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Shore CJ, Villicaña S, El-Sayed Moustafa JS, Roberts AL, Gunn DA, Bataille V, Deloukas P, Spector TD, Small KS, Bell JT. Genetic effects on the skin methylome in healthy older twins. Am J Hum Genet 2024; 111:1932-1952. [PMID: 39137780 PMCID: PMC11393713 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/15/2024] [Indexed: 08/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Whole-skin DNA methylation variation has been implicated in several diseases, including melanoma, but its genetic basis has not yet been fully characterized. Using bulk skin tissue samples from 414 healthy female UK twins, we performed twin-based heritability and methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTL) analyses for >400,000 DNA methylation sites. We find that the human skin DNA methylome is on average less heritable than previously estimated in blood and other tissues (mean heritability: 10.02%). meQTL analysis identified local genetic effects influencing DNA methylation at 18.8% (76,442) of tested CpG sites, as well as 1,775 CpG sites associated with at least one distal genetic variant. As a functional follow-up, we performed skin expression QTL (eQTL) analyses in a partially overlapping sample of 604 female twins. Colocalization analysis identified over 3,500 shared genetic effects affecting thousands of CpG sites (10,067) and genes (4,475). Mediation analysis of putative colocalized gene-CpG pairs identified 114 genes with evidence for eQTL effects being mediated by DNA methylation in skin, including in genes implicating skin disease such as ALOX12 and CSPG4. We further explored the relevance of skin meQTLs to skin disease and found that skin meQTLs and CpGs under genetic influence were enriched for multiple skin-related genome-wide and epigenome-wide association signals, including for melanoma and psoriasis. Our findings give insights into the regulatory landscape of epigenomic variation in skin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Shore
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Sergio Villicaña
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Amy L Roberts
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Veronique Bataille
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Panos Deloukas
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Tim D Spector
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Kerrin S Small
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jordana T Bell
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK.
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2
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Saville L, Wu L, Habtewold J, Cheng Y, Gollen B, Mitchell L, Stuart-Edwards M, Haight T, Mohajerani M, Zovoilis A. NERD-seq: a novel approach of Nanopore direct RNA sequencing that expands representation of non-coding RNAs. Genome Biol 2024; 25:233. [PMID: 39198865 PMCID: PMC11351768 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03375-8] [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: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 08/20/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are frequently documented RNA modification substrates. Nanopore Technologies enables the direct sequencing of RNAs and the detection of modified nucleobases. Ordinarily, direct RNA sequencing uses polyadenylation selection, studying primarily mRNA gene expression. Here, we present NERD-seq, which enables detection of multiple non-coding RNAs, excluded by the standard approach, alongside natively polyadenylated transcripts. Using neural tissues as a proof of principle, we show that NERD-seq expands representation of frequently modified non-coding RNAs, such as snoRNAs, snRNAs, scRNAs, srpRNAs, tRNAs, and rRFs. NERD-seq represents an RNA-seq approach to simultaneously study mRNA and ncRNA epitranscriptomes in brain tissues and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke Saville
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Li Wu
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
| | - Jemaneh Habtewold
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
| | - Yubo Cheng
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Babita Gollen
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Liam Mitchell
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Matthew Stuart-Edwards
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Travis Haight
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Majid Mohajerani
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada
| | - Athanasios Zovoilis
- Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada.
- Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CCMB, Winnipeg, MB, R3E3N4, Canada.
- Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada.
- Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K3M4, Canada.
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3
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Zhang W, Zhang X, Qiu C, Zhang Z, Su KJ, Luo Z, Liu M, Zhao B, Wu L, Tian Q, Shen H, Wu C, Deng HW. An atlas of genetic effects on the monocyte methylome across European and African populations. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.08.12.24311885. [PMID: 39211851 PMCID: PMC11361221 DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.12.24311885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Elucidating the genetic architecture of DNA methylation (DNAm) is crucial for decoding the etiology of complex diseases. However, current epigenomic studies often suffer from incomplete coverage of methylation sites and the use of tissues containing heterogeneous cell populations. To address these challenges, we present a comprehensive human methylome atlas based on deep whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of purified monocytes from 298 European Americans (EA) and 160 African Americans (AA) in the Louisiana Osteoporosis Study. Our atlas enables the analysis of over 25 million DNAm sites. We identified 1,383,250 and 1,721,167 methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) in cis -regions for EA and AA populations, respectively, with 880,108 sites shared between ancestries. While cis -meQTLs exhibited population-specific patterns, primarily due to differences in minor allele frequencies, shared cis -meQTLs showed high concordance across ancestries. Notably, cis -heritability estimates revealed significantly higher mean values in the AA population (0.09) compared to the EA population (0.04). Furthermore, we developed population-specific DNAm imputation models using Elastic Net, enabling methylome-wide association studies (MWAS) for 1,976,046 and 2,657,581 methylation sites in EA and AA, respectively. The performance of our MWAS models was validated through a systematic multi-ancestry analysis of 41 complex traits from the Million Veteran Program. Our findings bridge the gap between genomics and the monocyte methylome, uncovering novel methylation-phenotype associations and their transferability across diverse ancestries. The identified meQTLs, MWAS models, and data resources are freely available at www.gcbhub.org and https://osf.io/gct57/ .
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Deng Q, Song C, Lin S. An adaptive and robust method for multi-trait analysis of genome-wide association studies using summary statistics. Eur J Hum Genet 2024; 32:681-690. [PMID: 37237036 PMCID: PMC11153499 DOI: 10.1038/s41431-023-01389-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of genetic variants associated with human traits or diseases in the past decade. Nevertheless, much of the heritability of many traits is still unaccounted for. Commonly used single-trait analysis methods are conservative, while multi-trait methods improve statistical power by integrating association evidence across multiple traits. In contrast to individual-level data, GWAS summary statistics are usually publicly available, and thus methods using only summary statistics have greater usage. Although many methods have been developed for joint analysis of multiple traits using summary statistics, there are many issues, including inconsistent performance, computational inefficiency, and numerical problems when considering lots of traits. To address these challenges, we propose a multi-trait adaptive Fisher method for summary statistics (MTAFS), a computationally efficient method with robust power performance. We applied MTAFS to two sets of brain imaging derived phenotypes (IDPs) from the UK Biobank, including a set of 58 Volumetric IDPs and a set of 212 Area IDPs. Through annotation analysis, the underlying genes of the SNPs identified by MTAFS were found to exhibit higher expression and are significantly enriched in brain-related tissues. Together with results from a simulation study, MTAFS shows its advantage over existing multi-trait methods, with robust performance across a range of underlying settings. It controls type 1 error well and can efficiently handle a large number of traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiaolan Deng
- Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Chi Song
- Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Shili Lin
- Department of Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
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5
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Li MD, Liu Q, Shi X, Wang Y, Zhu Z, Guan Y, He J, Han H, Mao Y, Ma Y, Yuan W, Yao J, Yang Z. Integrative analysis of genetics, epigenetics and RNA expression data reveal three susceptibility loci for smoking behavior in Chinese Han population. Mol Psychiatry 2024:10.1038/s41380-024-02599-1. [PMID: 38789676 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02599-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
Despite numerous studies demonstrate that genetics and epigenetics factors play important roles on smoking behavior, our understanding of their functional relevance and coordinated regulation remains largely unknown. Here we present a multiomics study on smoking behavior for Chinese smoker population with the goal of not only identifying smoking-associated functional variants but also deciphering the pathogenesis and mechanism underlying smoking behavior in this under-studied ethnic population. After whole-genome sequencing analysis of 1329 Chinese Han male samples in discovery phase and OpenArray analysis of 3744 samples in replication phase, we discovered that three novel variants located near FOXP1 (rs7635815), and between DGCR6 and PRODH (rs796774020), and in ARVCF (rs148582811) were significantly associated with smoking behavior. Subsequently cis-mQTL and cis-eQTL analysis indicated that these variants correlated significantly with the differential methylation regions (DMRs) or differential expressed genes (DEGs) located in the regions where these variants present. Finally, our in silico multiomics analysis revealed several hub genes, like DRD2, PTPRD, FOXP1, COMT, CTNNAP2, to be synergistic regulated each other in the etiology of smoking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming D Li
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
- Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Qiang Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaoqiang Shi
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yan Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhouhai Zhu
- Joint Institute of Tobacco and Health, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Ying Guan
- Joint Institute of Tobacco and Health, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Jingmin He
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- College of Biological Sciences, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi, China
| | - Haijun Han
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ying Mao
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yunlong Ma
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenji Yuan
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jianhua Yao
- Joint Institute of Tobacco and Health, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Zhongli Yang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
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6
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Zhou J, Weinberger DR, Han S. Deep learning predicts DNA methylation regulatory variants in specific brain cell types and enhances fine mapping for brain disorders. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.18.576319. [PMID: 38293210 PMCID: PMC10827166 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.18.576319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
DNA methylation (DNAm) is essential for brain development and function and potentially mediates the effects of genetic risk variants underlying brain disorders. We present INTERACT, a transformer-based deep learning model to predict regulatory variants impacting DNAm levels in specific brain cell types, leveraging existing single-nucleus DNAm data from the human brain. We show that INTERACT accurately predicts cell type-specific DNAm profiles, achieving an average area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve of 0.98 across cell types. Furthermore, INTERACT predicts cell type-specific DNAm regulatory variants, which reflect cellular context and enrich the heritability of brain-related traits in relevant cell types. Importantly, we demonstrate that incorporating predicted variant effects and DNAm levels of CpG sites enhances the fine mapping for three brain disorders-schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer's disease-and facilitates mapping causal genes to particular cell types. Our study highlights the power of deep learning in identifying cell type-specific regulatory variants, which will enhance our understanding of the genetics of complex traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiyun Zhou
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
| | - Daniel R Weinberger
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - Shizhong Han
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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7
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Mei H, Simino J, Li L, Jiang F, Bis JC, Davies G, Hill WD, Xia C, Gudnason V, Yang Q, Lahti J, Smith JA, Kirin M, De Jager P, Armstrong NJ, Ghanbari M, Kolcic I, Moran C, Teumer A, Sargurupremraj M, Mahmud S, Fornage M, Zhao W, Satizabal CL, Polasek O, Räikkönen K, Liewald DC, Homuth G, Callisaya M, Mather KA, Windham BG, Zemunik T, Palotie A, Pattie A, van der Auwera S, Thalamuthu A, Knopman DS, Rudan I, Starr JM, Wittfeld K, Kochan NA, Griswold ME, Vitart V, Brodaty H, Gottesman R, Cox SR, Psaty BM, Boerwinkle E, Chasman DI, Grodstein F, Sachdev PS, Srikanth V, Hayward C, Wilson JF, Eriksson JG, Kardia SLR, Grabe HJ, Bennett DA, Ikram MA, Deary IJ, van Duijn CM, Launer L, Fitzpatrick AL, Seshadri S, Bressler J, Debette S, Mosley TH. Multi-omics and pathway analyses of genome-wide associations implicate regulation and immunity in verbal declarative memory performance. Alzheimers Res Ther 2024; 16:14. [PMID: 38245754 PMCID: PMC10799499 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-023-01376-6] [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: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Uncovering the functional relevance underlying verbal declarative memory (VDM) genome-wide association study (GWAS) results may facilitate the development of interventions to reduce age-related memory decline and dementia. METHODS We performed multi-omics and pathway enrichment analyses of paragraph (PAR-dr) and word list (WL-dr) delayed recall GWAS from 29,076 older non-demented individuals of European descent. We assessed the relationship between single-variant associations and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in 44 tissues and methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) in the hippocampus. We determined the relationship between gene associations and transcript levels in 53 tissues, annotation as immune genes, and regulation by transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs. To identify significant pathways, gene set enrichment was tested in each cohort and meta-analyzed across cohorts. Analyses of differential expression in brain tissues were conducted for pathway component genes. RESULTS The single-variant associations of VDM showed significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) with eQTLs across all tissues and meQTLs within the hippocampus. Stronger WL-dr gene associations correlated with reduced expression in four brain tissues, including the hippocampus. More robust PAR-dr and/or WL-dr gene associations were intricately linked with immunity and were influenced by 31 TFs and 2 microRNAs. Six pathways, including type I diabetes, exhibited significant associations with both PAR-dr and WL-dr. These pathways included fifteen MHC genes intricately linked to VDM performance, showing diverse expression patterns based on cognitive status in brain tissues. CONCLUSIONS VDM genetic associations influence expression regulation via eQTLs and meQTLs. The involvement of TFs, microRNAs, MHC genes, and immune-related pathways contributes to VDM performance in older individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Mei
- Department of Data Science, John D. Bower School of Population Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
- Gertrude C. Ford Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
| | - Jeannette Simino
- Department of Data Science, John D. Bower School of Population Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
- Gertrude C. Ford Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
| | - Lianna Li
- Department of Biology, Tougaloo College, Jackson, MS, USA
| | - Fan Jiang
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Joshua C Bis
- Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Gail Davies
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - W David Hill
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Charley Xia
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Vilmundur Gudnason
- Icelandic Heart Association, Kopavogur, Iceland
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Qiong Yang
- Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA
| | - Jari Lahti
- Turku Institute for Advanced Research, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jennifer A Smith
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Mirna Kirin
- Work completed while at The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Philip De Jager
- Taub Institute for Research On Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia Irving University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Translational and Computational Neuro-Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Mohsen Ghanbari
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ivana Kolcic
- School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, Croatia
| | - Christopher Moran
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Frankston Hospital, Peninsula Health, Melbourne, Australia
- Peninsula Clinical School, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Alexander Teumer
- Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Murali Sargurupremraj
- Inserm, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, Team VINTAGE, UMR 1219, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Shamsed Mahmud
- Department of Data Science, John D. Bower School of Population Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
| | - Myriam Fornage
- The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
- Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Wei Zhao
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Claudia L Satizabal
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Ozren Polasek
- School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, Croatia
- Algebra University College, Ilica 242, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Katri Räikkönen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - David C Liewald
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Georg Homuth
- Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Michele Callisaya
- Peninsula Clinical School, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Karen A Mather
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | - B Gwen Windham
- Gertrude C. Ford Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
- Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
| | | | - Aarno Palotie
- Department of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Department of Psychiatry, Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- The Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research and Program in Medical and Population Genetics, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Alison Pattie
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Sandra van der Auwera
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Anbupalam Thalamuthu
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | | | - Igor Rudan
- Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - John M Starr
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
- Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Katharina Wittfeld
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Site Rostock/ Greifswald, Rostock, Germany
| | - Nicole A Kochan
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Michael E Griswold
- Gertrude C. Ford Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
| | - Veronique Vitart
- Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Henry Brodaty
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Rebecca Gottesman
- Stroke, Cognition, and Neuroepidemiology (SCAN) Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Simon R Cox
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Bruce M Psaty
- Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Eric Boerwinkle
- Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Daniel I Chasman
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Francine Grodstein
- Department of Medicine, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Perminder S Sachdev
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia
| | - Velandai Srikanth
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Frankston Hospital, Peninsula Health, Melbourne, Australia
- Peninsula Clinical School, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Caroline Hayward
- Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - James F Wilson
- Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Johan G Eriksson
- Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Public Health Solutions, Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sharon L R Kardia
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Hans J Grabe
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Site Rostock/ Greifswald, Rostock, Germany
| | - David A Bennett
- Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - M Arfan Ikram
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ian J Deary
- Department of Psychology, Lothian Birth Cohorts Group, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Cornelia M van Duijn
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lenore Launer
- Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Annette L Fitzpatrick
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Sudha Seshadri
- The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA
- Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Antonio, TX, USA
- Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jan Bressler
- Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Stephanie Debette
- Inserm, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, Team VINTAGE, UMR 1219, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, CHU de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Thomas H Mosley
- Gertrude C. Ford Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
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8
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Messingschlager M, Bartel-Steinbach M, Mackowiak SD, Denkena J, Bieg M, Klös M, Seegebarth A, Straff W, Süring K, Ishaque N, Eils R, Lehmann I, Lermen D, Trump S. Genome-wide DNA methylation sequencing identifies epigenetic perturbations in the upper airways under long-term exposure to moderate levels of ambient air pollution. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 233:116413. [PMID: 37343754 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023]
Abstract
While the link between exposure to high levels of ambient particulate matter (PM) and increased incidences of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases is widely recognized, recent epidemiological studies have shown that low PM concentrations are equally associated with adverse health effects. As DNA methylation is one of the main mechanisms by which cells regulate and stabilize gene expression, changes in the methylome could constitute early indicators of dysregulated signaling pathways. So far, little is known about PM-associated DNA methylation changes in the upper airways, the first point of contact between airborne pollutants and the human body. Here, we focused on cells of the upper respiratory tract and assessed their genome-wide DNA methylation pattern to explore exposure-associated early regulatory changes. Using a mobile epidemiological laboratory, nasal lavage samples were collected from a cohort of 60 adults that lived in districts with records of low (Simmerath) or moderate (Stuttgart) PM10 levels in Germany. PM10 concentrations were verified by particle measurements on the days of the sample collection and genome-wide DNA methylation was determined by enzymatic methyl sequencing at single-base resolution. We identified 231 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between moderately and lowly PM10 exposed individuals. A high proportion of DMRs overlapped with regulatory elements, and DMR target genes were involved in pathways regulating cellular redox homeostasis and immune response. In addition, we found distinct changes in DNA methylation of the HOXA gene cluster whose methylation levels have previously been linked to air pollution exposure but also to carcinogenesis in several instances. The findings of this study suggest that regulatory changes in upper airway cells occur at PM10 levels below current European thresholds, some of which may be involved in the development of air pollution-related diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marey Messingschlager
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany; Freie Universität Berlin, Institute for Biology, Königin-Luise-Strasse 12-16, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Martina Bartel-Steinbach
- Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, Josef-von-Fraunhofer-Weg 1, 66280, Sulzbach, Germany
| | - Sebastian D Mackowiak
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johanna Denkena
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Matthias Bieg
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Matthias Klös
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anke Seegebarth
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Straff
- Environmental Medicine and Health Effects Assessment, German Environment Agency, Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Katrin Süring
- Environmental Medicine and Health Effects Assessment, German Environment Agency, Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Naveed Ishaque
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Roland Eils
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany; German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Germany; Health Data Science Unit, Heidelberg University Hospital and BioQuant, University of Heidelberg, Germany; Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Arnimallee 14, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Irina Lehmann
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany; German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Germany.
| | - Dominik Lermen
- Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, Josef-von-Fraunhofer-Weg 1, 66280, Sulzbach, Germany
| | - Saskia Trump
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Center of Digital Health, Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
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9
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Villicaña S, Castillo-Fernandez J, Hannon E, Christiansen C, Tsai PC, Maddock J, Kuh D, Suderman M, Power C, Relton C, Ploubidis G, Wong A, Hardy R, Goodman A, Ong KK, Bell JT. Genetic impacts on DNA methylation help elucidate regulatory genomic processes. Genome Biol 2023; 24:176. [PMID: 37525248 PMCID: PMC10391992 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-03011-x] [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: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pinpointing genetic impacts on DNA methylation can improve our understanding of pathways that underlie gene regulation and disease risk. RESULTS We report heritability and methylation quantitative trait locus (meQTL) analysis at 724,499 CpGs profiled with the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC array in 2358 blood samples from three UK cohorts. Methylation levels at 34.2% of CpGs are affected by SNPs, and 98% of effects are cis-acting or within 1 Mbp of the tested CpG. Our results are consistent with meQTL analyses based on the former Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 array. Both SNPs and CpGs with meQTLs are overrepresented in enhancers, which have improved coverage on this platform compared to previous approaches. Co-localisation analyses across genetic effects on DNA methylation and 56 human traits identify 1520 co-localisations across 1325 unique CpGs and 34 phenotypes, including in disease-relevant genes, such as USP1 and DOCK7 (total cholesterol levels), and ICOSLG (inflammatory bowel disease). Enrichment analysis of meQTLs and integration with expression QTLs give insights into mechanisms underlying cis-meQTLs (e.g. through disruption of transcription factor binding sites for CTCF and SMC3) and trans-meQTLs (e.g. through regulating the expression of ACD and SENP7 which can modulate DNA methylation at distal sites). CONCLUSIONS Our findings improve the characterisation of the mechanisms underlying DNA methylation variability and are informative for prioritisation of GWAS variants for functional follow-ups. The MeQTL EPIC Database and viewer are available online at https://epicmeqtl.kcl.ac.uk .
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Villicaña
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK.
| | | | | | - Colette Christiansen
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Pei-Chien Tsai
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jane Maddock
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Diana Kuh
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Matthew Suderman
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Christine Power
- Population, Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK
| | - Caroline Relton
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Population, Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK
| | - George Ploubidis
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK
| | - Andrew Wong
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Rebecca Hardy
- School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
- UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Alissa Goodman
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ken K Ong
- MRC Epidemiology Unit and Department of Paediatrics, Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jordana T Bell
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK.
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10
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Zhao L, Mühleisen TW, Pelzer DI, Burger B, Beins EC, Forstner AJ, Herms S, Hoffmann P, Amunts K, Palomero-Gallagher N, Cichon S. Relationships between neurotransmitter receptor densities and expression levels of their corresponding genes in the human hippocampus. Neuroimage 2023; 273:120095. [PMID: 37030412 PMCID: PMC10167541 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurotransmitter receptors are key molecules in signal transmission, their alterations are associated with brain dysfunction. Relationships between receptors and their corresponding genes are poorly understood, especially in humans. We combined in vitro receptor autoradiography and RNA sequencing to quantify, in the same tissue samples (7 subjects), the densities of 14 receptors and expression levels of their corresponding 43 genes in the Cornu Ammonis (CA) and dentate gyrus (DG) of human hippocampus. Significant differences in receptor densities between both structures were found only for metabotropic receptors, whereas significant differences in RNA expression levels mostly pertained ionotropic receptors. Receptor fingerprints of CA and DG differ in shapes but have similar sizes; the opposite holds true for their "RNA fingerprints", which represent the expression levels of multiple genes in a single area. In addition, the correlation coefficients between receptor densities and corresponding gene expression levels vary widely and the mean correlation strength was weak-to-moderate. Our results suggest that receptor densities are not only controlled by corresponding RNA expression levels, but also by multiple regionally specific post-translational factors.
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11
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Lu H, Ma L, Quan C, Li L, Lu Y, Zhou G, Zhang C. RegVar: Tissue-specific Prioritization of Non-coding Regulatory Variants. GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 21:385-395. [PMID: 34973416 PMCID: PMC10626172 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2021.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 06/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Non-coding genomic variants constitute the majority of trait-associated genome variations; however, the identification of functional non-coding variants is still a challenge in human genetics, and a method for systematically assessing the impact of regulatory variants on gene expression and linking these regulatory variants to potential target genes is still lacking. Here, we introduce a deep neural network (DNN)-based computational framework, RegVar, which can accurately predict the tissue-specific impact of non-coding regulatory variants on target genes. We show that by robustly learning the genomic characteristics of massive variant-gene expression associations in a variety of human tissues, RegVar vastly surpasses all current non-coding variant prioritization methods in predicting regulatory variants under different circumstances. The unique features of RegVar make it an excellent framework for assessing the regulatory impact of any variant on its putative target genes in a variety of tissues. RegVar is available as a web server at https://regvar.omic.tech/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Lu
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China
| | - Luyu Ma
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China
| | - Cheng Quan
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China
| | - Lei Li
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China
| | - Yiming Lu
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China.
| | - Gangqiao Zhou
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China.
| | - Chenggang Zhang
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing 100850, China.
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12
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Oliva M, Demanelis K, Lu Y, Chernoff M, Jasmine F, Ahsan H, Kibriya MG, Chen LS, Pierce BL. DNA methylation QTL mapping across diverse human tissues provides molecular links between genetic variation and complex traits. Nat Genet 2023; 55:112-122. [PMID: 36510025 PMCID: PMC10249665 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-022-01248-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 53.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Studies of DNA methylation (DNAm) in solid human tissues are relatively scarce; tissue-specific characterization of DNAm is needed to understand its role in gene regulation and its relevance to complex traits. We generated array-based DNAm profiles for 987 human samples from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, representing 9 tissue types and 424 subjects. We characterized methylome and transcriptome correlations (eQTMs), genetic regulation in cis (mQTLs and eQTLs) across tissues and e/mQTLs links to complex traits. We identified mQTLs for 286,152 CpG sites, many of which (>5%) show tissue specificity, and mQTL colocalizations with 2,254 distinct GWAS hits across 83 traits. For 91% of these loci, a candidate gene link was identified by integration of functional maps, including eQTMs, and/or eQTL colocalization, but only 33% of loci involved an eQTL and mQTL present in the same tissue type. With this DNAm-focused integrative analysis, we contribute to the understanding of molecular regulatory mechanisms in human tissues and their impact on complex traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meritxell Oliva
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Kathryn Demanelis
- Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Yihao Lu
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Meytal Chernoff
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Farzana Jasmine
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Habibul Ahsan
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Institute for Population and Precision Health, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Muhammad G Kibriya
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Institute for Population and Precision Health, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Lin S Chen
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Brandon L Pierce
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
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13
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Dapas M, Thompson EE, Wentworth-Sheilds W, Clay S, Visness CM, Calatroni A, Sordillo JE, Gold DR, Wood RA, Makhija M, Khurana Hershey GK, Sherenian MG, Gruchalla RS, Gill MA, Liu AH, Kim H, Kattan M, Bacharier LB, Rastogi D, Altman MC, Busse WW, Becker PM, Nicolae D, O’Connor GT, Gern JE, Jackson DJ, Ober C. Multi-omic association study identifies DNA methylation-mediated genotype and smoking exposure effects on lung function in children living in urban settings. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010594. [PMID: 36638096 PMCID: PMC9879483 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Impaired lung function in early life is associated with the subsequent development of chronic respiratory disease. Most genetic associations with lung function have been identified in adults of European descent and therefore may not represent those most relevant to pediatric populations and populations of different ancestries. In this study, we performed genome-wide association analyses of lung function in a multiethnic cohort of children (n = 1,035) living in low-income urban neighborhoods. We identified one novel locus at the TDRD9 gene in chromosome 14q32.33 associated with percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (p = 2.4x10-9; βz = -0.31, 95% CI = -0.41- -0.21). Mendelian randomization and mediation analyses revealed that this genetic effect on FEV1 was partially mediated by DNA methylation levels at this locus in airway epithelial cells, which were also associated with environmental tobacco smoke exposure (p = 0.015). Promoter-enhancer interactions in airway epithelial cells revealed chromatin interaction loops between FEV1-associated variants in TDRD9 and the promoter region of the PPP1R13B gene, a stimulator of p53-mediated apoptosis. Expression of PPP1R13B in airway epithelial cells was significantly associated the FEV1 risk alleles (p = 1.3x10-5; β = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.06-0.17). These combined results highlight a potential novel mechanism for reduced lung function in urban youth resulting from both genetics and smoking exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Dapas
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago Illinois, United States of America
| | - Emma E. Thompson
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago Illinois, United States of America
| | | | - Selene Clay
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago Illinois, United States of America
| | | | | | - Joanne E. Sordillo
- Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Diane R. Gold
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Robert A. Wood
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Melanie Makhija
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Michael G. Sherenian
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Rebecca S. Gruchalla
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
| | - Michelle A. Gill
- Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Andrew H. Liu
- Department of Allergy and Immunology, Children’s Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Haejin Kim
- Department of Medicine, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Meyer Kattan
- Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Leonard B. Bacharier
- Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Deepa Rastogi
- Children’s National Health System, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
| | - Matthew C. Altman
- Department of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - William W. Busse
- Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Patrice M. Becker
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Dan Nicolae
- Department of Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - George T. O’Connor
- Pulmonary Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - James E. Gern
- Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Daniel J. Jackson
- Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Carole Ober
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago Illinois, United States of America
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14
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Alvizi L, Brito LA, Kobayashi GS, Bischain B, da Silva CBF, Ramos SLG, Wang J, Passos-Bueno MR. m ir152 hypomethylation as a mechanism for non-syndromic cleft lip and palate. Epigenetics 2022; 17:2278-2295. [PMID: 36047706 PMCID: PMC9665146 DOI: 10.1080/15592294.2022.2115606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 08/06/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCLP), the most common human craniofacial malformation, is a complex disorder given its genetic heterogeneity and multifactorial component revealed by genetic, epidemiological, and epigenetic findings. Epigenetic variations associated with NSCLP have been identified; however, functional investigation has been limited. Here, we combined a reanalysis of NSCLP methylome data with genetic analysis and used both in vitro and in vivo approaches to dissect the functional effects of epigenetic changes. We found a region in mir152 that is frequently hypomethylated in NSCLP cohorts (21-26%), leading to mir152 overexpression. mir152 overexpression in human neural crest cells led to downregulation of spliceosomal, ribosomal, and adherens junction genes. In vivo analysis using zebrafish embryos revealed that mir152 upregulation leads to craniofacial cartilage impairment. Also, we suggest that zebrafish embryonic hypoxia leads to mir152 upregulation combined with mir152 hypomethylation and also analogous palatal alterations. We therefore propose that mir152 hypomethylation, potentially induced by hypoxia in early development, is a novel and frequent predisposing factor to NSCLP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Alvizi
- Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Genoma Humano e Células Tronco, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
| | - Luciano Abreu Brito
- Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Genoma Humano e Células Tronco, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
| | | | - Bárbara Bischain
- Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Genoma Humano e Células Tronco, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
| | | | | | - Jaqueline Wang
- Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Genoma Humano e Células Tronco, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
| | - Maria Rita Passos-Bueno
- Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Genoma Humano e Células Tronco, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
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15
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Xu J, Xia X, Li Q, Dou Y, Suo X, Sun Z, Liu N, Han Y, Sun X, He Y, Qin W, Zhang S, Banaschewski T, Flor H, Grigis A, Gowland P, Heinz A, Brühl R, Martinot JL, Artiges E, Nees F, Paus T, Poustka L, Hohmann S, Walter H, Sham PC, Schumann G, Wu X, Li MJ, Yu C. A causal association of ANKRD37 with human hippocampal volume. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:4432-4445. [PMID: 36195640 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01800-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2021] [Revised: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Human hippocampal volume has been separately associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), DNA methylation and gene expression, but their causal relationships remain largely unknown. Here, we aimed at identifying the causal relationships of SNPs, DNA methylation, and gene expression that are associated with hippocampal volume by integrating cross-omics analyses with genome editing, overexpression and causality inference. Based on structural neuroimaging data and blood-derived genome, transcriptome and methylome data, we prioritized a possibly causal association across multiple molecular phenotypes: rs1053218 mutation leads to cg26741686 hypermethylation, thus leads to overactivation of the associated ANKRD37 gene expression in blood, a gene involving hypoxia, which may result in the reduction of human hippocampal volume. The possibly causal relationships from rs1053218 to cg26741686 methylation to ANKRD37 expression obtained from peripheral blood were replicated in human hippocampal tissue. To confirm causality, we performed CRISPR-based genome and epigenome-editing of rs1053218 homologous alleles and cg26741686 methylation in mouse neural stem cell differentiation models, and overexpressed ANKRD37 in mouse hippocampus. These in-vitro and in-vivo experiments confirmed that rs1053218 mutation caused cg26741686 hypermethylation and ANKRD37 overexpression, and cg26741686 hypermethylation favored ANKRD37 overexpression, and ANKRD37 overexpression reduced hippocampal volume. The pairwise relationships of rs1053218 with hippocampal volume, rs1053218 with cg26741686 methylation, cg26741686 methylation with ANKRD37 expression, and ANKRD37 expression with hippocampal volume could be replicated in an independent healthy young (n = 443) dataset and observed in elderly people (n = 194), and were more significant in patients with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (n = 76). This study revealed a novel causal molecular association mechanism of ANKRD37 with human hippocampal volume, which may facilitate the design of prevention and treatment strategies for hippocampal impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayuan Xu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Xianyou Xia
- Department of Cell Biology, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, PR China
| | - Qiaojun Li
- College of Information Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Yan Dou
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Xinjun Suo
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Zuhao Sun
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Nana Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Yating Han
- Department of Cell Biology, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, PR China
| | - Xiaodi Sun
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Yukun He
- Department of Pharmacology, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Inflammatory Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, PR China
| | - Wen Qin
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China
| | - Shijie Zhang
- Department of Pharmacology, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Inflammatory Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, PR China
| | - Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Herta Flor
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, Germany
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68131, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Antoine Grigis
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Penny Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK
| | - Andreas Heinz
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rüdiger Brühl
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Abbestr. 2 - 12, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jean-Luc Martinot
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U1299 "Developmental trajectories & psychiatry"; Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Eric Artiges
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U1299 "Developmental trajectories & psychiatry"; Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli; Gif-sur-Yvette; and Etablissement Public de Santé (EPS) Barthélemy Durand, 91700, Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, Germany
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
| | - Tomáš Paus
- Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M6A 2E1, Canada
| | - Luise Poustka
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, von-Siebold-Str. 5, 37075, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sarah Hohmann
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Henrik Walter
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany
| | - Pak Chung Sham
- Centre for PanorOmic Sciences-Genomics and Bioinformatics Cores, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, P.R. China
| | - Gunter Schumann
- Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS), Institute for Science and Technology of Brain-inspired Intelligence 20 (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China
- PONS Centre, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, CCM, Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Xudong Wu
- Department of Cell Biology, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, PR China.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China.
| | - Mulin Jun Li
- Department of Pharmacology, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Inflammatory Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, PR China.
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China.
| | - Chunshui Yu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, PR China.
- CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, PR China.
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16
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Zhou J, Chen Q, Braun PR, Perzel Mandell KA, Jaffe AE, Tan HY, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Potash JB, Shinozaki G, Weinberger DR, Han S. Deep learning predicts DNA methylation regulatory variants in the human brain and elucidates the genetics of psychiatric disorders. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2206069119. [PMID: 35969790 PMCID: PMC9407663 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2206069119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing evidence for the role of DNA methylation (DNAm) quantitative trait loci (mQTLs) in the genetics of complex traits, including psychiatric disorders. However, due to extensive linkage disequilibrium (LD) of the genome, it is challenging to identify causal genetic variations that drive DNAm levels by population-based genetic association studies. This limits the utility of mQTLs for fine-mapping risk loci underlying psychiatric disorders identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we present INTERACT, a deep learning model that integrates convolutional neural networks with transformer, to predict effects of genetic variations on DNAm levels at CpG sites in the human brain. We show that INTERACT-derived DNAm regulatory variants are not confounded by LD, are concentrated in regulatory genomic regions in the human brain, and are convergent with mQTL evidence from genetic association analysis. We further demonstrate that predicted DNAm regulatory variants are enriched for heritability of brain-related traits and improve polygenic risk prediction for schizophrenia across diverse ancestry samples. Finally, we applied predicted DNAm regulatory variants for fine-mapping schizophrenia GWAS risk loci to identify potential novel risk genes. Our study shows the power of a deep learning approach to identify functional regulatory variants that may elucidate the genetic basis of complex traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiyun Zhou
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
| | - Qiang Chen
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
| | - Patricia R. Braun
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
| | - Kira A. Perzel Mandell
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Genetic Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
| | - Andrew E. Jaffe
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Genetic Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
- Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
- Department of Mental Health, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205
- Department of Biostatistics, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205
| | - Hao Yang Tan
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
| | - Thomas M. Hyde
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
| | - Joel E. Kleinman
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
| | - James B. Potash
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
| | - Gen Shinozaki
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94305
| | - Daniel R. Weinberger
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Genetic Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
- Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
- Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
| | - Shizhong Han
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Department of Genetic Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
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17
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Cho JW, Shim HS, Lee CY, Park SY, Hong MH, Lee I, Kim HR. The importance of enhancer methylation for epigenetic regulation of tumorigenesis in squamous lung cancer. Exp Mol Med 2022; 54:12-22. [PMID: 34987166 PMCID: PMC8813945 DOI: 10.1038/s12276-021-00718-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is a subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). LUSC occurs at the bronchi, shows a squamous appearance, and often occurs in smokers. To determine the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms of tumorigenesis, we performed a genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in tumor and adjacent normal tissues from LUSC patients. With the Infinium Methylation EPIC Array, > 850,000 CpG sites, including ~350,000 CpG sites for enhancer regions, were profiled, and the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) overlapping promoters (pDMRs) and enhancers (eDMRs) between tumor and normal tissues were identified. Dimension reduction based on DMR profiles revealed that eDMRs alone and not pDMRs alone can differentiate tumors from normal tissues with the equivalent performance of total DMRs. We observed a stronger negative correlation of LUSC-specific gene expression with methylation for enhancers than promoters. Target genes of eDMRs rather than pDMRs were found to be enriched for tumor-associated genes and pathways. Furthermore, DMR methylation associated with immune infiltration was more frequently observed among enhancers than promoters. Our results suggest that methylation of enhancer regions rather than promoters play more important roles in epigenetic regulation of tumorigenesis and immune infiltration in LUSC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jae-Won Cho
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyo Sup Shim
- Department of Pathology, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Chang Young Lee
- Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Seong Yong Park
- Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Min Hee Hong
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Insuk Lee
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
| | - Hye Ryun Kim
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
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18
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Li P, Wu C, Guo X, Wen Y, Liu L, Liang X, Du Y, Zhang L, Ma M, Cheng S, Cheng B, Wang S, Zhang F. Integrative Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies and DNA Methylation Profile Identified Genetic Control Genes of DNA Methylation for Kashin-Beck Disease. Cartilage 2021; 13:780S-788S. [PMID: 31220921 PMCID: PMC8808895 DOI: 10.1177/1947603519858748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Epigenetic modifications of DNA are regarded as a crucial factor for understanding the molecular basis of complex phenotypes. This study aims to uncover insight into the epigenetic modifications for Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) by integrating genome-wide association studies (GWAS), methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs), and DNA methylation profiles data. DESIGN The knee articular cartilages of 5 KBD patients and 5 healthy controls were collected for DNA methylation profiling, using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. Mass spectrograph validation of identified differently methylated genes was conducted using independent samples of 4 KBD patients and 3 healthy controls, together with a previous sample of 2743 Han Chinese individuals of GWAS study for KBD and a study of 697 normal subjects for meQTLs annotation datasets. KBD GWAS single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and normal meQTLs SNPs were integrated with DNA methylation profiles of KBD articular cartilage to identify genetic control (GC) genes of DNA methylation for KBD. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed to validate the mRNA expression of several identified candidate genes. RESULTS A total of 162 CpG sites, 253 SNPs, and 123 GC genes for KBD were identified. Enrichment analysis detected 642 marked GO terms and 19 KEGG pathways (P < 0.05). Six potential key GC genes were conducted for qPCR experiment (ERG, MN1, MITF, WISP1, TRIO, and NOSTRIN). CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that GC genes of DNA methylation may lead to the erosion of cartilage in KBD, which may help us in understanding the epigenetic alteration of KBD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ping Li
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Cuiyan Wu
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Xiong Guo
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Yan Wen
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Li Liu
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Xiao Liang
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Yanan Du
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Lu Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Mei Ma
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Shiqiang Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Bolun Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Sen Wang
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China
| | - Feng Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and
Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China,
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
People’s Republic of China,Feng Zhang, Key Laboratory of Trace Elements
and Endemic Disease of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of
China, School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi’an Jiaotong
University, No.76 Yan Ta West Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, People’s Republic of
China.
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19
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Brain Immunoinformatics: A Symmetrical Link between Informatics, Wet Lab and the Clinic. Symmetry (Basel) 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/sym13112168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Breakthrough advances in informatics over the last decade have thoroughly influenced the field of immunology. The intermingling of machine learning with wet lab applications and clinical results has hatched the newly defined immunoinformatics society. Immunoinformatics of the central neural system, referred to as neuroimmunoinformatics (NII), investigates symmetrical and asymmetrical interactions of the brain-immune interface. This interdisciplinary overview on NII is addressed to bioscientists and computer scientists. We delineate the dominating trajectories and field-shaping achievements and elaborate on future directions using bridging language and terminology. Computation, varying from linear modeling to complex deep learning approaches, fuels neuroimmunology through three core directions. Firstly, by providing big-data analysis software for high-throughput methods such as next-generation sequencing and genome-wide association studies. Secondly, by designing models for the prediction of protein morphology, functions, and symmetrical and asymmetrical protein–protein interactions. Finally, NII boosts the output of quantitative pathology by enabling the automatization of tedious processes such as cell counting, tracing, and arbor analysis. The new classification of microglia, the brain’s innate immune cells, was an NII achievement. Deep sequencing classifies microglia in “sensotypes” to accurately describe the versatility of immune responses to physiological and pathological challenges, as well as to experimental conditions such as xenografting and organoids. NII approaches complex tasks in the brain-immune interface, recognizes patterns and allows for hypothesis-free predictions with ultimate targeted individualized treatment strategies, and personalizes disease prognosis and treatment response.
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20
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Alfimova MV, Kondratyev NV, Golov AK, Kaleda VG, Abramova LI, Golimbet VE. Relationship between DNA Methylation within the YJEFN3 Gene and Cognitive Deficit in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders. RUSS J GENET+ 2021. [DOI: 10.1134/s1022795421080019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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21
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Genome-wide sequencing-based identification of methylation quantitative trait loci and their role in schizophrenia risk. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5251. [PMID: 34475392 PMCID: PMC8413445 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25517-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
DNA methylation (DNAm) is an epigenetic regulator of gene expression and a hallmark of gene-environment interaction. Using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, we have surveyed DNAm in 344 samples of human postmortem brain tissue from neurotypical subjects and individuals with schizophrenia. We identify genetic influence on local methylation levels throughout the genome, both at CpG sites and CpH sites, with 86% of SNPs and 55% of CpGs being part of methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs). These associations can further be clustered into regions that are differentially methylated by a given SNP, highlighting the genes and regions with which these loci are epigenetically associated. These findings can be used to better characterize schizophrenia GWAS-identified variants as epigenetic risk variants. Regions differentially methylated by schizophrenia risk-SNPs explain much of the heritability associated with risk loci, despite covering only a fraction of the genomic space. We provide a comprehensive, single base resolution view of association between genetic variation and genomic methylation, and implicate schizophrenia GWAS-associated variants as influencing the epigenetic plasticity of the brain. The authors provide a comprehensive, single base resolution view of association between genetic variation and DNA methylation in human brain. They also show that heritability attributed to schizophrenia GWAS-associated variants reflects the epigenetic plasticity of the brain.
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22
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Zhang T, Choi J, Dilshat R, Einarsdóttir BÓ, Kovacs MA, Xu M, Malasky M, Chowdhury S, Jones K, Bishop DT, Goldstein AM, Iles MM, Landi MT, Law MH, Shi J, Steingrímsson E, Brown KM. Cell-type-specific meQTLs extend melanoma GWAS annotation beyond eQTLs and inform melanocyte gene-regulatory mechanisms. Am J Hum Genet 2021; 108:1631-1646. [PMID: 34293285 PMCID: PMC8456160 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.06.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Although expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) have been powerful in identifying susceptibility genes from genome-wide association study (GWAS) findings, most trait-associated loci are not explained by eQTLs alone. Alternative QTLs, including DNA methylation QTLs (meQTLs), are emerging, but cell-type-specific meQTLs using cells of disease origin have been lacking. Here, we established an meQTL dataset by using primary melanocytes from 106 individuals and identified 1,497,502 significant cis-meQTLs. Multi-QTL colocalization with meQTLs, eQTLs, and mRNA splice-junction QTLs from the same individuals together with imputed methylome-wide and transcriptome-wide association studies identified candidate susceptibility genes at 63% of melanoma GWAS loci. Among the three molecular QTLs, meQTLs were the single largest contributor. To compare melanocyte meQTLs with those from malignant melanomas, we performed meQTL analysis on skin cutaneous melanomas from The Cancer Genome Atlas (n = 444). A substantial proportion of meQTL probes (45.9%) in primary melanocytes is preserved in melanomas, while a smaller fraction of eQTL genes is preserved (12.7%). Integration of melanocyte multi-QTLs and melanoma meQTLs identified candidate susceptibility genes at 72% of melanoma GWAS loci. Beyond GWAS annotation, meQTL-eQTL colocalization in melanocytes suggested that 841 unique genes potentially share a causal variant with a nearby methylation probe in melanocytes. Finally, melanocyte trans-meQTLs identified a hotspot for rs12203592, a cis-eQTL of a transcription factor, IRF4, with 131 candidate target CpGs. Motif enrichment and IRF4 ChIP-seq analysis demonstrated that these target CpGs are enriched in IRF4 binding sites, suggesting an IRF4-mediated regulatory network. Our study highlights the utility of cell-type-specific meQTLs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tongwu Zhang
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Jiyeon Choi
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Ramile Dilshat
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BioMedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Berglind Ósk Einarsdóttir
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BioMedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Michael A Kovacs
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Mai Xu
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Michael Malasky
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Salma Chowdhury
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Kristine Jones
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - D Timothy Bishop
- Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS9 7TF, UK
| | - Alisa M Goldstein
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Mark M Iles
- Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS9 7TF, UK
| | - Maria Teresa Landi
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Matthew H Law
- Statistical Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059, Australia
| | - Jianxin Shi
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Eiríkur Steingrímsson
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BioMedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Kevin M Brown
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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23
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Díez-Villanueva A, Jordà M, Carreras-Torres R, Alonso H, Cordero D, Guinó E, Sanjuan X, Santos C, Salazar R, Sanz-Pamplona R, Moreno V. Identifying causal models between genetically regulated methylation patterns and gene expression in healthy colon tissue. Clin Epigenetics 2021; 13:162. [PMID: 34419169 PMCID: PMC8380335 DOI: 10.1186/s13148-021-01148-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND DNA methylation is involved in the regulation of gene expression and phenotypic variation, but the inter-relationship between genetic variation, DNA methylation and gene expression remains poorly understood. Here we combine the analysis of genetic variants related to methylation markers (methylation quantitative trait loci: mQTLs) and gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci: eQTLs) with methylation markers related to gene expression (expression quantitative trait methylation: eQTMs), to provide novel insights into the genetic/epigenetic architecture of colocalizing molecular markers. RESULTS Normal mucosa from 100 patients with colon cancer and 50 healthy donors included in the Colonomics project have been analyzed. Linear models have been used to find mQTLs and eQTMs within 1 Mb of the target gene. From 32,446 eQTLs previously detected, we found a total of 6850 SNPs, 114 CpGs and 52 genes interrelated, generating 13,987 significant combinations of co-occurring associations (meQTLs) after Bonferromi correction. Non-redundant meQTLs were 54, enriched in genes involved in metabolism of glucose and xenobiotics and immune system. SNPs in meQTLs were enriched in regulatory elements (enhancers and promoters) compared to random SNPs within 1 Mb of genes. Three colorectal cancer GWAS SNPs were related to methylation changes, and four SNPs were related to chemerin levels. Bayesian networks have been used to identify putative causal relationships among associated SNPs, CpG and gene expression triads. We identified that most of these combinations showed the canonical pathway of methylation markers causes gene expression variation (60.1%) or non-causal relationship between methylation and gene expression (33.9%); however, in up to 6% of these combinations, gene expression was causing variation in methylation markers. CONCLUSIONS In this study we provided a characterization of the regulation between genetic variants and inter-dependent methylation markers and gene expression in a set of 150 healthy colon tissue samples. This is an important finding for the understanding of molecular susceptibility on colon-related complex diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Díez-Villanueva
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Mireia Jordà
- Program of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (PMPPC), Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Robert Carreras-Torres
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Henar Alonso
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - David Cordero
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Elisabet Guinó
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - Xavier Sanjuan
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Pathology Department, University Hospital Bellvitge (HUB), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cristina Santos
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Medical Oncology Service, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Oncology (CIBERONC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Ramón Salazar
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Medical Oncology Service, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Barcelona, Spain
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Oncology (CIBERONC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Rebeca Sanz-Pamplona
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
| | - Victor Moreno
- Unit of Biomarkers and Susceptibility, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Av Gran Via 199-203, 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
- Colorectal Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
- Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
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24
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Eales JM, Jiang X, Xu X, Saluja S, Akbarov A, Cano-Gamez E, McNulty MT, Finan C, Guo H, Wystrychowski W, Szulinska M, Thomas HB, Pramanik S, Chopade S, Prestes PR, Wise I, Evangelou E, Salehi M, Shakanti Y, Ekholm M, Denniff M, Nazgiewicz A, Eichinger F, Godfrey B, Antczak A, Glyda M, Król R, Eyre S, Brown J, Berzuini C, Bowes J, Caulfield M, Zukowska-Szczechowska E, Zywiec J, Bogdanski P, Kretzler M, Woolf AS, Talavera D, Keavney B, Maffia P, Guzik TJ, O'Keefe RT, Trynka G, Samani NJ, Hingorani A, Sampson MG, Morris AP, Charchar FJ, Tomaszewski M. Uncovering genetic mechanisms of hypertension through multi-omic analysis of the kidney. Nat Genet 2021; 53:630-637. [PMID: 33958779 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-021-00835-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The kidney is an organ of key relevance to blood pressure (BP) regulation, hypertension and antihypertensive treatment. However, genetically mediated renal mechanisms underlying susceptibility to hypertension remain poorly understood. We integrated genotype, gene expression, alternative splicing and DNA methylation profiles of up to 430 human kidneys to characterize the effects of BP index variants from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on renal transcriptome and epigenome. We uncovered kidney targets for 479 (58.3%) BP-GWAS variants and paired 49 BP-GWAS kidney genes with 210 licensed drugs. Our colocalization and Mendelian randomization analyses identified 179 unique kidney genes with evidence of putatively causal effects on BP. Through Mendelian randomization, we also uncovered effects of BP on renal outcomes commonly affecting patients with hypertension. Collectively, our studies identified genetic variants, kidney genes, molecular mechanisms and biological pathways of key relevance to the genetic regulation of BP and inherited susceptibility to hypertension.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Eales
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Xiao Jiang
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Xiaoguang Xu
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Sushant Saluja
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Artur Akbarov
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Eddie Cano-Gamez
- Department of Human Genetics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
| | - Michelle T McNulty
- Division of Nephrology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.,The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Christopher Finan
- Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Hui Guo
- Centre for Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Wojciech Wystrychowski
- Department of General, Vascular and Transplant Surgery, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
| | - Monika Szulinska
- Department of Obesity, Metabolic Disorders Treatment and Clinical Dietetics, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
| | - Huw B Thomas
- Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Sanjeev Pramanik
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.,East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Blackburn, UK
| | - Sandesh Chopade
- Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Priscilla R Prestes
- Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, School of Science, Psychology and Sport, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ingrid Wise
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Evangelos Evangelou
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.,Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece
| | - Mahan Salehi
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Yusif Shakanti
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Mikael Ekholm
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.,Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Matthew Denniff
- Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Alicja Nazgiewicz
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Felix Eichinger
- Department of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Bradley Godfrey
- Department of Urology and Uro-oncology, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
| | - Andrzej Antczak
- Department of Urology and Uro-oncology, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
| | - Maciej Glyda
- Department of Transplantology and General Surgery Poznan, Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
| | - Robert Król
- Department of General, Vascular and Transplant Surgery, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
| | - Stephen Eyre
- Division of Musculoskeletal and Dermatological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Jason Brown
- Division of Research and Innovation, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
| | - Carlo Berzuini
- Centre for Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - John Bowes
- Division of Musculoskeletal and Dermatological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Mark Caulfield
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.,National Institute for Health Research, Barts Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Centre, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | | | - Joanna Zywiec
- Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetology and Nephrology, Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
| | - Pawel Bogdanski
- Department of Obesity, Metabolic Disorders Treatment and Clinical Dietetics, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
| | | | - Adrian S Woolf
- Division of Cell Matrix Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.,Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
| | - David Talavera
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Bernard Keavney
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.,Division of Cardiology and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
| | - Pasquale Maffia
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.,Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.,Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
| | - Tomasz J Guzik
- Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.,Department of Internal and Agricultural Medicine, Jagiellonian University College of Medicine, Kraków, Poland
| | - Raymond T O'Keefe
- Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Gosia Trynka
- Department of Human Genetics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK.,Open Targets, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Nilesh J Samani
- Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.,National Institute for Health Research, Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Leicester, UK
| | - Aroon Hingorani
- Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Matthew G Sampson
- Division of Nephrology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.,The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andrew P Morris
- Division of Musculoskeletal and Dermatological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.,Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Fadi J Charchar
- Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, School of Science, Psychology and Sport, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.,Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Maciej Tomaszewski
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. .,Manchester Heart Centre and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
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25
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Villicaña S, Bell JT. Genetic impacts on DNA methylation: research findings and future perspectives. Genome Biol 2021; 22:127. [PMID: 33931130 PMCID: PMC8086086 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02347-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Multiple recent studies highlight that genetic variants can have strong impacts on a significant proportion of the human DNA methylome. Methylation quantitative trait loci, or meQTLs, allow for the exploration of biological mechanisms that underlie complex human phenotypes, with potential insights for human disease onset and progression. In this review, we summarize recent milestones in characterizing the human genetic basis of DNA methylation variation over the last decade, including heritability findings and genome-wide identification of meQTLs. We also discuss challenges in this field and future areas of research geared to generate insights into molecular processes underlying human complex traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Villicaña
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, St. Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College London, 3rd Floor, South Wing, Block D, London, SE1 7EH UK
| | - Jordana T. Bell
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, St. Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College London, 3rd Floor, South Wing, Block D, London, SE1 7EH UK
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26
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Rizzardi LF, Hickey PF, Idrizi A, Tryggvadóttir R, Callahan CM, Stephens KE, Taverna SD, Zhang H, Ramazanoglu S, Hansen KD, Feinberg AP. Human brain region-specific variably methylated regions are enriched for heritability of distinct neuropsychiatric traits. Genome Biol 2021; 22:116. [PMID: 33888138 PMCID: PMC8061076 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02335-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND DNA methylation dynamics in the brain are associated with normal development and neuropsychiatric disease and differ across functionally distinct brain regions. Previous studies of genome-wide methylation differences among human brain regions focus on limited numbers of individuals and one to two brain regions. RESULTS Using GTEx samples, we generate a resource of DNA methylation in purified neuronal nuclei from 8 brain regions as well as lung and thyroid tissues from 12 to 23 donors. We identify differentially methylated regions between brain regions among neuronal nuclei in both CpG (181,146) and non-CpG (264,868) contexts, few of which were unique to a single pairwise comparison. This significantly expands the knowledge of differential methylation across the brain by 10-fold. In addition, we present the first differential methylation analysis among neuronal nuclei from basal ganglia tissues and identify unique CpG differentially methylated regions, many associated with ion transport. We also identify 81,130 regions of variably CpG methylated regions, i.e., variable methylation among individuals in the same brain region, which are enriched in regulatory regions and in CpG differentially methylated regions. Many variably methylated regions are unique to a specific brain region, with only 202 common across all brain regions, as well as lung and thyroid. Variably methylated regions identified in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and hippocampus are enriched for heritability of schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that epigenetic variation in these particular human brain regions could be associated with the risk for this neuropsychiatric disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay F. Rizzardi
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, 601 Genome Way, Huntsville, AL 35806 USA
| | - Peter F. Hickey
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Epigenetics and Development Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria Australia
- Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria Australia
| | - Adrian Idrizi
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Rakel Tryggvadóttir
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Colin M. Callahan
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Kimberly E. Stephens
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 13 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
- Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
| | - Sean D. Taverna
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Hao Zhang
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Sinan Ramazanoglu
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - GTEx Consortium
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, 601 Genome Way, Huntsville, AL 35806 USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Epigenetics and Development Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria Australia
- Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria Australia
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 13 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
- Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Schools of Engineering and Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Kasper D. Hansen
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Andrew P. Feinberg
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Schools of Engineering and Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA
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27
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Hu J, Wuitchik SJS, Barry TN, Jamniczky HA, Rogers SM, Barrett RDH. Heritability of DNA methylation in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Genetics 2021; 217:1-15. [PMID: 33683369 PMCID: PMC8045681 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyab001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Epigenetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic change are hypothesized to contribute to population persistence and adaptation in the face of environmental change. To date, few studies have explored the heritability of intergenerationally stable methylation levels in natural populations, and little is known about the relative contribution of cis- and trans-regulatory changes to methylation variation. Here, we explore the heritability of DNA methylation, and conduct methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) analysis to investigate the genetic architecture underlying methylation variation between marine and freshwater ecotypes of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We quantitatively measured genome-wide DNA methylation in fin tissue using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing of F1 and F2 crosses, and their marine and freshwater source populations. We identified cytosines (CpG sites) that exhibited stable methylation levels across generations. We found that additive genetic variance explained an average of 24-35% of the methylation variance, with a number of CpG sites possibly autonomous from genetic control. We also detected both cis- and trans-meQTLs, with only trans-meQTLs overlapping with previously identified genomic regions of high differentiation between marine and freshwater ecotypes. Finally, we identified the genetic architecture underlying two key CpG sites that were differentially methylated between ecotypes. These findings demonstrate a potential role for DNA methylation in facilitating adaptation to divergent environments and improve our understanding of the heritable basis of population epigenomic variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juntao Hu
- National Observation and Research Station for Yangtze Estuarine Wetland Ecosystems, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
- Redpath Museum and Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C4, Canada
| | - Sara J S Wuitchik
- Informatics Group, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Tegan N Barry
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Heather A Jamniczky
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Sean M Rogers
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Rowan D H Barrett
- Redpath Museum and Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C4, Canada
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28
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Ma Y, Liu S, Gao J, Chen C, Zhang X, Yuan H, Chen Z, Yin X, Sun C, Mao Y, Zhou F, Shao Y, Liu Q, Xu J, Cheng L, Yu D, Li P, Yi P, He J, Geng G, Guo Q, Si Y, Zhao H, Li H, Banes GL, Liu H, Nakamura Y, Kurita R, Huang Y, Wang X, Wang F, Fang G, Engel JD, Shi L, Zhang YE, Yu J. Genome-wide analysis of pseudogenes reveals HBBP1's human-specific essentiality in erythropoiesis and implication in β-thalassemia. Dev Cell 2021; 56:478-493.e11. [PMID: 33476555 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Revised: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/28/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The human genome harbors 14,000 duplicated or retroposed pseudogenes. Given their functionality as regulatory RNAs and low conservation, we hypothesized that pseudogenes could shape human-specific phenotypes. To test this, we performed co-expression analyses and found that pseudogene exhibited tissue-specific expression, especially in the bone marrow. By incorporating genetic data, we identified a bone-marrow-specific duplicated pseudogene, HBBP1 (η-globin), which has been implicated in β-thalassemia. Extensive functional assays demonstrated that HBBP1 is essential for erythropoiesis by binding the RNA-binding protein (RBP), HNRNPA1, to upregulate TAL1, a key regulator of erythropoiesis. The HBBP1/TAL1 interaction contributes to a milder symptom in β-thalassemia patients. Comparative studies further indicated that the HBBP1/TAL1 interaction is human-specific. Genome-wide analyses showed that duplicated pseudogenes are often bound by RBPs and less commonly bound by microRNAs compared with retropseudogenes. Taken together, we not only demonstrate that pseudogenes can drive human evolution but also provide insights on their functional landscapes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanni Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China.
| | - Siqi Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Jie Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300020, China
| | - Chunyan Chen
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution & State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xin Zhang
- Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology & Medical Molecular Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China
| | - Hao Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution & State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhongyang Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Xiaolin Yin
- 923rd Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Guangxi 530021, China
| | - Chenguang Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Yanan Mao
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution & State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Fanqi Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Yi Shao
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution & State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Qian Liu
- Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China
| | - Jiayue Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Li Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China
| | - Daqi Yu
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution & State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Pingping Li
- 923rd Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Guangxi 530021, China
| | - Ping Yi
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (General Hospital), Chongqing 401120, China
| | - Jiahuan He
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Guangfeng Geng
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300020, China
| | - Qing Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300020, China
| | - Yanmin Si
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Hualu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Haipeng Li
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
| | - Graham L Banes
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1220 Capitol Court, Madison, WI 53715, USA
| | - He Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Captive Wildlife Technology, Beijing Zoo, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Yukio Nakamura
- Cell Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan
| | - Ryo Kurita
- Department of Research and Development, Central Blood Institute, Japanese Red Cross Society, Tokyo 105-8521, Japan
| | - Yue Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China
| | - Xiaoshuang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Fang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China
| | - Gang Fang
- NYU Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Shanghai 20012, China; Department of Biology, 1009 Silver Center, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA; School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - James Douglas Engel
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Lihong Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300020, China.
| | - Yong E Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution & State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China; Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China.
| | - Jia Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100005, China; Key Laboratory of RNA and Hematopoietic Regulation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China; State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300020, China.
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29
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Tian J, Cai Y, Li Y, Lu Z, Huang J, Deng Y, Yang N, Wang X, Ying P, Zhang S, Zhu Y, Zhang H, Zhong R, Chang J, Miao X. CancerImmunityQTL: a database to systematically evaluate the impact of genetic variants on immune infiltration in human cancer. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:D1065-D1073. [PMID: 33010176 PMCID: PMC7778991 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Tumor-infiltrating immune cells as integral component of the tumor microenvironment are associated with tumor progress, prognosis and responses to immunotherapy. Genetic variants have been demonstrated to impact tumor-infiltrating, underscoring the heritable character of immune landscape. Therefore, identification of immunity quantitative trait loci (immunQTLs), which evaluate the effect of genetic variants on immune cells infiltration, might present a critical step toward fully understanding the contribution of genetic variants in tumor development. Although emerging studies have demonstrated the determinants of germline variants on immune infiltration, no database has yet been developed to systematically analyze immunQTLs across multiple cancer types. Using genotype data from TCGA database and immune cell fractions estimated by CIBERSORT, we developed a computational pipeline to identify immunQTLs in 33 cancer types. A total of 913 immunQTLs across different cancer types were identified. Among them, 5 immunQTLs are associated with patient overall survival. Furthermore, by integrating immunQTLs with GWAS data, we identified 527 immunQTLs overlapping with known GWAS linkage disequilibrium regions. Finally, we constructed a user-friendly database, CancerImmunityQTL (http://www.cancerimmunityqtl-hust.com/) for users to browse, search and download data of interest. This database provides an informative resource to understand the germline determinants of immune infiltration in human cancer and benefit from personalized cancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianbo Tian
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Yimin Cai
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Yue Li
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Zequn Lu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Jinyu Huang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Yao Deng
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Nan Yang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Xiaoyang Wang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Pingting Ying
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Shanshan Zhang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Ying Zhu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Huilan Zhang
- Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Rong Zhong
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Jiang Chang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
| | - Xiaoping Miao
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
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30
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Singh A, Zhong Y, Nahlawi L, Park CS, De T, Alarcon C, Perera MA. Incorporation of DNA methylation into eQTL mapping in African Americans. PACIFIC SYMPOSIUM ON BIOCOMPUTING. PACIFIC SYMPOSIUM ON BIOCOMPUTING 2021; 26:244-255. [PMID: 33691021 PMCID: PMC7958994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Epigenetics is a reversible molecular mechanism that plays a critical role in many developmental, adaptive, and disease processes. DNA methylation has been shown to regulate gene expression and the advent of high throughput technologies has made genome-wide DNA methylation analysis possible. We investigated the effect of DNA methylation on eQTL mapping (methylation-adjusted eQTLs), by incorporating DNA methylation as a SNP-based covariate in eQTL mapping in African American derived hepatocytes. We found that the addition of DNA methylation uncovered new eQTLs and eGenes. Previously discovered eQTLs were significantly altered by the addition of DNA methylation data suggesting that methylation may modulate the association of SNPs to gene expression. We found that methylation-adjusted eQTLs that were less significant compared to PC-adjusted eQTLs were enriched in lipoprotein measurements (FDR=0.0040), immune system disorders (FDR = 0.0042), and liver enzyme measurements (FDR=0.047), suggesting that DNA methylation modulates the genetic regulation of these phenotypes. Our methylation-adjusted eQTL analysis also uncovered novel SNP-gene pairs. For example, we found that the SNP, rs1332018, was associated to GSTM3. GSTM3 expression has been linked to Hepatitis B which African Americans suffer from disproportionately. Our methylation-adjusted method adds new understanding to the genetic basis of complex diseases that disproportionally affect African Americans.
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31
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Tsortouktzidis D, Schulz H, Hamed M, Vatter H, Surges R, Schoch S, Sander T, Becker AJ, van Loo KMJ. Gene expression analysis in epileptic hippocampi reveals a promoter haplotype conferring reduced aldehyde dehydrogenase 5a1 expression and responsiveness. Epilepsia 2020; 62:e29-e34. [PMID: 33319393 DOI: 10.1111/epi.16789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2020] [Revised: 11/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Increasing evidence indicates the pathogenetic relevance of regulatory genomic motifs for variability in the manifestation of brain disorders. In this context, cis-regulatory effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on gene expression can contribute to changing transcript levels of excitability-relevant molecules and episodic seizure manifestation in epilepsy. Biopsy specimens of patients undergoing epilepsy surgery for seizure relief provide unique insights into the impact of promoter SNPs on corresponding mRNA expression. Here, we have scrutinized whether two linked regulatory SNPs (rs2744575; 4779C > G and rs4646830; 4854C > G) located in the aldehyde dehydrogenase 5a1 (succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase; ALDH5A1) gene promoter are associated with expression of corresponding mRNAs in epileptic hippocampi (n = 43). The minor ALDH5A1-GG haplotype associates with significantly lower ALDH5A1 transcript abundance. Complementary in vitro analyses in neural cell cultures confirm this difference and further reveal a significantly constricted range for the minor ALDH5A1 haplotype of promoter activity regulation through the key epileptogenesis transcription factor Egr1 (early growth response 1). The present data suggest systematic analyses in human hippocampal tissue as a useful approach to unravel the impact of epilepsy candidate SNPs on associated gene expression. Aberrant ALDH5A1 promoter regulation in functional terms can contribute to impaired γ-aminobutyric acid homeostasis and thereby network excitability and seizure propensity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Despina Tsortouktzidis
- Section for Translational Epilepsy Research, Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Herbert Schulz
- Cologne Center of Genomics, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Motaz Hamed
- Clinic for Neurosurgery, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Hartmut Vatter
- Clinic for Neurosurgery, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Rainer Surges
- Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Susanne Schoch
- Section for Translational Epilepsy Research, Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Thomas Sander
- Cologne Center of Genomics, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Albert J Becker
- Section for Translational Epilepsy Research, Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Karen M J van Loo
- Section for Translational Epilepsy Research, Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany.,Department of Epileptology, Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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32
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Liu Q, Xu Y, Mao Y, Ma Y, Wang M, Han H, Cui W, Yuan W, Payne TJ, Xu Y, Li MD, Yang Z. Genetic and Epigenetic Analysis Revealing Variants in the NCAM1-TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 Cluster Associated Significantly With Nicotine Dependence in Chinese Han Smokers. Nicotine Tob Res 2020; 22:1301-1309. [PMID: 31867628 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntz240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUNDS Although studies have demonstrated that the NCAM1-TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 gene cluster plays essential roles in addictions in subjects of European and African origin, study of Chinese Han subjects is limited. Further, the underlying biological mechanisms of detected associations are largely unknown. METHODS Sixty-four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this cluster were analyzed for association with Fagerstrőm Test for Nicotine Dependence score (FTND) and cigarettes per day (CPD) in male Chinese Han smokers (N = 2616). Next-generation bisulfite sequencing was used to discover smoking-associated differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Both cis-eQTL and cis-mQTL analyses were applied to assess the cis-regulatory effects of these risk SNPs. RESULTS Association analysis revealed that rs4648317 was significantly associated with FTND and CPD (p = .00018; p = .00072). Moreover, 14 additional SNPs were marginally significantly associated with FTND or CPD (p = .05-.01). Haplotype-based association analysis showed that one haplotype in DRD2, C-T-A-G, formed by rs4245148, rs4581480, rs4648317, and rs11214613, was significantly associated with CPD (p = .0005) and marginally associated with FTND (p = .003). Further, we identified four significant smoking-associated DMRs, three of which are located in the DRD2/ANKK1 region (p = .0012-.00005). Finally, we found five significant CpG-SNP pairs (p = 7.9 × 10-9-6.6 × 10-6) formed by risk SNPs rs4648317, rs11604671, and rs2734849 and three methylation loci. CONCLUSIONS We found two missense variants (rs11604671; rs2734849) and an intronic variant (rs4648317) with significant effects on ND and further explored their mechanisms of action through expression and methylation analysis. We found the majority of smoking-related DMRs are located in the ANKK1/DRD2 region, indicating a likely causative relation between non-synonymous SNPs and DMRs. IMPLICATIONS This study shows that there exist significant association of variants and haplotypes in ANKK1/DRD2 region with ND in Chinese male smokers. Further, this study also shows that DNA methylation plays an important role in mediating such associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yi Xu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ying Mao
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yunlong Ma
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Maiqiu Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Haijun Han
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenyan Cui
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenji Yuan
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Thomas J Payne
- ACT Center for Tobacco Treatment, Education and Research, Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS
| | - Yizhou Xu
- The Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ming D Li
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.,Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhongli Yang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
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33
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Yang Z, Zhang Q, Yu H, Du H, Li L, He Y, Zhu S, Li C, Zhang S, Luo B, Gao Y. Genetic association study of a novel indel polymorphism in HSPA1B with the risk of sudden cardiac death in the Chinese populations. Forensic Sci Int 2020; 318:110637. [PMID: 33309992 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) has become a global problem due to its high mortality in the general population. Identification of genetic factors predisposed to SCD is significant since it enables genetic testing that would contribute to molecular diagnosis and risk stratification of SCD. It has been reported that HSPA1B gene mutations might be related with SCD. In this study, based on candidate-gene-based approach and systematic screening strategy, a 5-base pair insertion/deletion (Indel) polymorphism (rs3036297) in the 3'UTR of HSPA1B gene was selected to perform a case-control study aiming to investigate its association with SCD susceptibility in Chinese populations. Logistic regression analysis showed that the insertion allele of rs3036297 was correlated with a comparatively lower risk for SCD [OR=0.58, 95%CI=0.43-0.77, P=1.28×10-4] compared with the deletion allele. Luciferase activity assay indicated that HSPA1B expression could be regulated by rs3036297 through interfering binding with miR-134-5p. Furthermore, analysis of database from Haploreg and GTEx revealed that the rs3036297 variant was involved in potential cis-regulatory element with the promoter of HLA-DRB5 through a long-range interaction and the deletion allele of rs3036297 increased HLA-DRB5 expression. In conclusion, the rs3036297 variant may regulate HSPA1B expression via a mechanism of miRNA binding and HLA-DRB5 expression via a long-range promoter interaction through which contributed to SCD susceptibility. Therefore, rs3036297 would be a potential marker for molecular diagnosis and genetic counseling of SCD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenzhen Yang
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China; Institute of Forensic Sciences, Henan University of Economics and Law, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Qing Zhang
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Huan Yu
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Hailin Du
- Nanjing Red Cross Blood Center, Nanjing, China
| | - Lijuan Li
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Yan He
- Department of Epidemiology, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Shaohua Zhu
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Chengtao Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai, China
| | - Suhua Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai, China
| | - Bin Luo
- Department of Forensic Pathology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Yuzhen Gao
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
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Watkeys OJ, Cohen-Woods S, Quidé Y, Cairns MJ, Overs B, Fullerton JM, Green MJ. Derivation of poly-methylomic profile scores for schizophrenia. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2020; 101:109925. [PMID: 32194204 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2020.109925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2019] [Revised: 03/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share biological features and environmental risk factors that may be associated with altered DNA methylation. In this study we sought to: 1) construct a novel 'Poly-Methylomic Profile Score (PMPS)' by transforming schizophrenia-associated epigenome-wide methylation from a previously published epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) into a single quantitative metric; and 2) examine associations between the PMPS and clinical status in an independent sample of 57 schizophrenia (SZ) cases, 59 bipolar disorder (BD) cases and 55 healthy controls (HC) for whom blood-derived DNA methylation was quantified using the Illumina 450 K methylation beadchip. We constructed five PMPSs at different p-value thresholds by summing methylation beta-values weighted by individual-CpG effect sizes from the meta-analysis of a previously published schizophrenia EWAS (comprising three separate cohorts with 675 [353 SZ and 322 HC] discovery cohort participants, 847 [414 SZ and 433 HC] replication cohort participants, and 96 monozygotic twin-pairs discordant for SZ). All SZ PMPSs were elevated in SZ participants relative to HCs, with the score calculated at a p-value threshold of 1 × 10-5 accounting for the greatest amount of variance. All PMPSs were elevated in SZ relative to BD and none of the PMPSs were increased in BD, or in a combined cohort of BD and SZ cases, relative to HCs. PMPSs were also not associated with positive or negative symptom severity. That this SZ-derived PMPSs was elevated in SZ, but not BD, suggests that epigenome-wide methylation patterns may represent distinct pathophysiology that is yet to be elucidated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver J Watkeys
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydneey), Sydney, NSW, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Sarah Cohen-Woods
- Discipline of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Centre for Neuroscience, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Yann Quidé
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydneey), Sydney, NSW, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Murray J Cairns
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Bronwyn Overs
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Janice M Fullerton
- Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Melissa J Green
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydneey), Sydney, NSW, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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35
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Powell SK, O'Shea CP, Shannon SR, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Investigation of Schizophrenia with Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. ADVANCES IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2020; 25:155-206. [PMID: 32578147 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-45493-7_6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe neuropsychiatric condition manifested by cognitive, emotional, affective, perceptual, and behavioral abnormalities. Despite decades of research, the biological substrates driving the signs and symptoms of the disorder remain elusive, thus hampering progress in the development of treatments aimed at disease etiologies. The recent emergence of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based models has provided the field with a highly innovative approach to generate, study, and manipulate living neural tissue derived from patients, making possible the exploration of fundamental roles of genes and early-life stressors in disease-relevant cell types. Here, we begin with a brief overview of the clinical, epidemiological, and genetic aspects of the condition, with a focus on schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder. We then highlight relevant technical advancements in hiPSC models and assess novel findings attained using hiPSC-based approaches and their implications for disease biology and treatment innovation. We close with a critical appraisal of the developments necessary for both further expanding knowledge of schizophrenia and the translation of new insights into therapeutic innovations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel K Powell
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Genetics and Genomics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Callan P O'Shea
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Genetics and Genomics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sara Rose Shannon
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Genetics and Genomics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Schahram Akbarian
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kristen J Brennand
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. .,Department of Genetics and Genomics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. .,Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. .,Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
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36
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Profiling the DNA methylation patterns of imprinted genes in abnormal semen samples by next-generation bisulfite sequencing. J Assist Reprod Genet 2020; 37:2211-2221. [PMID: 32572674 DOI: 10.1007/s10815-020-01839-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 05/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Changes in DNA methylation modifications have been associated with male infertility. With the development of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), abnormal DNA methylation in sperm, especially in imprinted genes, may impact the health of offspring and requires an in-depth study. METHODS In this study, we collected abnormal human semen samples, including asthenospermic, oligospermic, oligoasthenospermic and deformed sperm, and investigated the methylation of imprinted genes by reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) and bisulfite amplicon sequencing on the Illumina platform. RESULTS The differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of imprinted genes, including H19, GNAS, MEG8 and SNRPN, were different in the abnormal semen groups. MEG8 DMR methylation in the asthenospermic group was significantly increased. Furthermore, higher methylation levels of MEG8, GNAS and SNRPN DMR in the oligospermic and oligoasthenospermic groups and a decrease in the H19 DMR methylation level in the oligospermic group were observed. However, the methylation levels of these regions varied greatly among the different semen samples and among individual sperm within the same semen sample. The SNP rs2525883 genotype in the H19 DMR affected DNA methylation. Moreover, DNA methylation levels differed in the abnormal semen groups in the non-imprinted genomic regions, including repetitive sequence DNA transposons and long/short interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs and SINEs). CONCLUSION Our study established that imprinted gene DMRs, such as H19, GNAS, SNRPN and MEG8, were differentially methylated in the abnormal semen groups with obvious inter- and intra-sample heterogeneities. These results suggest that special attention needs to be paid to possible epigenetic risks during reproduction.
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37
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Yang Y, Zhang Q, Miao YR, Yang J, Yang W, Yu F, Wang D, Guo AY, Gong J. SNP2APA: a database for evaluating effects of genetic variants on alternative polyadenylation in human cancers. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:D226-D232. [PMID: 31511885 PMCID: PMC6943033 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an important post-transcriptional regulation that recognizes different polyadenylation signals (PASs), resulting in transcripts with different 3' untranslated regions, thereby influencing a series of biological processes and functions. Recent studies have revealed that some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) could contribute to tumorigenesis and development through dysregulating APA. However, the associations between SNPs and APA in human cancers remain largely unknown. Here, using genotype and APA data of 9082 samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and The Cancer 3'UTR Altas (TC3A), we systematically identified SNPs affecting APA events across 32 cancer types and defined them as APA quantitative trait loci (apaQTLs). As a result, a total of 467 942 cis-apaQTLs and 30 721 trans-apaQTLs were identified. By integrating apaQTLs with survival and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data, we further identified 2154 apaQTLs associated with patient survival time and 151 342 apaQTLs located in GWAS loci. In addition, we designed an online tool to predict the effects of SNPs on PASs by utilizing PAS motif prediction tool. Finally, we developed SNP2APA, a user-friendly and intuitive database (http://gong_lab.hzau.edu.cn/SNP2APA/) for data browsing, searching, and downloading. SNP2APA will significantly improve our understanding of genetic variants and APA in human cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanbo Yang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Qiong Zhang
- Hubei Bioinformatics and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China
| | - Ya-Ru Miao
- Hubei Bioinformatics and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China
| | - Jiajun Yang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Wenqian Yang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Fangda Yu
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Dongyang Wang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - An-Yuan Guo
- Hubei Bioinformatics and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China
| | - Jing Gong
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China.,College of Biomedicine and Health, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
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38
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Gong J, Wan H, Mei S, Ruan H, Zhang Z, Liu C, Guo AY, Diao L, Miao X, Han L. Pancan-meQTL: a database to systematically evaluate the effects of genetic variants on methylation in human cancer. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 47:D1066-D1072. [PMID: 30203047 PMCID: PMC6323988 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2018] [Accepted: 08/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mechanism for regulating gene expression. Aberrant DNA methylation has been observed in various human diseases, including cancer. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms can contribute to tumor initiation, progression and prognosis by influencing DNA methylation, and DNA methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTL) have been identified in physiological and pathological contexts. However, no database has been developed to systematically analyze meQTLs across multiple cancer types. Here, we present Pancan-meQTL, a database to comprehensively provide meQTLs across 23 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas by integrating genome-wide genotype and DNA methylation data. In total, we identified 8 028 964 cis-meQTLs and 965 050 trans-meQTLs. Among these, 23 432 meQTLs are associated with patient overall survival times. Furthermore, we identified 2 214 458 meQTLs that overlap with known loci identified through genome-wide association studies. Pancan-meQTL provides a user-friendly web interface (http://bioinfo.life.hust.edu.cn/Pancan-meQTL/) that is convenient for browsing, searching and downloading data of interest. This database is a valuable resource for investigating the roles of genetics and epigenetics in cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Gong
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Hao Wan
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Shufang Mei
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Hang Ruan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Zhao Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Chunjie Liu
- Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, PR China
| | - An-Yuan Guo
- Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, PR China
| | - Lixia Diao
- Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Xiaoping Miao
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Leng Han
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, USA
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39
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Tian J, Wang Z, Mei S, Yang N, Yang Y, Ke J, Zhu Y, Gong Y, Zou D, Peng X, Wang X, Wan H, Zhong R, Chang J, Gong J, Han L, Miao X. CancerSplicingQTL: a database for genome-wide identification of splicing QTLs in human cancer. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 47:D909-D916. [PMID: 30329095 PMCID: PMC6324030 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Accepted: 10/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Alternative splicing (AS) is a widespread process that increases structural transcript variation and proteome diversity. Aberrant splicing patterns are frequently observed in cancer initiation, progress, prognosis and therapy. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that AS events could undergo modulation by genetic variants. The identification of splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTLs), genetic variants that affect AS events, might represent an important step toward fully understanding the contribution of genetic variants in disease development. However, no database has yet been developed to systematically analyze sQTLs across multiple cancer types. Using genotype data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and corresponding AS values calculated by TCGASpliceSeq, we developed a computational pipeline to identify sQTLs from 9 026 tumor samples in 33 cancer types. We totally identified 4 599 598 sQTLs across all cancer types. We further performed survival analyses and identified 17 072 sQTLs associated with patient overall survival times. Furthermore, using genome-wide association study (GWAS) catalog data, we identified 1 180 132 sQTLs overlapping with known GWAS linkage disequilibrium regions. Finally, we constructed a user-friendly database, CancerSplicingQTL (http://www.cancersplicingqtl-hust.com/) for users to conveniently browse, search and download data of interest. This database provides an informative sQTL resource for further characterizing the potential functional roles of SNPs that control transcript isoforms in human cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianbo Tian
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Zhihua Wang
- Department of Urology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Shufang Mei
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Nan Yang
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Yang Yang
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Juntao Ke
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Ying Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Yajie Gong
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Danyi Zou
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Xiating Peng
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Xiaoyang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Hao Wan
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Rong Zhong
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Jiang Chang
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
| | - Jing Gong
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China.,HubeiKey Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, College of Informatics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, PR China
| | - Leng Han
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Xiaoping Miao
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Health of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China
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40
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Pensold D, Reichard J, Van Loo KMJ, Ciganok N, Hahn A, Bayer C, Liebmann L, Groß J, Tittelmeier J, Lingner T, Salinas-Riester G, Symmank J, Halfmann C, González-Bermúdez L, Urbach A, Gehrmann J, Costa I, Pieler T, Hübner CA, Vatter H, Kampa B, Becker AJ, Zimmer-Bensch G. DNA Methylation-Mediated Modulation of Endocytosis as Potential Mechanism for Synaptic Function Regulation in Murine Inhibitory Cortical Interneurons. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:3921-3937. [PMID: 32147726 PMCID: PMC7264686 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 12/14/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The balance of excitation and inhibition is essential for cortical information processing, relying on the tight orchestration of the underlying subcellular processes. Dynamic transcriptional control by DNA methylation, catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), and DNA demethylation, achieved by ten–eleven translocation (TET)-dependent mechanisms, is proposed to regulate synaptic function in the adult brain with implications for learning and memory. However, focus so far is laid on excitatory neurons. Given the crucial role of inhibitory cortical interneurons in cortical information processing and in disease, deciphering the cellular and molecular mechanisms of GABAergic transmission is fundamental. The emerging relevance of DNMT and TET-mediated functions for synaptic regulation irrevocably raises the question for the targeted subcellular processes and mechanisms. In this study, we analyzed the role dynamic DNA methylation has in regulating cortical interneuron function. We found that DNMT1 and TET1/TET3 contrarily modulate clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Moreover, we provide evidence that DNMT1 influences synaptic vesicle replenishment and GABAergic transmission, presumably through the DNA methylation-dependent transcriptional control over endocytosis-related genes. The relevance of our findings is supported by human brain sample analysis, pointing to a potential implication of DNA methylation-dependent endocytosis regulation in the pathophysiology of temporal lobe epilepsy, a disease characterized by disturbed synaptic transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Pensold
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany.,Division of Functional Epigenetics, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Julia Reichard
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany.,Division of Functional Epigenetics, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.,Research Training Group 2416 Multi Senses-Multi Scales, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Karen M J Van Loo
- Department of Neuropathology, Section for Translational Epilepsy Research, University of Bonn Medical Center, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Natalja Ciganok
- Division of Systems Neurophysiology, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Anne Hahn
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Cathrin Bayer
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany.,Division of Functional Epigenetics, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Lutz Liebmann
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Jonas Groß
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | | | - Thomas Lingner
- Department of Developmental Biochemistry, Transcriptome and Genome Analysis Laboratory (TAL), University of Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Gabriela Salinas-Riester
- Department of Developmental Biochemistry, Transcriptome and Genome Analysis Laboratory (TAL), University of Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Judit Symmank
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Claas Halfmann
- Division of Systems Neurophysiology, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Anja Urbach
- Clinic for Neurology, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Julia Gehrmann
- Institute for Computational Genomics, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Ivan Costa
- Institute for Computational Genomics, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Tomas Pieler
- Department of Developmental Biochemistry, Centre for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CNMPB), University of Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Christian A Hübner
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Hartmut Vatter
- Clinic for Neurosurgery, University of Bonn Medical Center, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Björn Kampa
- Division of Systems Neurophysiology, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.,JARA BRAIN, Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425, Germany
| | - Albert J Becker
- Department of Neuropathology, Section for Translational Epilepsy Research, University of Bonn Medical Center, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Geraldine Zimmer-Bensch
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany.,Division of Functional Epigenetics, Institute of Zoology (Biology 2), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.,Research Training Group 2416 Multi Senses-Multi Scales, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
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41
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Ma Y, Li J, Xu Y, Wang Y, Yao Y, Liu Q, Wang M, Zhao X, Fan R, Chen J, Zhang B, Cai Z, Han H, Yang Z, Yuan W, Zhong Y, Chen X, Ma JZ, Payne TJ, Xu Y, Ning Y, Cui W, Li MD. Identification of 34 genes conferring genetic and pharmacological risk for the comorbidity of schizophrenia and smoking behaviors. Aging (Albany NY) 2020; 12:2169-2225. [PMID: 32012119 PMCID: PMC7041787 DOI: 10.18632/aging.102735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The prevalence of smoking is significantly higher in persons with schizophrenia (SCZ) than in the general population. However, the biological mechanisms of the comorbidity of smoking and SCZ are largely unknown. This study aimed to reveal shared biological pathways for the two diseases by analyzing data from two genome-wide association studies with a total sample size of 153,898. With pathway-based analysis, we first discovered 18 significantly enriched pathways shared by SCZ and smoking, which were classified into five groups: postsynaptic density, cadherin binding, dendritic spine, long-term depression, and axon guidance. Then, by using an integrative analysis of genetic, epigenetic, and expression data, we found not only 34 critical genes (e.g., PRKCZ, ARHGEF3, and CDKN1A) but also various risk-associated SNPs in these genes, which convey susceptibility to the comorbidity of the two disorders. Finally, using both in vivo and in vitro data, we demonstrated that the expression profiles of the 34 genes were significantly altered by multiple psychotropic drugs. Together, this multi-omics study not only reveals target genes for new drugs to treat SCZ but also reveals new insights into the shared genetic vulnerabilities of SCZ and smoking behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunlong Ma
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jingjing Li
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yi Xu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yan Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yinghao Yao
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qiang Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Maiqiu Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xinyi Zhao
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Rongli Fan
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jiali Chen
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Bin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhen Cai
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Haijun Han
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhongli Yang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenji Yuan
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yigang Zhong
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiangning Chen
- Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA
| | - Jennie Z Ma
- , Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| | - Thomas J Payne
- Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, USA
| | - Yizhou Xu
- Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuping Ning
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wenyan Cui
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ming D Li
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.,Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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42
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Schlosberg CE, Wu DY, Gabel HW, Edwards JR. ME-Class2 reveals context dependent regulatory roles for 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. Nucleic Acids Res 2019; 47:e28. [PMID: 30649543 PMCID: PMC6412249 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2018] [Revised: 12/04/2018] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Since the discovery of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) as a prominent DNA modification found in mammalian genomes, an emergent question has been what role this mark plays in gene regulation. 5hmC is hypothesized to function as an intermediate in the demethylation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and in the reactivation of silenced promoters and enhancers. Further, weak positive correlations are observed between gene body 5hmC and gene expression. We previously demonstrated that ME-Class is an effective tool to understand relationships between whole-genome bisulfite sequencing data and expression. In this work, we present ME-Class2, a machine-learning based tool to perform integrative 5mCG, 5hmCG and expression analysis. Using ME-Class2 we analyze whole-genome single-base resolution 5mCG and 5hmCG datasets from 20 primary tissue and cell samples to reveal relationships between 5hmCG and expression. Our analysis indicates that conversion of 5mCG to 5hmCG within 2 kb of the transcription start site associates with distinct functions depending on the summed level of 5mCG + 5hmCG. Unchanged levels of 5mCG + 5hmCG (conversion from 5mCG to stable 5hmCG) associate with repression. Meanwhile, decreases in 5mCG + 5hmCG (5hmCG-mediated demethylation) associate with gene activation. Our results demonstrate that ME-Class2 will prove invaluable to interpret genome-wide 5mC and 5hmC datasets and guide mechanistic studies into the function of 5hmCG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher E Schlosberg
- Center for Pharmacogenomics, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Dennis Y Wu
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Harrison W Gabel
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - John R Edwards
- Center for Pharmacogenomics, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
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43
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Johnston AD, Simões-Pires CA, Thompson TV, Suzuki M, Greally JM. Functional genetic variants can mediate their regulatory effects through alteration of transcription factor binding. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3472. [PMID: 31375681 PMCID: PMC6677801 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11412-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2018] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional variants in the genome are usually identified by their association with local gene expression, DNA methylation or chromatin states. DNA sequence motif analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation studies have provided indirect support for the hypothesis that functional variants alter transcription factor binding to exert their effects. In this study, we provide direct evidence that functional variants can alter transcription factor binding. We identify a multifunctional variant within the TBC1D4 gene encoding a canonical NFκB binding site, and edited it using CRISPR-Cas9 to remove this site. We show that this editing reduces TBC1D4 expression, local chromatin accessibility and binding of the p65 component of NFκB. We then used CRISPR without genomic editing to guide p65 back to the edited locus, demonstrating that this re-targeting, occurring ~182 kb from the gene promoter, is enough to restore the function of the locus, supporting the central role of transcription factors mediating the effects of functional variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew D Johnston
- Center for Epigenomics and Department of Genetics (Division of Genomics), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
| | - Claudia A Simões-Pires
- Center for Epigenomics and Department of Genetics (Division of Genomics), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
| | - Taylor V Thompson
- Center for Epigenomics and Department of Genetics (Division of Genomics), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
| | - Masako Suzuki
- Center for Epigenomics and Department of Genetics (Division of Genomics), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
| | - John M Greally
- Center for Epigenomics and Department of Genetics (Division of Genomics), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
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44
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Iterative integrated imputation for missing data and pathway models with applications to breast cancer subtypes. COMMUNICATIONS FOR STATISTICAL APPLICATIONS AND METHODS 2019. [DOI: 10.29220/csam.2019.26.4.411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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45
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Mahoney JM, Mills JD, Muhlebner A, Noebels J, Potschka H, Simonato M, Kobow K. 2017 WONOEP appraisal: Studying epilepsy as a network disease using systems biology approaches. Epilepsia 2019; 60:1045-1053. [DOI: 10.1111/epi.15216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Revised: 04/17/2019] [Accepted: 04/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John M. Mahoney
- Department of Neurological Sciences Department of Computer Science University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine Burlington Vermont
| | - James D. Mills
- Department of (Neuro)Pathology Amsterdam University Medical CenterUniversity of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Angelika Muhlebner
- Department of (Neuro)Pathology Amsterdam University Medical CenterUniversity of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Jeffrey Noebels
- Department of Neurology Baylor College of Medicine Houston Texas
| | - Heidrun Potschka
- Institute of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Pharmacy Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Munich Germany
| | - Michele Simonato
- Department of Medical Sciences University of Ferrara and School of Medicine University Vita‐Salute San Raffaele Milan Italy
| | - Katja Kobow
- Department of Neuropathology Universitätsklinikum ErlangenFriedrich‐Alexander University Erlangen‐Nürnberg Erlangen Germany
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46
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Nöthen MM, Degenhardt F, Forstner AJ. [Breakthrough in understanding the molecular causes of psychiatric disorders]. DER NERVENARZT 2019; 90:99-106. [PMID: 30758637 DOI: 10.1007/s00115-018-0670-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
A long-established hypothesis is that genetic factors contribute to the development of psychiatric diseases, including common illnesses such as schizophrenia and the affective disorders; however, reliable molecular identification of these factors represents a far more recent innovation. This has been rendered possible by technological advances in the individual characterization of the human genome and the combining of large genetic datasets at the international level. For the first time, the results of genome-wide analyses provide researchers with systematic insights into disease-relevant biological mechanisms. Here, the integrated analysis of different omics level data generates important insights into the functional interpretation of the genetic findings. The results of genetic studies also demonstrated the degree of etiological overlap between differing psychiatric disorders, with the greatest commonality having been observed to date between schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. Although the translation of genetic findings into routine clinical practice is being pursued at various levels, elaborate follow-up studies are typically necessary. The diagnostic investigation of rare genomic deletions/duplications (so-called copy number variants) in patients with schizophrenia is likely to represent one of the first examples of routine clinical application. The necessary prerequisites for this are currently being defined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus M Nöthen
- Institut für Humangenetik, Universitätsklinikum Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53127, Bonn, Deutschland.
| | - Franziska Degenhardt
- Institut für Humangenetik, Universitätsklinikum Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53127, Bonn, Deutschland
| | - Andreas J Forstner
- Institut für Humangenetik, Universitätsklinikum Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53127, Bonn, Deutschland.,Zentrum für Humangenetik, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Baldingerstraße, 35033, Marburg, Deutschland
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47
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Schulz H, Ruppert AK, Zara F, Madia F, Iacomino M, S Vari M, Balagura G, Minetti C, Striano P, Bianchi A, Marini C, Guerrini R, Weber YG, Becker F, Lerche H, Kapser C, Schankin CJ, Kunz WS, Møller RS, Oliver KL, Bellows ST, Mullen SA, Berkovic SF, Scheffer IE, Caglayan H, Ozbek U, Hoffmann P, Schramm S, Tsortouktzidis D, Becker AJ, Sander T. No evidence for a BRD2 promoter hypermethylation in blood leukocytes of Europeans with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Epilepsia 2019; 60:e31-e36. [PMID: 30719712 DOI: 10.1111/epi.14657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Revised: 01/07/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a common syndrome of genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs). Linkage and association studies suggest that the gene encoding the bromodomain-containing protein 2 (BRD2) may increase risk of JME. The present methylation and association study followed up a recent report highlighting that the BRD2 promoter CpG island (CpG76) is differentially hypermethylated in lymphoblastoid cells from Caucasian patients with JME compared to patients with other GGE subtypes and unaffected relatives. In contrast, we found a uniform low average percentage of methylation (<4.5%) for 13 CpG76-CpGs in whole blood cells from 782 unrelated European Caucasians, including 116 JME patients, 196 patients with genetic absence epilepsies, and 470 control subjects. We also failed to confirm an allelic association of the BRD2 promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3918149 with JME (Armitage trend test, P = 0.98), and we did not detect a substantial impact of SNP rs3918149 on CpG76 methylation in either 116 JME patients (methylation quantitative trait loci [meQTL], P = 0.29) or 470 German control subjects (meQTL, P = 0.55). Our results do not support the previous observation that a high DNA methylation level of the BRD2 promoter CpG76 island is a prevalent epigenetic motif associated with JME in Caucasians.
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Affiliation(s)
- Herbert Schulz
- Cologne Center for Genomics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Federico Zara
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Neuroscience, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Francesca Madia
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Neuroscience, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Michele Iacomino
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Neuroscience, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Maria S Vari
- Pediatric Neurology and Muscular Diseases Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, and Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Ganna Balagura
- Pediatric Neurology and Muscular Diseases Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, and Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Carlo Minetti
- Pediatric Neurology and Muscular Diseases Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, and Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Pasquale Striano
- Pediatric Neurology and Muscular Diseases Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, and Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy
| | - Amedeo Bianchi
- Division of Neurology, Hospital San Donato Arezzo, Arezzo, Italy
| | - Carla Marini
- Pediatric Neurology and Neurogenetics Unit and Laboratories, A. Meyer Children's Hospital, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Renzo Guerrini
- Pediatric Neurology and Neurogenetics Unit and Laboratories, A. Meyer Children's Hospital, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Yvonne G Weber
- Department of Neurology and Epileptology, Hertie Institute of Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Felicitas Becker
- Department of Neurology and Epileptology, Hertie Institute of Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
| | - Holger Lerche
- Department of Neurology and Epileptology, Hertie Institute of Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudia Kapser
- Department of Neurology, Großhadern Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Christoph J Schankin
- Department of Neurology, Großhadern Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.,Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Wolfram S Kunz
- Department of Epileptology, Institute of Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Rikke S Møller
- Danish Epilepsy Center, Dianalund, Denmark.,Institute for Regional Health Services, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Karen L Oliver
- Epilepsy Research Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Susannah T Bellows
- Epilepsy Research Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Saul A Mullen
- Epilepsy Research Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Samuel F Berkovic
- Epilepsy Research Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ingrid E Scheffer
- Epilepsy Research Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
| | - Hande Caglayan
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey.,Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Ugur Ozbek
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Acibadem University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Per Hoffmann
- Department of Genomics, Life and Brain Center, Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.,Human Genomics Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Institute of Medical Genetics and Pathology, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sara Schramm
- Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry, and Epidemiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Despina Tsortouktzidis
- Translational Epilepsy Research, Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Albert J Becker
- Translational Epilepsy Research, Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany
| | - Thomas Sander
- Cologne Center for Genomics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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48
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Gianfrancesco O, Bubb VJ, Quinn JP. Treating the "E" in "G × E": Trauma-Informed Approaches and Psychological Therapy Interventions in Psychosis. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:9. [PMID: 30761022 PMCID: PMC6363686 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite advances in genetic research, causal variants affecting risk for schizophrenia remain poorly characterized, and the top 108 loci identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) explain only 3.4% of variance in risk profiles. Such work is defining the highly complex nature of this condition, with omnigenic models of schizophrenia suggesting that gene regulatory networks are sufficiently interconnected such that altered expression of any "peripheral" gene in a relevant cell type has the capacity to indirectly modulate the expression of "core" schizophrenia-associated genes. This wealth of associated genes with small effect sizes makes identifying new druggable targets difficult, and current pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia can involve serious side effects. However, the fact that the majority of schizophrenia genome-wide associated variants fall within non-coding DNA is suggestive of their potential to modulate gene regulation. This would be consistent with risks that can be mediated in a "gene × environment" (G × E) manner. Stress and trauma can alter the regulation of key brain-related pathways over the lifetime of an individual, including modulation of brain development, and neurochemistry in the adult. Recent studies demonstrate a significant overlap between psychotic symptoms and trauma, ranging from prior trauma contributing to psychosis, as well as trauma in response to the experience of psychosis itself or in response to treatment. Given the known effects of trauma on both CNS gene expression and severity of psychosis symptoms, it may be that pharmacological treatment alone risks leaving individuals with a highly stressful and unresolved environmental component that continues to act in a "G × E" manner, with the likelihood that this would negatively impact recovery and relapse risk. This review aims to cover the recent advances elucidating the complex genetic architecture of schizophrenia, as well as the long-term effects of early life trauma on brain function and future mental health risk. Further, the evidence demonstrating the role of ongoing responses to trauma or heightened stress sensitivity, and their impact on the course of illness and recovery, is presented. Finally, the need for trauma-informed approaches and psychological therapy-based interventions is discussed, and a brief overview of the evidence to determine their utility is presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olympia Gianfrancesco
- Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.,MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Vivien J Bubb
- Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - John P Quinn
- Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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49
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Song W, Ovcharenko I. Dichotomy in redundant enhancers points to presence of initiators of gene regulation. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:947. [PMID: 30563465 PMCID: PMC6299655 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-5335-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The regulatory landscape of a gene locus often consists of several functionally redundant enhancers establishing phenotypic robustness and evolutionary stability of its regulatory program. However, it is unclear what mechanisms are employed by redundant enhancers to cooperatively orchestrate gene expression. Results By comparing redundant enhancers to single enhancers (enhancers present in a single copy in a gene locus), we observed that the DNA sequence encryption differs between these two classes of enhancers, suggesting a difference in their regulatory mechanisms. Initiator enhancers, which are a subset of redundant enhancers and show similar sequence encryption to single enhancers, differ from the rest of redundant enhancers in their sequence encryption, evolutionary conservation and proximity to target genes. Genes hosting initiator enhancers in their loci feature elevated levels of expression. Initiator enhancers show a high level of 3D chromatin contacts with both transcription start sites and regular enhancers, suggesting their roles as primary activators and intermediate catalysts of gene expression, through which the regulatory signals of redundant enhancers are propagated to the target genes. In addition, GWAS and eQTLs variants are significantly enriched in initiator enhancers compared to redundant enhancers, suggesting a key functional role these sequences play in gene regulation. Conclusions The specific characteristics and widespread abundance of initiator enhancers advocate for a possible universal hierarchical mechanism of tissue-specific gene regulation involving multiple redundant enhancers acting through initiator enhancers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5335-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Song
- Computational Biology Branch, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ivan Ovcharenko
- Computational Biology Branch, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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50
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Genome-wide mega-analysis identifies 16 loci and highlights diverse biological mechanisms in the common epilepsies. Nat Commun 2018; 9:5269. [PMID: 30531953 PMCID: PMC6288131 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07524-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 234] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The epilepsies affect around 65 million people worldwide and have a substantial missing heritability component. We report a genome-wide mega-analysis involving 15,212 individuals with epilepsy and 29,677 controls, which reveals 16 genome-wide significant loci, of which 11 are novel. Using various prioritization criteria, we pinpoint the 21 most likely epilepsy genes at these loci, with the majority in genetic generalized epilepsies. These genes have diverse biological functions, including coding for ion-channel subunits, transcription factors and a vitamin-B6 metabolism enzyme. Converging evidence shows that the common variants associated with epilepsy play a role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the brain. The results show an enrichment for monogenic epilepsy genes as well as known targets of antiepileptic drugs. Using SNP-based heritability analyses we disentangle both the unique and overlapping genetic basis to seven different epilepsy subtypes. Together, these findings provide leads for epilepsy therapies based on underlying pathophysiology. Epilepsies are common brain disorders and are classified based on clinical phenotyping, imaging and genetics. Here, the authors perform genome-wide association studies for 3 broad and 7 subtypes of epilepsy and identify 16 loci - 11 novel - that are further annotated by eQTL and partitioned heritability analyses.
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