are warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Himani Nautiyal
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Health Sciences and Technology, UPES, Dehradun, 248001, India
| | - Akanksha Jaiswar
- Laboratory of Human Disease Multiomics, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Prabhash Kumar Jha
- Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Shubham Dwivedi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Health Sciences and Technology, UPES, Dehradun, 248001, India.
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Plyler ZE, McAtee CW, Hill AE, Crowley MR, Tindall JM, Tindall SR, Joshi D, Sorscher EJ. Relationships between genomic dissipation and de novo SNP evolution. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0303257. [PMID: 38753830 PMCID: PMC11098520 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Patterns of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eukaryotic DNA are traditionally attributed to selective pressure, drift, identity descent, or related factors-without accounting for ways in which bias during de novo SNP formation, itself, might contribute. A functional and phenotypic analysis based on evolutionary resilience of DNA points to decreased numbers of non-synonymous SNPs in human and other genomes, with a predominant component of SNP depletion in the human gene pool caused by robust preferences during de novo SNP formation (rather than selective constraint). Ramifications of these findings are broad, belie a number of concepts regarding human evolution, and point to a novel interpretation of evolving DNA across diverse species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zackery E. Plyler
- Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
- Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Christopher W. McAtee
- Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
- Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Aubrey E. Hill
- Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Michael R. Crowley
- Department of Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | | | | | - Disha Joshi
- Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
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Zhang Y, Ahsan MU, Wang K. Noncoding de novo mutations in SCN2A are associated with autism spectrum disorders. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.05.05.24306908. [PMID: 38766206 PMCID: PMC11100849 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.05.24306908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Coding de novo mutations (DNMs) contribute to the risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but the contribution of noncoding DNMs remains relatively unexplored. Here we use whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of 12,411 individuals (including 3,508 probands and 2,218 unaffected siblings) from 3,357 families collected in Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) to detect DNMs associated with ASD, while examining Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) with 6383 individuals from 2274 families to replicate the results. For coding DNMs, SCN2A reached exome-wide significance (p=2.06×10-11) in SPARK. The 618 known dominant ASD genes as a group are strongly enriched for coding DNMs in cases than sibling controls (fold change=1.51, p =1.13×10-5 for SPARK; fold change=1.86, p =2.06×10-9 for SSC). For noncoding DNMs, we used two methods to assess statistical significance: a point-based test that analyzes sites with a Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion (CADD) score ≥15, and a segment-based test that analyzes 1kb genomic segments with segment-specific background mutation rates (inferred from expected rare mutations in Gnocchi genome constraint scores). The point-based test identified SCN2A as marginally significant (p=6.12×10-4) in SPARK, yet segment-based test identified CSMD1, RBFOX1 and CHD13 as exome-wide significant. We did not identify significant enrichment of noncoding DNMs (in all 1kb segments or those with Gnocchi>4) in the 618 known ASD genes as a group in cases than sibling controls. When combining evidence from both coding and noncoding DNMs, we found that SCN2A with 11 coding and 5 noncoding DNMs exhibited the strongest significance (p=4.15×10-13). In summary, we identified both coding and noncoding DNMs in SCN2A associated with ASD, while nominating additional candidates for further examination in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Zhang
- Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Mian Umair Ahsan
- Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Kai Wang
- Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Shen Y, Shi K, Li D, Wang Q, Wu K, Feng C. Prognostic analysis of mutated genes and insight into effects of DNA damage and repair on mutational strand asymmetries in gastric cancer. Biochem Biophys Rep 2024; 37:101597. [PMID: 38371526 PMCID: PMC10873876 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2023.101597] [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: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 11/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 02/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Gastric cancer (GACA) is a complex and multifaceted disease influenced by a variety of environmental and genetic factors. Somatic mutations play a major role in its development, and their characteristics, including the asymmetry between two DNA strands, are of great interest and appear as a signal of information and guidance, revealing mechanisms of DNA damage and repair. Here, we analyzed the impact of High-frequency mutated genes on patient prognosis and found that the effect of expression levels of tumor protein p53 (TP53) and lysine methyltransferase 2C (KMT2C) genes remained high throughout the development of GACA, with similar expression patterns. After investigating mutation asymmetry across mutagenic processes, we found that transcriptional asymmetry was dominated by T > G mutations under the influence of transcription couples repair and damage. The apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide like (APOBEC) enzyme that induces mutations during DNA replication has been identified here and we identified a replicative asymmetry, which was dominated by C > A mutations in left-replicating. Strand bias in different mutation classes at transcription factor binding sites and enhancer regions were also confirmed, which implies the important role of non-coding regulatory elements in the occurrence of mutations. This work systematically describes mutational strand asymmetries in specific genomic regions, shedding light on the DNA damage and repair mechanisms underlying somatic mutations in cohorts of GACA patients with gastric cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yangyang Shen
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
- Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agriculture Science, Nanjing, China
| | - Kai Shi
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Dongfeng Li
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Qiang Wang
- Department of Urology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Kangkang Wu
- Department of Infectious Disease, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chungang Feng
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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Ma JY, Xia TJ, Li S, Yin S, Luo SM, Li G. Germline cell de novo mutations and potential effects of inflammation on germline cell genome stability. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2024; 154:316-327. [PMID: 36376195 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2022] [Revised: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Uncontrolled pathogenic genome mutations in germline cells might impair adult fertility, lead to birth defects or even affect the adaptability of a species. Understanding the sources of DNA damage, as well as the features of damage response in germline cells are the overarching tasks to reduce the mutations in germline cells. With the accumulation of human genome data and genetic reports, genome variants formed in germline cells are being extensively explored. However, the sources of DNA damage, the damage repair mechanisms, and the effects of DNA damage or mutations on the development of germline cells are still unclear. Besides exogenous triggers of DNA damage such as irradiation and genotoxic chemicals, endogenous exposure to inflammation may also contribute to the genome instability of germline cells. In this review, we summarized the features of de novo mutations and the specific DNA damage responses in germline cells and explored the possible roles of inflammation on the genome stability of germline cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun-Yu Ma
- Fertility Preservation Lab, Guangdong-Hong Kong Metabolism & Reproduction Joint Laboratory, Reproductive Medicine Center, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Tian-Jin Xia
- Fertility Preservation Lab, Guangdong-Hong Kong Metabolism & Reproduction Joint Laboratory, Reproductive Medicine Center, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China; College of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
| | - Shuai Li
- Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Methodology, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shen Yin
- College of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
| | - Shi-Ming Luo
- Fertility Preservation Lab, Guangdong-Hong Kong Metabolism & Reproduction Joint Laboratory, Reproductive Medicine Center, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Guowei Li
- Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Methodology, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
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12
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Ng JK, Chen Y, Akinwe TM, Heins HB, Mehinovic E, Chang Y, Payne ZL, Manuel JG, Karchin R, Turner TN. Proteome-Wide Assessment of Clustering of Missense Variants in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Versus Cancer. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.02.02.24302238. [PMID: 38352539 PMCID: PMC10863034 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.02.24302238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/19/2024]
Abstract
Missense de novo variants (DNVs) and missense somatic variants contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) and cancer, respectively. Proteins with statistical enrichment based on analyses of these variants exhibit convergence in the differing NDD and cancer phenotypes. Herein, the question of why some of the same proteins are identified in both phenotypes is examined through investigation of clustering of missense variation at the protein level. Our hypothesis is that missense variation is present in different protein locations in the two phenotypes leading to the distinct phenotypic outcomes. We tested this hypothesis in 1D protein space using our software CLUMP. Furthermore, we newly developed 3D-CLUMP that uses 3D protein structures to spatially test clustering of missense variation for proteome-wide significance. We examined missense DNVs in 39,883 parent-child sequenced trios with NDDs and missense somatic variants from 10,543 sequenced tumors covering five TCGA cancer types and two COSMIC pan-cancer aggregates of tissue types. There were 57 proteins with proteome-wide significant missense variation clustering in NDDs when compared to cancers and 79 proteins with proteome-wide significant missense clustering in cancers compared to NDDs. While our main objective was to identify differences in patterns of missense variation, we also identified a novel NDD protein BLTP2. Overall, our study is innovative, provides new insights into differential missense variation in NDDs and cancer at the protein-level, and contributes necessary information toward building a framework for thinking about prognostic and therapeutic aspects of these proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey K. Ng
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Yilin Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Titilope M. Akinwe
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
- Molecular Genetics & Genomics Graduate Program, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Hillary B. Heins
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Elvisa Mehinovic
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Yoonhoo Chang
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
- Human & Statistical Genetics Graduate Program, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Zachary L. Payne
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
- Molecular Genetics & Genomics Graduate Program, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Juana G. Manuel
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Rachel Karchin
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Institute for Computational Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Tychele N. Turner
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
- Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
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13
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Bar O, Vahey E, Mintz M, Frye RE, Boles RG. Reanalysis of Trio Whole-Genome Sequencing Data Doubles the Yield in Autism Spectrum Disorder: De Novo Variants Present in Half. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:1192. [PMID: 38256266 PMCID: PMC10816071 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25021192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2023] [Revised: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common condition with lifelong implications. The last decade has seen dramatic improvements in DNA sequencing and related bioinformatics and databases. We analyzed the raw DNA sequencing files on the Variantyx® bioinformatics platform for the last 50 ASD patients evaluated with trio whole-genome sequencing (trio-WGS). "Qualified" variants were defined as coding, rare, and evolutionarily conserved. Primary Diagnostic Variants (PDV), additionally, were present in genes directly linked to ASD and matched clinical correlation. A PDV was identified in 34/50 (68%) of cases, including 25 (50%) cases with heterozygous de novo and 10 (20%) with inherited variants. De novo variants in genes directly associated with ASD were far more likely to be Qualifying than non-Qualifying versus a control group of genes (p = 0.0002), validating that most are indeed disease related. Sequence reanalysis increased diagnostic yield from 28% to 68%, mostly through inclusion of de novo PDVs in genes not yet reported as ASD associated. Thirty-three subjects (66%) had treatment recommendation(s) based on DNA analyses. Our results demonstrate a high yield of trio-WGS for revealing molecular diagnoses in ASD, which is greatly enhanced by reanalyzing DNA sequencing files. In contrast to previous reports, de novo variants dominate the findings, mostly representing novel conditions. This has implications to the cause and rising prevalence of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omri Bar
- NeurAbilities Healthcare, Voorhees, NJ 08043, USA; (O.B.); (E.V.); (M.M.)
| | - Elizabeth Vahey
- NeurAbilities Healthcare, Voorhees, NJ 08043, USA; (O.B.); (E.V.); (M.M.)
| | - Mark Mintz
- NeurAbilities Healthcare, Voorhees, NJ 08043, USA; (O.B.); (E.V.); (M.M.)
| | - Richard E. Frye
- Autism Discovery and Treatment Foundation, Phoenix, AZ 85050, USA;
| | - Richard G. Boles
- NeurAbilities Healthcare, Voorhees, NJ 08043, USA; (O.B.); (E.V.); (M.M.)
- NeuroNeeds, Old Lyme, CT 06371, USA
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14
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Ng JK, Turner TN. HAT: de novo variant calling for highly accurate short-read and long-read sequencing data. Bioinformatics 2024; 40:btad775. [PMID: 38175776 PMCID: PMC10777354 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btad775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION de novo variants (DNVs) are variants that are present in offspring but not in their parents. DNVs are both important for examining mutation rates as well as in the identification of disease-related variation. While efforts have been made to call DNVs, calling of DNVs is still challenging from parent-child sequenced trio data. We developed Hare And Tortoise (HAT) as an automated DNV detection workflow for highly accurate short-read and long-read sequencing data. Reliable detection of DNVs is important for human genomics and HAT addresses this need. RESULTS HAT is a computational workflow that begins with aligned read data (i.e. CRAM or BAM) from a parent-child sequenced trio and outputs DNVs. HAT detects high-quality DNVs from Illumina short-read whole-exome sequencing, Illumina short-read whole-genome sequencing, and highly accurate PacBio HiFi long-read whole-genome sequencing data. The quality of these DNVs is high based on a series of quality metrics including number of DNVs per individual, percent of DNVs at CpG sites, and percent of DNVs phased to the paternal chromosome of origin. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION https://github.com/TNTurnerLab/HAT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey K Ng
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Tychele N Turner
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA
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李 丹, 王 洪, 王 秋. [Splicing mutations of GSDME cause late-onset non-syndromic hearing loss]. LIN CHUANG ER BI YAN HOU TOU JING WAI KE ZA ZHI = JOURNAL OF CLINICAL OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY, HEAD, AND NECK SURGERY 2024; 38:30-37. [PMID: 38297846 PMCID: PMC11116152 DOI: 10.13201/j.issn.2096-7993.2024.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Objective:To dentify the genetic and audiological characteristics of families affected by late-onset hearing loss due to GSDMEgene mutations, aiming to explore clinical characteristics and pathogenic mechanisms for providing genetic counseling and intervention guidance. Methods:Six families with late-onset hearing loss from the Chinese Deafness Genome Project were included. Audiological tests, including pure-tone audiometry, acoustic immittance, speech recognition scores, auditory brainstem response, and distortion product otoacoustic emission, were applied to evaluate the hearing levels of patients. Combining with medical history and physical examination to analyze the phenotypic differences between the probands and their family members. Next-generation sequencing was used to identify pathogenic genes in probands, and validations were performed on their relatives by Sanger sequencing. Pathogenicity analysis was performed according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Guidelines. Meanwhile, the pathogenic mechanisms of GSDME-related hearing loss were explored combining with domestic and international research progress. Results:Among the six families with late-onset hearing loss, a total of 30 individuals performed hearing loss. The onset of hearing loss in these families ranged from 10 to 50 years(mean age: 27.88±9.74 years). In the study, four splicing mutations of the GSDME were identified, including two novel variants: c. 991-7C>G and c. 1183+1G>T. Significantly, the c. 991-7C>G was a de novo variant. The others were previously reported variants: c. 991-1G>C and c. 991-15_991-13del, the latter was identified in three families. Genotype-phenotype correlation analysis revealed that probands with the c. 991-7C>G and c. 1183+1G>T performed a predominantly high-frequency hearing loss. The three families carrying the same mutation exhibited varying degrees of hearing loss, with an annual rate of hearing deterioration exceeding 0.94 dB HL/year. Furthermore, follow-up of interventions showed that four of six probands received intervention(66.67%), but the results of intervention varied. Conclusion:The study analyzed six families with late-onset non-syndromic hearing loss linked to GSDME mutations, identifying four splicing variants. Notably, c. 991-7C>G is the first reported de novo variant of GSDME globally. Audiological analysis revealed that the age of onset generally exceeded 10 years,with variable effectiveness of interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- 丹阳 李
- 中国人民解放军总医院第六医学中心耳鼻咽喉头颈外科医学部耳鼻咽喉内科解放军医学院(北京,100853)Department of Audiology and Vestibular Medicine, College of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China
- 南开大学医学院Nankai University School of Medicine
- 国家耳鼻咽喉疾病临床医学研究中心National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases
| | - 洪阳 王
- 中国人民解放军总医院第六医学中心耳鼻咽喉头颈外科医学部耳鼻咽喉内科解放军医学院(北京,100853)Department of Audiology and Vestibular Medicine, College of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China
- 国家耳鼻咽喉疾病临床医学研究中心National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases
| | - 秋菊 王
- 中国人民解放军总医院第六医学中心耳鼻咽喉头颈外科医学部耳鼻咽喉内科解放军医学院(北京,100853)Department of Audiology and Vestibular Medicine, College of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China
- 南开大学医学院Nankai University School of Medicine
- 国家耳鼻咽喉疾病临床医学研究中心National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases
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16
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Zolzaya S, Narumoto A, Katsuyama Y. Genomic variation in neurons. Dev Growth Differ 2024; 66:35-42. [PMID: 37855730 DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2023] [Revised: 10/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
Neurons born during the fetal period have extreme longevity and survive until the death of the individual because the human brain has highly limited tissue regeneration. The brain is comprised of an enormous variety of neurons each exhibiting different morphological and physiological characteristics and recent studies have further reported variations in their genome including chromosomal abnormalities, copy number variations, and single nucleotide mutations. During the early stages of brain development, the increasing number of neurons generated at high speeds has been proposed to lead to chromosomal instability. Additionally, mutations in the neuronal genome can occur in the mature brain. This observed genomic mosaicism in the brain can be produced by multiple endogenous and environmental factors and careful analyses of these observed variations in the neuronal genome remain central for our understanding of the genetic basis of neurological disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunjidmaa Zolzaya
- Division of Neuroanatomy, Department of Anatomy, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan
| | - Ayano Narumoto
- Division of Neuroanatomy, Department of Anatomy, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan
| | - Yu Katsuyama
- Division of Neuroanatomy, Department of Anatomy, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan
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17
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Wang S, Wang B, Drury V, Drake S, Sun N, Alkhairo H, Arbelaez J, Duhn C, Bal VH, Langley K, Martin J, Hoekstra PJ, Dietrich A, Xing J, Heiman GA, Tischfield JA, Fernandez TV, Owen MJ, O'Donovan MC, Thapar A, State MW, Willsey AJ. Rare X-linked variants carry predominantly male risk in autism, Tourette syndrome, and ADHD. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8077. [PMID: 38057346 PMCID: PMC10700338 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43776-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Tourette syndrome (TS), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display strong male sex bias, due to a combination of genetic and biological factors, as well as selective ascertainment. While the hemizygous nature of chromosome X (Chr X) in males has long been postulated as a key point of "male vulnerability", rare genetic variation on this chromosome has not been systematically characterized in large-scale whole exome sequencing studies of "idiopathic" ASD, TS, and ADHD. Here, we take advantage of informative recombinations in simplex ASD families to pinpoint risk-enriched regions on Chr X, within which rare maternally-inherited damaging variants carry substantial risk in males with ASD. We then apply a modified transmission disequilibrium test to 13,052 ASD probands and identify a novel high confidence ASD risk gene at exome-wide significance (MAGEC3). Finally, we observe that rare damaging variants within these risk regions carry similar effect sizes in males with TS or ADHD, further clarifying genetic mechanisms underlying male vulnerability in multiple neurodevelopmental disorders that can be exploited for systematic gene discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng Wang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Belinda Wang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Vanessa Drury
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Sam Drake
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Nawei Sun
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Hasan Alkhairo
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Juan Arbelaez
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Clif Duhn
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Vanessa H Bal
- Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Kate Langley
- Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - Joanna Martin
- Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - Pieter J Hoekstra
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Accare Child Study Center, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea Dietrich
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Accare Child Study Center, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jinchuan Xing
- Department of Genetics and the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Gary A Heiman
- Department of Genetics and the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Jay A Tischfield
- Department of Genetics and the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Thomas V Fernandez
- Yale Child Study Center and Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Michael J Owen
- Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - Michael C O'Donovan
- Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - Anita Thapar
- Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | - Matthew W State
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - A Jeremy Willsey
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
- Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
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18
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Turner TN. Acorn: an R package for de novo variant analysis. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:330. [PMID: 37660114 PMCID: PMC10475174 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05457-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The study of de novo variation is important for assessing biological characteristics of new variation and for studies related to human phenotypes. Software programs exist to call de novo variants and programs also exist to test the burden of these variants in genomic regions; however, I am unaware of a program that fits in between these two aspects of de novo variant assessment. This intermediate space is important for assessing the quality of de novo variants and to understand the characteristics of the callsets. For this reason, I developed an R package called acorn. RESULTS Acorn is an R package that examines various features of de novo variants including subsetting the data by individual(s), variant type, or genomic region; calculating features including variant change counts, variant lengths, and presence/absence at CpG sites; and characteristics of parental age in relation to de novo variant counts. CONCLUSIONS Acorn is an R package that fills a critical gap in assessing de novo variants and will be of benefit to many investigators studying de novo variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tychele N Turner
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8232, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
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19
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Lee YL, Bouwman AC, Harland C, Bosse M, Costa Monteiro Moreira G, Veerkamp RF, Mullaart E, Cambisano N, Groenen MAM, Karim L, Coppieters W, Georges M, Charlier C. The rate of de novo structural variation is increased in in vitro-produced offspring and preferentially affects the paternal genome. Genome Res 2023; 33:1455-1464. [PMID: 37793781 PMCID: PMC10620045 DOI: 10.1101/gr.277884.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), including in vitro maturation and fertilization (IVF), are increasingly used in human and animal reproduction. Whether these technologies directly affect the rate of de novo mutation (DNM), and to what extent, has been a matter of debate. Here we take advantage of domestic cattle, characterized by complex pedigrees that are ideally suited to detect DNMs and by the systematic use of ART, to study the rate of de novo structural variation (dnSV) in this species and how it is impacted by IVF. By exploiting features of associated de novo point mutations (dnPMs) and dnSVs in clustered DNMs, we provide strong evidence that (1) IVF increases the rate of dnSV approximately fivefold, and (2) the corresponding mutations occur during the very early stages of embryonic development (one- and two-cell stage), yet primarily affect the paternal genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Young-Lim Lee
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium;
- Wageningen University and Research, Animal Breeding, and Genomics, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Aniek C Bouwman
- Wageningen University and Research, Animal Breeding, and Genomics, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Chad Harland
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
- Livestock Improvement Corporation, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Mirte Bosse
- Wageningen University and Research, Animal Breeding, and Genomics, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Roel F Veerkamp
- Wageningen University and Research, Animal Breeding, and Genomics, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Nadine Cambisano
- GIGA Genomics Platform, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Martien A M Groenen
- Wageningen University and Research, Animal Breeding, and Genomics, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Latifa Karim
- GIGA Genomics Platform, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Wouter Coppieters
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
- GIGA Genomics Platform, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Michel Georges
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium;
| | - Carole Charlier
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium;
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20
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Querzani A, Sirchia F, Rustioni G, Rossi A, Orsini A, Marseglia GL, Savasta S, Chiapparini L, Foiadelli T. KIRREL3-related disorders: a case report confirming the radiological features and expanding the clinical spectrum to a less severe phenotype. Ital J Pediatr 2023; 49:99. [PMID: 37605258 PMCID: PMC10441694 DOI: 10.1186/s13052-023-01488-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neurodevelopmental disorders have a multifactorial etiology, since biological, genetic, psychosocial and environmental risk factors are involved. Recent studies have been linking neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disability with a variety of genes, some of which encoding neuronal cell-adhesion molecules. Among these, KIRREL3 is known to play a role in CNS development, and his variants have recently been related to intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, cerebellar hypoplasia and mild dysmorphic features. CASE PRESENTATION In this study, we describe a young Caucasian boy with mild intellectual disability, cerebellar anomalies (cerebellar hypoplasia and mega cisterna magna) and minor dysmorphic features associated to a novel KIRREL3 variant. CONCLUSIONS Aim of the present case report is to expand the clinical spectrum of KIRREL3-related diseases towards a milder phenotype than what is already described in the literature. We speculate that the interaction between KIRREL3 and CASK might play a major role in promoting cognitive and cerebellar development, contributing to a variety of clinical manifestations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Querzani
- Pediatric Clinic, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, PV, Italy
| | - Fabio Sirchia
- Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, 27100, Italy.
- Medical Genetics Unit, IRCCS San Matteo Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
| | - Gianluca Rustioni
- Pediatric Clinic, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, PV, Italy
| | - Alessandra Rossi
- Pediatric Clinic, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, PV, Italy
| | - Alessandro Orsini
- Pediatric Neurology, University Hospital of Pisa, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana, Pisa, 56126, Italy
| | | | - Salvatore Savasta
- Pediatric Clinic and Rare Diseases, P.O. Pediatrico Microcitemico "A. Cao", Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, CA, Italy
| | - Luisa Chiapparini
- Department of Neuroradiology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, PV, Italy
| | - Thomas Foiadelli
- Pediatric Clinic, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, PV, Italy
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21
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Liu Z, Samee M. Structural underpinnings of mutation rate variations in the human genome. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:7184-7197. [PMID: 37395403 PMCID: PMC10415140 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Single nucleotide mutation rates have critical implications for human evolution and genetic diseases. Importantly, the rates vary substantially across the genome and the principles underlying such variations remain poorly understood. A recent model explained much of this variation by considering higher-order nucleotide interactions in the 7-mer sequence context around mutated nucleotides. This model's success implicates a connection between DNA shape and mutation rates. DNA shape, i.e. structural properties like helical twist and tilt, is known to capture interactions between nucleotides within a local context. Thus, we hypothesized that changes in DNA shape features at and around mutated positions can explain mutation rate variations in the human genome. Indeed, DNA shape-based models of mutation rates showed similar or improved performance over current nucleotide sequence-based models. These models accurately characterized mutation hotspots in the human genome and revealed the shape features whose interactions underlie mutation rate variations. DNA shape also impacts mutation rates within putative functional regions like transcription factor binding sites where we find a strong association between DNA shape and position-specific mutation rates. This work demonstrates the structural underpinnings of nucleotide mutations in the human genome and lays the groundwork for future models of genetic variations to incorporate DNA shape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zian Liu
- Department of Integrative Physiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Md Abul Hassan Samee
- Department of Integrative Physiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
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22
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Baker BH, Zhang S, Simon JM, McLarnan SM, Chung WK, Pearson BL. Environmental carcinogens disproportionally mutate genes implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1106573. [PMID: 37599994 PMCID: PMC10435087 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1106573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction De novo mutations contribute to a large proportion of sporadic psychiatric and developmental disorders, yet the potential role of environmental carcinogens as drivers of causal de novo mutations in neurodevelopmental disorders is poorly studied. Methods To explore environmental mutation vulnerability of disease-associated gene sets, we analyzed publicly available whole genome sequencing datasets of mutations in human induced pluripotent stem cell clonal lines exposed to 12 classes of environmental carcinogens, and human lung cancers from individuals living in highly polluted regions. We compared observed rates of exposure-induced mutations in disease-related gene sets with the expected rates of mutations based on control genes randomly sampled from the genome using exact binomial tests. To explore the role of sequence characteristics in mutation vulnerability, we modeled the effects of sequence length, gene expression, and percent GC content on mutation rates of entire genes and gene coding sequences using multivariate Quasi-Poisson regressions. Results We demonstrate that several mutagens, including radiation and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, disproportionately mutate genes related to neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Other disease genes including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, congenital heart disease, orofacial clefts, and coronary artery disease were generally not mutated more than expected. Longer sequence length was more strongly associated with elevated mutations in entire genes compared with mutations in coding sequences. Increased expression was associated with decreased coding sequence mutation rate, but not with the mutability of entire genes. Increased GC content was associated with increased coding sequence mutation rates but decreased mutation rates in entire genes. Discussion Our findings support the possibility that neurodevelopmental disorder genetic etiology is partially driven by a contribution of environment-induced germ line and somatic mutations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brennan H. Baker
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Shaoyi Zhang
- Master of Public Health Program, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Jeremy M. Simon
- Department of Genetics and Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Sarah M. McLarnan
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Wendy K. Chung
- Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Brandon L. Pearson
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
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23
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Cirnigliaro M, Chang TS, Arteaga SA, Pérez-Cano L, Ruzzo EK, Gordon A, Bicks LK, Jung JY, Lowe JK, Wall DP, Geschwind DH. The contributions of rare inherited and polygenic risk to ASD in multiplex families. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2215632120. [PMID: 37506195 PMCID: PMC10400943 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2215632120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a complex genetic architecture involving contributions from both de novo and inherited variation. Few studies have been designed to address the role of rare inherited variation or its interaction with common polygenic risk in ASD. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of the largest cohort of multiplex families to date, consisting of 4,551 individuals in 1,004 families having two or more autistic children. Using this study design, we identify seven previously unrecognized ASD risk genes supported by a majority of rare inherited variants, finding support for a total of 74 genes in our cohort and a total of 152 genes after combined analysis with other studies. Autistic children from multiplex families demonstrate an increased burden of rare inherited protein-truncating variants in known ASD risk genes. We also find that ASD polygenic score (PGS) is overtransmitted from nonautistic parents to autistic children who also harbor rare inherited variants, consistent with combinatorial effects in the offspring, which may explain the reduced penetrance of these rare variants in parents. We also observe that in addition to social dysfunction, language delay is associated with ASD PGS overtransmission. These results are consistent with an additive complex genetic risk architecture of ASD involving rare and common variation and further suggest that language delay is a core biological feature of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matilde Cirnigliaro
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Timothy S. Chang
- Movement Disorders Program, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Stephanie A. Arteaga
- Program in Neurogenetics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Laura Pérez-Cano
- STALICLA Discovery and Data Science Unit, World Trade Center, Barcelona08039, Spain
| | - Elizabeth K. Ruzzo
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
- Center for Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Aaron Gordon
- Program in Neurogenetics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Lucy K. Bicks
- Program in Neurogenetics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Jae-Yoon Jung
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Systems Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94304
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
| | - Jennifer K. Lowe
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
- Center for Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Dennis P. Wall
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Systems Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94304
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
| | - Daniel H. Geschwind
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
- Movement Disorders Program, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
- Center for Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
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24
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Morton BR. Context and Mutation in Gymnosperm Chloroplast DNA. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:1492. [PMID: 37510396 PMCID: PMC10378972 DOI: 10.3390/genes14071492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2023] [Revised: 07/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Mutations and subsequent repair processes are known to be strongly context-dependent in the flowering-plant chloroplast genome. At least six flanking bases, three on each side, can have an influence on the relative rates of different types of mutation at any given site. In this analysis, examine context and substitution at noncoding and fourfold degenerate coding sites in gymnosperm DNA. The sequences are analyzed in sets of three, allowing the inference of the substitution direction and the generation of context-dependent rate matrices. The size of the dataset limits the analysis to the tetranucleotide context of the sites, but the evidence shows that there are significant contextual effects, with patterns that are similar to those observed in angiosperms. These effects most likely represent an influence on the underlying mutation/repair dynamics. The data extend the plastome lineages that feature very complex patterns of mutation, which can have significant effects on the evolutionary dynamics of the chloroplast genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian R Morton
- Department of Biology, Barnard College, Columbia University, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA
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25
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Caballero M, Koren A. The landscape of somatic mutations in lymphoblastoid cell lines. CELL GENOMICS 2023; 3:100305. [PMID: 37388907 PMCID: PMC10300552 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Somatic mutations have important biological ramifications while exerting substantial rate, type, and genomic location heterogeneity. Yet, their sporadic occurrence makes them difficult to study at scale and across individuals. Lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), a model system for human population and functional genomics, harbor large numbers of somatic mutations and have been extensively genotyped. By comparing 1,662 LCLs, we report that the mutational landscape of the genome varies across individuals in terms of the number of mutations, their genomic locations, and their spectra; this variation may itself be modulated by somatic trans-acting mutations. Mutations attributed to the translesion DNA polymerase η follow two different modes of formation, with one mode accounting for the hypermutability of the inactive X chromosome. Nonetheless, the distribution of mutations along the inactive X chromosome appears to follow an epigenetic memory of the active form.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madison Caballero
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Amnon Koren
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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26
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Steensma MJ, Lee YL, Bouwman AC, Pita Barros C, Derks MFL, Bink MCAM, Harlizius B, Huisman AE, Crooijmans RPMA, Groenen MAM, Mulder HA, Rochus CM. Identification and characterisation of de novo germline structural variants in two commercial pig lines using trio-based whole genome sequencing. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:208. [PMID: 37072725 PMCID: PMC10114323 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09296-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND De novo mutations arising in the germline are a source of genetic variation and their discovery broadens our understanding of genetic disorders and evolutionary patterns. Although the number of de novo single nucleotide variants (dnSNVs) has been studied in a number of species, relatively little is known about the occurrence of de novo structural variants (dnSVs). In this study, we investigated 37 deeply sequenced pig trios from two commercial lines to identify dnSVs present in the offspring. The identified dnSVs were characterised by identifying their parent of origin, their functional annotations and characterizing sequence homology at the breakpoints. RESULTS We identified four swine germline dnSVs, all located in intronic regions of protein-coding genes. Our conservative, first estimate of the swine germline dnSV rate is 0.108 (95% CI 0.038-0.255) per generation (one dnSV per nine offspring), detected using short-read sequencing. Two detected dnSVs are clusters of mutations. Mutation cluster 1 contains a de novo duplication, a dnSNV and a de novo deletion. Mutation cluster 2 contains a de novo deletion and three de novo duplications, of which one is inverted. Mutation cluster 2 is 25 kb in size, whereas mutation cluster 1 (197 bp) and the other two individual dnSVs (64 and 573 bp) are smaller. Only mutation cluster 2 could be phased and is located on the paternal haplotype. Mutation cluster 2 originates from both micro-homology as well as non-homology mutation mechanisms, where mutation cluster 1 and the other two dnSVs are caused by mutation mechanisms lacking sequence homology. The 64 bp deletion and mutation cluster 1 were validated through PCR. Lastly, the 64 bp deletion and the 573 bp duplication were validated in sequenced offspring of probands with three generations of sequence data. CONCLUSIONS Our estimate of 0.108 dnSVs per generation in the swine germline is conservative, due to our small sample size and restricted possibilities of dnSV detection from short-read sequencing. The current study highlights the complexity of dnSVs and shows the potential of breeding programs for pigs and livestock species in general, to provide a suitable population structure for identification and characterisation of dnSVs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marije J Steensma
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands.
| | - Y L Lee
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
| | - A C Bouwman
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
| | - C Pita Barros
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
| | - M F L Derks
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
- Topigs Norsvin Research Center, Schoenaker 6, Beuningen, 6641 SZ, the Netherlands
| | - M C A M Bink
- Hendrix Genetics, P.O. Box 114, Boxmeer, 5830 AC, the Netherlands
| | - B Harlizius
- Topigs Norsvin Research Center, Schoenaker 6, Beuningen, 6641 SZ, the Netherlands
| | - A E Huisman
- Hendrix Genetics, P.O. Box 114, Boxmeer, 5830 AC, the Netherlands
| | - R P M A Crooijmans
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
| | - M A M Groenen
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
| | - H A Mulder
- Wageningen University & Research Animal Breeding and Genomics, P.O. Box 338, Wageningen, 6700 AH, the Netherlands
| | - C M Rochus
- University of Guelph, Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock, 50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, O N, N1G 2W1, Canada
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27
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Rockweiler NB, Ramu A, Nagirnaja L, Wong WH, Noordam MJ, Drubin CW, Huang N, Miller B, Todres EZ, Vigh-Conrad KA, Zito A, Small KS, Ardlie KG, Cohen BA, Conrad DF. The origins and functional effects of postzygotic mutations throughout the human life span. Science 2023; 380:eabn7113. [PMID: 37053313 PMCID: PMC11246725 DOI: 10.1126/science.abn7113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023]
Abstract
Postzygotic mutations (PZMs) begin to accrue in the human genome immediately after fertilization, but how and when PZMs affect development and lifetime health remain unclear. To study the origins and functional consequences of PZMs, we generated a multitissue atlas of PZMs spanning 54 tissue and cell types from 948 donors. Nearly half the variation in mutation burden among tissue samples can be explained by measured technical and biological effects, and 9% can be attributed to donor-specific effects. Through phylogenetic reconstruction of PZMs, we found that their type and predicted functional impact vary during prenatal development, across tissues, and through the germ cell life cycle. Thus, methods for interpreting effects across the body and the life span are needed to fully understand the consequences of genetic variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole B. Rockweiler
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- Present address: Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Avinash Ramu
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Liina Nagirnaja
- Division of Genetics, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR, 97006, USA
| | - Wing H. Wong
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- Present Address: Departments of Genetics and Medicine, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
| | - Michiel J. Noordam
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Casey W. Drubin
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Ni Huang
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- Present Address: T-Therapeutics Ltd., Cambridge CB21 6AD, UK
| | - Brian Miller
- Division of Genetics, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR, 97006, USA
| | - Ellen Z. Todres
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Katinka A. Vigh-Conrad
- Division of Genetics, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR, 97006, USA
| | - Antonino Zito
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
- Present Address: Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA; Department of Genetics, The Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Kerrin S. Small
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
| | | | - Barak A. Cohen
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Donald F. Conrad
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- Division of Genetics, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR, 97006, USA
- Center for Embryonic Cell & Gene Therapy, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97239, USA
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28
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Ma S, Wang C, Khan A, Liu L, Dalgleish J, Kiryluk K, He Z, Ionita-Laza I. BIGKnock: fine-mapping gene-based associations via knockoff analysis of biobank-scale data. Genome Biol 2023; 24:24. [PMID: 36782330 PMCID: PMC9926792 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02864-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
We propose BIGKnock (BIobank-scale Gene-based association test via Knockoffs), a computationally efficient gene-based testing approach for biobank-scale data, that leverages long-range chromatin interaction data, and performs conditional genome-wide testing via knockoffs. BIGKnock can prioritize causal genes over proxy associations at a locus. We apply BIGKnock to the UK Biobank data with 405,296 participants for multiple binary and quantitative traits, and show that relative to conventional gene-based tests, BIGKnock produces smaller sets of significant genes that contain the causal gene(s) with high probability. We further illustrate its ability to pinpoint potential causal genes at [Formula: see text] of the associated loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiyang Ma
- Department of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Clinical Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Chen Wang
- Department of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Atlas Khan
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Linxi Liu
- Department of Statistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - James Dalgleish
- Department of Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Krzysztof Kiryluk
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Zihuai He
- Quantitative Sciences Unit, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
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29
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Draetta EL, Lazarević D, Provero P, Cittaro D. The frequency of somatic mutations in cancer predicts the phenotypic relevance of germline mutations. Front Genet 2023; 13:1045301. [PMID: 36699457 PMCID: PMC9868957 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.1045301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Genomic sequence mutations can be pathogenic in both germline and somatic cells. Several authors have observed that often the same genes are involved in cancer when mutated in somatic cells and in genetic diseases when mutated in the germline. Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing techniques have provided us with large databases of both types of mutations, allowing us to investigate this issue in a systematic way. Hence, we applied a machine learning based framework to this problem, comparing multiple models. The models achieved significant predictive power as shown by both cross-validation and their application to recently discovered gene/phenotype associations not used for training. We found that genes characterized by high frequency of somatic mutations in the most common cancers and ancient evolutionary age are most likely to be involved in abnormal phenotypes and diseases. These results suggest that the combination of tolerance for mutations at the cell viability level (measured by the frequency of somatic mutations in cancer) and functional relevance (demonstrated by evolutionary conservation) are the main predictors of disease genes. Our results thus confirm the deep relationship between pathogenic mutations in somatic and germline cells, provide new insight into the common origin of cancer and genetic diseases, and can be used to improve the identification of new disease genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edoardo Luigi Draetta
- University of Milan, Milan, Italy,Center for Omics Sciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Dejan Lazarević
- Center for Omics Sciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Paolo Provero
- Center for Omics Sciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy,Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Davide Cittaro
- Center for Omics Sciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy,*Correspondence: Davide Cittaro ,
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30
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Landau J, Tsaban L, Yaacov A, Ben Cohen G, Rosenberg S. Shared Cancer Dataset Analysis Identifies and Predicts the Quantitative Effects of Pan-Cancer Somatic Driver Variants. Cancer Res 2023; 83:74-88. [PMID: 36264175 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-22-1038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Driver mutations endow tumors with selective advantages and produce an array of pathogenic effects. Determining the function of somatic variants is important for understanding cancer biology and identifying optimal therapies. Here, we compiled a shared dataset from several cancer genomic databases. Two measures were applied to 535 cancer genes based on observed and expected frequencies of driver variants as derived from cancer-specific rates of somatic mutagenesis. The first measure comprised a binary classifier based on a binomial test; the second was tumor variant amplitude (TVA), a continuous measure representing the selective advantage of individual variants. TVA outperformed all other computational tools in terms of its correlation with experimentally derived functional scores of cancer mutations. TVA also highly correlated with drug response, overall survival, and other clinical implications in relevant cancer genes. This study demonstrates how a selective advantage measure based on a large cancer dataset significantly impacts our understanding of the spectral effect of driver variants in cancer. The impact of this information will increase as cancer treatment becomes more precise and personalized to tumor-specific mutations. SIGNIFICANCE A new selective advantage estimation assists in oncogenic driver identification and relative effect measurements, enabling better prognostication, therapy selection, and prioritization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Landau
- Gaffin Center for Neuro-Oncology, Sharett Institute for Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,The Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Linoy Tsaban
- Gaffin Center for Neuro-Oncology, Sharett Institute for Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,The Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Adar Yaacov
- Gaffin Center for Neuro-Oncology, Sharett Institute for Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,The Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Gil Ben Cohen
- Gaffin Center for Neuro-Oncology, Sharett Institute for Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,The Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Shai Rosenberg
- Gaffin Center for Neuro-Oncology, Sharett Institute for Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,The Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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31
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Kaare M, Jayaram M, Jagomäe T, Singh K, Kilk K, Mikheim K, Leevik M, Leidmaa E, Varul J, Nõmm H, Rähn K, Visnapuu T, Plaas M, Lilleväli K, Schäfer MKE, Philips MA, Vasar E. Depression-Associated Negr1 Gene-Deficiency Induces Alterations in the Monoaminergic Neurotransmission Enhancing Time-Dependent Sensitization to Amphetamine in Male Mice. Brain Sci 2022; 12:1696. [PMID: 36552158 PMCID: PMC9776224 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12121696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In GWAS studies, the neural adhesion molecule encoding the neuronal growth regulator 1 (NEGR1) gene has been consistently linked with both depression and obesity. Although the linkage between NEGR1 and depression is the strongest, evidence also suggests the involvement of NEGR1 in a wide spectrum of psychiatric conditions. Here we show the expression of NEGR1 both in tyrosine- and tryptophan hydroxylase-positive cells. Negr1-/- mice show a time-dependent increase in behavioral sensitization to amphetamine associated with increased dopamine release in both the dorsal and ventral striatum. Upregulation of transcripts encoding dopamine and serotonin transporters and higher levels of several monoamines and their metabolites was evident in distinct brain areas of Negr1-/- mice. Chronic (23 days) escitalopram-induced reduction of serotonin and dopamine turnover is enhanced in Negr1-/- mice, and escitalopram rescued reduced weight of hippocampi in Negr1-/- mice. The current study is the first to show alterations in the brain monoaminergic systems in Negr1-deficient mice, suggesting that monoaminergic neural circuits contribute to both depressive and obesity-related phenotypes linked to the human NEGR1 gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Kaare
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Mohan Jayaram
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Toomas Jagomäe
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Laboratory Animal Centre, University of Tartu, 14B Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Katyayani Singh
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kalle Kilk
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kaie Mikheim
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Marko Leevik
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Este Leidmaa
- Institute of Molecular Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, 53129 Bonn, Germany
| | - Jane Varul
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Helis Nõmm
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kristi Rähn
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Tanel Visnapuu
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Mario Plaas
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Laboratory Animal Centre, University of Tartu, 14B Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kersti Lilleväli
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Michael K. E. Schäfer
- Department of Anesthesiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences, Research Center for Immunotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
- Focus Program Translational Neurosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Mari-Anne Philips
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Eero Vasar
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Tartu, 19 Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
- Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
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32
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Gillentine MA, Wang T, Eichler EE. Estimating the Prevalence of De Novo Monogenic Neurodevelopmental Disorders from Large Cohort Studies. Biomedicines 2022; 10:2865. [PMID: 36359385 PMCID: PMC9687899 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10112865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Rare diseases impact up to 400 million individuals globally. Of the thousands of known rare diseases, many are rare neurodevelopmental disorders (RNDDs) impacting children. RNDDs have proven to be difficult to assess epidemiologically for several reasons. The rarity of them makes it difficult to observe them in the population, there is clinical overlap among many disorders, making it difficult to assess the prevalence without genetic testing, and data have yet to be available to have accurate counts of cases. Here, we utilized large sequencing cohorts of individuals with rare, de novo monogenic disorders to estimate the prevalence of variation in over 11,000 genes among cohorts with developmental delay, autism spectrum disorder, and/or epilepsy. We found that the prevalence of many RNDDs is positively correlated to the previously estimated incidence. We identified the most often mutated genes among neurodevelopmental disorders broadly, as well as developmental delay and autism spectrum disorder independently. Finally, we assessed if social media group member numbers may be a valuable way to estimate prevalence. These data are critical for individuals and families impacted by these RNDDs, clinicians and geneticists in their understanding of how common diseases are, and for researchers to potentially prioritize research into particular genes or gene sets.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tianyun Wang
- Department of Medical Genetics, Center for Medical Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroscience, Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Ministry of Education of China & National Health Commission of China, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Evan E. Eichler
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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Caporali L, Fiorini C, Palombo F, Romagnoli M, Baccari F, Zenesini C, Visconti P, Posar A, Scaduto MC, Ormanbekova D, Battaglia A, Tancredi R, Cameli C, Viggiano M, Olivieri A, Torroni A, Maestrini E, Rochat MJ, Bacchelli E, Carelli V, Maresca A. Dissecting the multifaceted contribution of the mitochondrial genome to autism spectrum disorder. Front Genet 2022; 13:953762. [PMID: 36419830 PMCID: PMC9676943 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.953762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a clinically heterogeneous class of neurodevelopmental conditions with a strong, albeit complex, genetic basis. The genetic architecture of ASD includes different genetic models, from monogenic transmission at one end, to polygenic risk given by thousands of common variants with small effects at the other end. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was also proposed as a genetic modifier for ASD, mostly focusing on maternal mtDNA, since the paternal mitogenome is not transmitted to offspring. We extensively studied the potential contribution of mtDNA in ASD pathogenesis and risk through deep next generation sequencing and quantitative PCR in a cohort of 98 families. While the maternally-inherited mtDNA did not seem to predispose to ASD, neither for haplogroups nor for the presence of pathogenic mutations, an unexpected influence of paternal mtDNA, apparently centered on haplogroup U, came from the Italian families extrapolated from the test cohort (n = 74) when compared to the control population. However, this result was not replicated in an independent Italian cohort of 127 families and it is likely due to the elevated paternal age at time of conception. In addition, ASD probands showed a reduced mtDNA content when compared to their unaffected siblings. Multivariable regression analyses indicated that variants with 15%-5% heteroplasmy in probands are associated to a greater severity of ASD based on ADOS-2 criteria, whereas paternal super-haplogroups H and JT were associated with milder phenotypes. In conclusion, our results suggest that the mtDNA impacts on ASD, significantly modifying the phenotypic expression in the Italian population. The unexpected finding of protection induced by paternal mitogenome in term of severity may derive from a role of mtDNA in influencing the accumulation of nuclear de novo mutations or epigenetic alterations in fathers' germinal cells, affecting the neurodevelopment in the offspring. This result remains preliminary and needs further confirmation in independent cohorts of larger size. If confirmed, it potentially opens a different perspective on how paternal non-inherited mtDNA may predispose or modulate other complex diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Caporali
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Claudio Fiorini
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Flavia Palombo
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Martina Romagnoli
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Flavia Baccari
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Epidemiologia e Statistica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Corrado Zenesini
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Epidemiologia e Statistica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Paola Visconti
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico, Bologna, Italy
| | - Annio Posar
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Maria Cristina Scaduto
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico, Bologna, Italy
| | - Danara Ormanbekova
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Agatino Battaglia
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Pisa, Italy
| | - Raffaella Tancredi
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Pisa, Italy
| | - Cinzia Cameli
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Marta Viggiano
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Anna Olivieri
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology “L. Spallanzani”, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Antonio Torroni
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology “L. Spallanzani”, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Elena Maestrini
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Magali Jane Rochat
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma Diagnostica Funzionale Neuroradiologica, Bologna, Italy
| | - Elena Bacchelli
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Valerio Carelli
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Alessandra Maresca
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Programma di Neurogenetica, Bologna, Italy
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Unni P, Friend J, Weinberg J, Okur V, Hochscherf J, Dominguez I. Predictive functional, statistical and structural analysis of CSNK2A1 and CSNK2B variants linked to neurodevelopmental diseases. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:851547. [PMID: 36310603 PMCID: PMC9608649 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.851547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Okur-Chung Neurodevelopmental Syndrome (OCNDS) and Poirier-Bienvenu Neurodevelopmental Syndrome (POBINDS) were recently identified as rare neurodevelopmental disorders. OCNDS and POBINDS are associated with heterozygous mutations in the CSNK2A1 and CSNK2B genes which encode CK2α, a serine/threonine protein kinase, and CK2β, a regulatory protein, respectively, which together can form a tetrameric enzyme called protein kinase CK2. A challenge in OCNDS and POBINDS is to understand the genetic basis of these diseases and the effect of the various CK2⍺ and CK2β mutations. In this study we have collected all variants available to date in CSNK2A1 and CSNK2B, and identified hotspots. We have investigated CK2⍺ and CK2β missense mutations through prediction programs which consider the evolutionary conservation, functionality and structure or these two proteins, compared these results with published experimental data on CK2α and CK2β mutants, and suggested prediction programs that could help predict changes in functionality of CK2α mutants. We also investigated the potential effect of CK2α and CK2β mutations on the 3D structure of the proteins and in their binding to each other. These results indicate that there are functional and structural consequences of mutation of CK2α and CK2β, and provide a rationale for further study of OCNDS and POBINDS-associated mutations. These data contribute to understanding the genetic and functional basis of these diseases, which is needed to identify their underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prasida Unni
- Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jack Friend
- Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Janice Weinberg
- Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Volkan Okur
- New York Genome Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Jennifer Hochscherf
- Department of Chemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Isabel Dominguez
- Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
- *Correspondence: Isabel Dominguez,
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Mohiuddin M, Kooy RF, Pearson CE. De novo mutations, genetic mosaicism and human disease. Front Genet 2022; 13:983668. [PMID: 36226191 PMCID: PMC9550265 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.983668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Mosaicism—the existence of genetically distinct populations of cells in a particular organism—is an important cause of genetic disease. Mosaicism can appear as de novo DNA mutations, epigenetic alterations of DNA, and chromosomal abnormalities. Neurodevelopmental or neuropsychiatric diseases, including autism—often arise by de novo mutations that usually not present in either of the parents. De novo mutations might occur as early as in the parental germline, during embryonic, fetal development, and/or post-natally, through ageing and life. Mutation timing could lead to mutation burden of less than heterozygosity to approaching homozygosity. Developmental timing of somatic mutation attainment will affect the mutation load and distribution throughout the body. In this review, we discuss the timing of de novo mutations, spanning from mutations in the germ lineage (all ages), to post-zygotic, embryonic, fetal, and post-natal events, through aging to death. These factors can determine the tissue specific distribution and load of de novo mutations, which can affect disease. The disease threshold burden of somatic de novo mutations of a particular gene in any tissue will be important to define.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohiuddin Mohiuddin
- Program of Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- *Correspondence: Mohiuddin Mohiuddin, ; Christopher E. Pearson,
| | - R. Frank Kooy
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Antwerp, Edegem, Belgium
| | - Christopher E. Pearson
- Program of Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- *Correspondence: Mohiuddin Mohiuddin, ; Christopher E. Pearson,
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36
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Vihinen M. Individual Genetic Heterogeneity. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:1626. [PMID: 36140794 PMCID: PMC9498725 DOI: 10.3390/genes13091626] [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] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic variation has been widely covered in literature, however, not from the perspective of an individual in any species. Here, a synthesis of genetic concepts and variations relevant for individual genetic constitution is provided. All the different levels of genetic information and variation are covered, ranging from whether an organism is unmixed or hybrid, has variations in genome, chromosomes, and more locally in DNA regions, to epigenetic variants or alterations in selfish genetic elements. Genetic constitution and heterogeneity of microbiota are highly relevant for health and wellbeing of an individual. Mutation rates vary widely for variation types, e.g., due to the sequence context. Genetic information guides numerous aspects in organisms. Types of inheritance, whether Mendelian or non-Mendelian, zygosity, sexual reproduction, and sex determination are covered. Functions of DNA and functional effects of variations are introduced, along with mechanism that reduce and modulate functional effects, including TARAR countermeasures and intraindividual genetic conflict. TARAR countermeasures for tolerance, avoidance, repair, attenuation, and resistance are essential for life, integrity of genetic information, and gene expression. The genetic composition, effects of variations, and their expression are considered also in diseases and personalized medicine. The text synthesizes knowledge and insight on individual genetic heterogeneity and organizes and systematizes the central concepts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauno Vihinen
- Department of Experimental Medical Science, BMC B13, Lund University, SE-22184 Lund, Sweden
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37
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Tissue-wide cell-specific proteogenomic modeling reveals novel candidate risk genes in autism spectrum disorders. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2022; 8:31. [PMID: 36068227 PMCID: PMC9448731 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-022-00243-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a set of complex neurodevelopmental diseases characterized with repetitive behavioral patterns and communication disabilities. Using a systems biology method called MAPSD (Markov Affinity-based Proteogenomic Signal Diffusion) for joint modeling of proteome dynamics and a wide array of omics datasets, we identified a list of candidate ASD risk genes. Leveraging the collected biological signals as well as a large-scale protein-protein interaction network adjusted based on single cell resolution proteome properties in four brain regions, we observed an agreement between the known and the newly identified candidate genes that are spatially enriched in neuronal cells within cerebral cortex at the protein level. Moreover, we created a detailed subcellular localization enrichment map of the known and the identified genes across 32 micro-domains and showed that neuronal cells and neuropils share the largest fraction of signal enrichment in cerebral cortex. Notably, we showed that the identified genes are among the transcriptional biomarkers of inhibitory and excitatory neurons in human frontal cortex. Intersecting the identified genes with a single cell RNA-seq data on ASD brains further evidenced that 20 candidate genes, including GRIK1, EMX2, STXBP6, and KCNJ3 are disrupted in distinct cell-types. Moreover, we showed that ASD risk genes are predominantly distributed in certain human interactome modules, and that the identified genes may act as the regulator for some of the known ASD loci. In summary, our study demonstrated how tissue-wide cell-specific proteogenomic modeling can reveal candidate genes for brain disorders that can be supported by convergent lines of evidence.
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38
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Antaki D, Guevara J, Maihofer AX, Klein M, Gujral M, Grove J, Carey CE, Hong O, Arranz MJ, Hervas A, Corsello C, Vaux KK, Muotri AR, Iakoucheva LM, Courchesne E, Pierce K, Gleeson JG, Robinson EB, Nievergelt CM, Sebat J. A phenotypic spectrum of autism is attributable to the combined effects of rare variants, polygenic risk and sex. Nat Genet 2022; 54:1284-1292. [PMID: 35654974 PMCID: PMC9474668 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-022-01064-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The genetic etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is multifactorial, but how combinations of genetic factors determine risk is unclear. In a large family sample, we show that genetic loads of rare and polygenic risk are inversely correlated in cases and greater in females than in males, consistent with a liability threshold that differs by sex. De novo mutations (DNMs), rare inherited variants and polygenic scores were associated with various dimensions of symptom severity in children and parents. Parental age effects on risk for ASD in offspring were attributable to a combination of genetic mechanisms, including DNMs that accumulate in the paternal germline and inherited risk that influences behavior in parents. Genes implicated by rare variants were enriched in excitatory and inhibitory neurons compared with genes implicated by common variants. Our results suggest that a phenotypic spectrum of ASD is attributable to a spectrum of genetic factors that impact different neurodevelopmental processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danny Antaki
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Beyster Center for Psychiatric Genomics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - James Guevara
- Beyster Center for Psychiatric Genomics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Adam X Maihofer
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Marieke Klein
- Beyster Center for Psychiatric Genomics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Madhusudan Gujral
- Beyster Center for Psychiatric Genomics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jakob Grove
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark
- Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine and Center for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus, Denmark
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Caitlin E Carey
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Oanh Hong
- Beyster Center for Psychiatric Genomics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Maria J Arranz
- Research Laboratory Unit, Fundacio Docencia i Recerca Mutua, Terrassa, Spain
| | - Amaia Hervas
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit, Hospital Universitari Mútua de Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Christina Corsello
- TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Alysson R Muotri
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics and Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, School of Medicine, Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny, Archealization Center, Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Lilia M Iakoucheva
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Eric Courchesne
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Autism Center of Excellence, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Karen Pierce
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Autism Center of Excellence, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Joseph G Gleeson
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Elise B Robinson
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Jonathan Sebat
- Beyster Center for Psychiatric Genomics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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39
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Morton BR. Substitution rate heterogeneity across hexanucleotide contexts in noncoding chloroplast DNA. G3 GENES|GENOMES|GENETICS 2022; 12:6608088. [PMID: 35699494 PMCID: PMC9339276 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkac150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Substitutions between closely related noncoding chloroplast DNA sequences are studied with respect to the composition of the 3 bases on each side of the substitution, that is the hexanucleotide context. There is about 100-fold variation in rate, among the contexts, particularly on substitutions of A and T. Rate heterogeneity of transitions differs from that of transversions, resulting in a more than 200-fold variation in the transitions: transversion bias. The data are consistent with a CpG effect, and it is shown that both the A + T content and the arrangement of purines/pyrimidines along the same DNA strand are correlated with rate variation. Expected equilibrium A + T content ranges from 36.4% to 82.8% across contexts, while G–C skew ranges from −77.4 to 72.2 and A–T skew ranges from −63.9 to 68.2. The predicted equilibria are associated with specific features of the content of the hexanucleotide context, and also show close agreement with the observed context-dependent compositions. Finally, by controlling for the content of nucleotides closer to the substitution site, it is shown that both the third and fourth nucleotide removed on each side of the substitution directly influence substitution dynamics at that site. Overall, the results demonstrate that noncoding sites in different contexts are evolving along very different evolutionary trajectories and that substitution dynamics are far more complex than typically assumed. This has important implications for a number of types of sequence analysis, particularly analyses of natural selection, and the context-dependent substitution matrices developed here can be applied in future analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian R Morton
- Department of Biology, Barnard College, Columbia University , New York, NY 10027, USA
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40
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Johri P, Eyre-Walker A, Gutenkunst RN, Lohmueller KE, Jensen JD. On the prospect of achieving accurate joint estimation of selection with population history. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 14:evac088. [PMID: 35675379 PMCID: PMC9254643 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
As both natural selection and population history can affect genome-wide patterns of variation, disentangling the contributions of each has remained as a major challenge in population genetics. We here discuss historical and recent progress towards this goal-highlighting theoretical and computational challenges that remain to be addressed, as well as inherent difficulties in dealing with model complexity and model violations-and offer thoughts on potentially fruitful next steps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parul Johri
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | | | - Ryan N Gutenkunst
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Kirk E Lohmueller
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jeffrey D Jensen
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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41
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Rashed WM, Marcotte EL, Spector LG. Germline De Novo Mutations as a Cause of Childhood Cancer. JCO Precis Oncol 2022; 6:e2100505. [PMID: 35820085 DOI: 10.1200/po.21.00505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Germline de novo mutations (DNMs) represent one of the important topics that need extensive attention from epidemiologists, geneticists, and other relevant stakeholders. Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies allowed examination of parent-offspring trios to ascertain the frequency of germline DNMs. Many epidemiological risk factors for childhood cancer are indicative of DNMs as a mechanism. The aim of this review was to give an overview of germline DNMs, their causes in general, and to discuss their relation to childhood cancer risk. In addition, we highlighted existing gaps in knowledge in many topics of germline DNMs in childhood cancer that need exploration and collaborative efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wafaa M Rashed
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital-Egypt 57357 (CCHE-57357), Cairo, Egypt
| | - Erin L Marcotte
- Division of Epidemiology/Clinical, Research, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.,Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
| | - Logan G Spector
- Division of Epidemiology/Clinical, Research, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.,Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
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42
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Kohailan M, Aamer W, Syed N, Padmajeya S, Hussein S, Sayed A, Janardhanan J, Palaniswamy S, El Hajj N, Al-Shabeeb Akil A, Fakhro KA. Patterns and distribution of de novo mutations in multiplex Middle Eastern families. J Hum Genet 2022; 67:579-588. [PMID: 35718832 PMCID: PMC9510050 DOI: 10.1038/s10038-022-01054-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
While de novo mutations (DNMs) are key to genetic diversity, they are also responsible for a high number of rare disorders. To date, no study has systematically examined the rate and distribution of DNMs in multiplex families in highly consanguineous populations. Leveraging WGS profiles of 645 individuals in 146 families, we implemented a combinatorial approach using 3 complementary tools for DNM discovery in 353 unique trio combinations. We found a total of 27,168 DNMs (median: 70 single-nucleotide and 6 insertion-deletions per individual). Phasing revealed around 80% of DNMs were paternal in origin. Notably, using whole-genome methylation data of spermatogonial stem cells, these DNMs were significantly more likely to occur at highly methylated CpGs (OR: 2.03; p value = 6.62 × 10−11). We then examined the effects of consanguinity and ethnicity on DNMs, and found that consanguinity does not seem to correlate with DNM rate, and special attention has to be considered while measuring such a correlation. Additionally, we found that Middle-Eastern families with Arab ancestry had fewer DNMs than African families, although not significant (p value = 0.16). Finally, for families with diseased probands, we examined the difference in DNM counts and putative impact across affected and unaffected siblings, but did not find significant differences between disease groups, likely owing to the enrichment for recessive disorders in this part of the world, or the small sample size per clinical condition. This study serves as a reference for DNM discovery in multiplex families from the globally under-represented populations of the Middle-East.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Kohailan
- College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34110, Doha, Qatar
| | - Waleed Aamer
- Department of Human Genetics, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | - Najeeb Syed
- Biomedical Informatics Division, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | - Sujitha Padmajeya
- Department of Human Genetics, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | - Sura Hussein
- Department of Human Genetics, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | - Amira Sayed
- Department of Human Genetics, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | - Jyothi Janardhanan
- Department of Human Genetics, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Nady El Hajj
- College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34110, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Khalid A Fakhro
- College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34110, Doha, Qatar. .,Department of Human Genetics, Sidra Medicine, P.O. Box 26999, Doha, Qatar. .,Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill-Cornell Medical College, P.O. Box 24144, Doha, Qatar.
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43
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Zemet R, Van den Veyver IB, Stankiewicz P. Parental mosaicism for apparent de novo genetic variants: Scope, detection, and counseling challenges. Prenat Diagn 2022; 42:811-821. [PMID: 35394072 PMCID: PMC9995893 DOI: 10.1002/pd.6144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The disease burden of de novo mutations (DNMs) has been evidenced only recently when the common application of next-generation sequencing technologies enabled their reliable and affordable detection through family-based clinical exome or genome sequencing. Implementation of exome sequencing into prenatal diagnostics revealed that up to 63% of pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants associated with fetal structural anomalies are apparently de novo, primarily for autosomal dominant disorders. Apparent DNMs have been considered to primarily occur as germline or zygotic events, with consequently negligible recurrence risks. However, there is now evidence that a considerable proportion of them are in fact inherited from a parent mosaic for the variant. Here, we review the burden of DNMs in prenatal diagnostics and the influence of parental mosaicism on the interpretation of apparent DNMs and discuss the challenges with detecting and quantifying parental mosaicism and its effect on recurrence risk. We also describe new bioinformatic and technological tools developed to assess mosaicism and discuss how they improve the accuracy of reproductive risk counseling when parental mosaicism is detected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roni Zemet
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Ignatia B Van den Veyver
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Paweł Stankiewicz
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
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44
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González-Calvo I, Cizeron M, Bessereau JL, Selimi F. Synapse Formation and Function Across Species: Ancient Roles for CCP, CUB, and TSP-1 Structural Domains. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:866444. [PMID: 35546877 PMCID: PMC9083331 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.866444] [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: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The appearance of synapses was a crucial step in the creation of the variety of nervous systems that are found in the animal kingdom. With increased complexity of the organisms came a greater number of synaptic proteins. In this review we describe synaptic proteins that contain the structural domains CUB, CCP, or TSP-1. These domains are found in invertebrates and vertebrates, and CUB and CCP domains were initially described in proteins belonging to the complement system of innate immunity. Interestingly, they are found in synapses of the nematode C. elegans, which does not have a complement system, suggesting an ancient function. Comparison of the roles of CUB-, CCP-, and TSP-1 containing synaptic proteins in various species shows that in more complex nervous systems, these structural domains are combined with other domains and that there is partial conservation of their function. These three domains are thus basic building blocks of the synaptic architecture. Further studies of structural domains characteristic of synaptic proteins in invertebrates such as C. elegans and comparison of their role in mammals will help identify other conserved synaptic molecular building blocks. Furthermore, this type of functional comparison across species will also identify structural domains added during evolution in correlation with increased complexity, shedding light on mechanisms underlying cognition and brain diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inés González-Calvo
- Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), Collège de France, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Mélissa Cizeron
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS UMR-5284, INSERM U-1314, MeLiS, Institut NeuroMyoGène, Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Louis Bessereau
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS UMR-5284, INSERM U-1314, MeLiS, Institut NeuroMyoGène, Lyon, France
| | - Fekrije Selimi
- Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), Collège de France, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris, France
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45
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LaSalle JM. X Chromosome Inactivation Timing is Not e XACT: Implications for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Front Genet 2022; 13:864848. [PMID: 35356429 PMCID: PMC8959653 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.864848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is complex, involving different combinations of genetic and environmental factors. My lab's approach has been to investigate DNA methylation as a tractable genome-wide modification at the interface of these complex interactions, reflecting past and future events in the molecular pathogenesis of ASD. Since X-linked genes were enriched in DNA methylation differences discovered from cord blood from newborns later diagnosed with ASD, this has prompted me to review and revisit the recent advancements in the field of X chromosome inactivation (XCI), particularly in humans and other primates. In this Perspective, I compare XCI mechanisms in different mammalian species, including the finding of the noncoding transcript XACT associated with X chromosome erosion in human pluripotent stem cells and recent findings from non-human primate post-implantation embryos. I focus on the experimentally challenging peri- and post-implantation stages of human development when the timing of XCI is prolonged and imprecise in humans. Collectively, this research has raised some important unanswered questions involving biased sex ratios in human births and the male bias in the incidence of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine M. LaSalle
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center, MIND Institute, Genome Center, Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
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46
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Oman M, Alam A, Ness RW. How sequence context-dependent mutability drives mutation rate variation in the genome. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 14:6537538. [PMID: 35218359 PMCID: PMC8920511 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The rate of mutations varies >100-fold across the genome, altering the rate of evolution, and susceptibility to genetic diseases. The strongest predictor of mutation rate is the sequence itself, varying 75-fold between trinucleotides. The fact that DNA sequence drives its own mutation rate raises a simple but important prediction; highly mutable sequences will mutate more frequently and eliminate themselves in favor of sequences with lower mutability, leading to a lower equilibrium mutation rate. However, purifying selection constrains changes in mutable sequences, causing higher rates of mutation. We conduct a simulation using real human mutation data to test if 1) DNA evolves to a low equilibrium mutation rate and 2) purifying selection causes a higher equilibrium mutation rate in the genome’s most important regions. We explore how this simple process affects sequence evolution in the genome, and discuss the implications for modeling evolution and susceptibility to DNA damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine Oman
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Dept of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Canada
| | - Aqsa Alam
- Dept of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Rob W Ness
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Dept of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Canada.,Dept of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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47
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Wohns AW, Wong Y, Jeffery B, Akbari A, Mallick S, Pinhasi R, Patterson N, Reich D, Kelleher J, McVean G. A unified genealogy of modern and ancient genomes. Science 2022; 375:eabi8264. [PMID: 35201891 PMCID: PMC10027547 DOI: 10.1126/science.abi8264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The sequencing of modern and ancient genomes from around the world has revolutionized our understanding of human history and evolution. However, the problem of how best to characterize ancestral relationships from the totality of human genomic variation remains unsolved. Here, we address this challenge with nonparametric methods that enable us to infer a unified genealogy of modern and ancient humans. This compact representation of multiple datasets explores the challenges of missing and erroneous data and uses ancient samples to constrain and date relationships. We demonstrate the power of the method to recover relationships between individuals and populations as well as to identify descendants of ancient samples. Finally, we introduce a simple nonparametric estimator of the geographical location of ancestors that recapitulates key events in human history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Wilder Wohns
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford; Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
| | - Yan Wong
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford; Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
| | - Ben Jeffery
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford; Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
| | - Ali Akbari
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Swapan Mallick
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna; 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Nick Patterson
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - David Reich
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jerome Kelleher
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford; Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
| | - Gil McVean
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford; Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
- Corresponding author.
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48
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Frisk S, Wachtmeister A, Laurell T, Lindstrand A, Jäntti N, Malmgren H, Lagerstedt-Robinson K, Tesi B, Taylan F, Nordgren A. Detection of germline mosaicism in fathers of children with intellectual disability syndromes caused by de novo variants. Mol Genet Genomic Med 2022; 10:e1880. [PMID: 35118825 PMCID: PMC9000944 DOI: 10.1002/mgg3.1880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background De novo variants are a common cause to rare intellectual disability syndromes, associated with low recurrence risk. However, when such variants occur pre‐zygotically in parental germ cells, the recurrence risk might be higher. Still, the recurrence risk estimates are mainly based on empirical data and the prevalence of germline mosaicism is often unknown. Methods To establish the prevalence of mosaicism in parents of children with intellectual disability syndromes caused by de novo variants, we performed droplet digital PCR on DNA extracted from blood (43 trios), and sperm (31 fathers). Results We detected low‐level mosaicism in sperm‐derived DNA but not in blood in the father of a child with Kleefstra syndrome caused by an EHMT1 variant. Additionally, we found a higher level of paternal mosaicism in sperm compared to blood in the father of a child with Gillespie syndrome caused by an ITPR1 variant. Conclusion By employing droplet digital PCR, we detected paternal germline mosaicism in two intellectual disability syndromes. In both cases, the mosaicism level was higher in sperm than blood, indicating that analysis of blood alone may underestimate germline mosaicism. Therefore, sperm analysis can be clinically useful to establish the recurrence risk for parents and improve genetic counselling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Frisk
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Alexandra Wachtmeister
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Tobias Laurell
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Hand Surgery, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Anna Lindstrand
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nina Jäntti
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Helena Malmgren
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kristina Lagerstedt-Robinson
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Bianca Tesi
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Fulya Taylan
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ann Nordgren
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
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49
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Melamed D, Nov Y, Malik A, Yakass MB, Bolotin E, Shemer R, Hiadzi EK, Skorecki KL, Livnat A. De novo mutation rates at the single-mutation resolution in a human HBB gene-region associated with adaptation and genetic disease. Genome Res 2022; 32:488-498. [PMID: 35031571 PMCID: PMC8896469 DOI: 10.1101/gr.276103.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Although it is known that the mutation rate varies across the genome, previous estimates were based on averaging across various numbers of positions. Here, we describe a method to measure the origination rates of target mutations at target base positions and apply it to a 6-bp region in the human hemoglobin subunit beta (HBB) gene and to the identical, paralogous hemoglobin subunit delta (HBD) region in sperm cells from both African and European donors. The HBB region of interest (ROI) includes the site of the hemoglobin S (HbS) mutation, which protects against malaria, is common in Africa, and has served as a classic example of adaptation by random mutation and natural selection. We found a significant correspondence between de novo mutation rates and past observations of alleles in carriers, showing that mutation rates vary substantially in a mutation-specific manner that contributes to the site frequency spectrum. We also found that the overall point mutation rate is significantly higher in Africans than in Europeans in the HBB region studied. Finally, the rate of the 20A→T mutation, called the “HbS mutation” when it appears in HBB, is significantly higher than expected from the genome-wide average for this mutation type. Nine instances were observed in the African HBB ROI, where it is of adaptive significance, representing at least three independent originations; no instances were observed elsewhere. Further studies will be needed to examine mutation rates at the single-mutation resolution across these and other loci and organisms and to uncover the molecular mechanisms responsible.
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50
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Pugsley K, Scherer SW, Bellgrove MA, Hawi Z. Environmental exposures associated with elevated risk for autism spectrum disorder may augment the burden of deleterious de novo mutations among probands. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:710-730. [PMID: 34002022 PMCID: PMC8960415 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01142-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2020] [Revised: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Although the full aetiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is unknown, familial and twin studies demonstrate high heritability of 60-90%, indicating a predominant role of genetics in the development of the disorder. The genetic architecture of ASD consists of a complex array of rare and common variants of all classes of genetic variation usually acting additively to augment individual risk. The relative contribution of heredity in ASD persists despite selective pressures against the classic autistic phenotype; a phenomenon thought to be explained, in part, by the incidence of spontaneous (or de novo) mutations. Notably, environmental exposures attributed as salient risk factors for ASD may play a causal role in the emergence of deleterious de novo variations, with several ASD-associated agents having significant mutagenic potential. To explore this hypothesis, this review article assesses published epidemiological data with evidence derived from assays of mutagenicity, both in vivo and in vitro, to determine the likely role such agents may play in augmenting the genetic liability in ASD. Broadly, these exposures were observed to elicit genomic alterations through one or a combination of: (1) direct interaction with genetic material; (2) impaired DNA repair; or (3) oxidative DNA damage. However, the direct contribution of these factors to the ASD phenotype cannot be determined without further analysis. The development of comprehensive prospective birth cohorts in combination with genome sequencing is essential to forming a causal, mechanistic account of de novo mutations in ASD that links exposure, genotypic alterations, and phenotypic consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kealan Pugsley
- grid.1002.30000 0004 1936 7857Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Stephen W. Scherer
- grid.42327.300000 0004 0473 9646The Centre for Applied Genomics and Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938McLaughlin Centre and Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Mark A. Bellgrove
- grid.1002.30000 0004 1936 7857Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Ziarih Hawi
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
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