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Zajac GJM, Gagliano Taliun SA, Sidore C, Graham SE, Åsvold BO, Brumpton B, Nielsen JB, Zhou W, Gabrielsen M, Skogholt AH, Fritsche LG, Schlessinger D, Cucca F, Hveem K, Willer CJ, Abecasis GR. A fast linkage method for population GWAS cohorts with related individuals. Genet Epidemiol 2023; 47:231-248. [PMID: 36739617 PMCID: PMC10027464 DOI: 10.1002/gepi.22516] [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: 07/19/2022] [Revised: 10/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Linkage analysis, a class of methods for detecting co-segregation of genomic segments and traits in families, was used to map disease-causing genes for decades before genotyping arrays and dense SNP genotyping enabled genome-wide association studies in population samples. Population samples often contain related individuals, but the segregation of alleles within families is rarely used because traditional linkage methods are computationally inefficient for larger datasets. Here, we describe Population Linkage, a novel application of Haseman-Elston regression as a method of moments estimator of variance components and their standard errors. We achieve additional computational efficiency by using modern methods for detection of IBD segments and variance component estimation, efficient preprocessing of input data, and minimizing redundant numerical calculations. We also refined variance component models to account for the biases in population-scale methods for IBD segment detection. We ran Population Linkage on four blood lipid traits in over 70,000 individuals from the HUNT and SardiNIA studies, successfully detecting 25 known genetic signals. One notable linkage signal that appeared in both was for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels in the region near the gene APOE (LOD = 29.3, variance explained = 4.1%). This is the region where the missense variants rs7412 and rs429358, which together make up the ε2, ε3, and ε4 alleles each account for 2.4% and 0.8% of variation in circulating LDL cholesterol. Our results show the potential for linkage analysis and other large-scale applications of method of moments variance components estimation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory JM Zajac
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Sarah A Gagliano Taliun
- Department of Medicine and Department of Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- Montréal Heart Institute, Montréal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada
| | - Carlo Sidore
- Istituto di Ricerca Genetica e Biomedica - CNR, Cagliari, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Sarah E Graham
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Bjørn Olav Åsvold
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Endocrinology, Clinic of Medicine, St. Olavs hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
- HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Levanger 7600, Norway
| | - Ben Brumpton
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Levanger 7600, Norway
- Clinic of Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Jonas B Nielsen
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Wei Zhou
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA
| | - Maiken Gabrielsen
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Anne Heidi Skogholt
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Lars G Fritsche
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
| | | | - Francesco Cucca
- Istituto di Ricerca Genetica e Biomedica - CNR, Cagliari, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Kristian Hveem
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Levanger 7600, Norway
- Department of Medicine, Levanger Hospital, Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust, Levanger 7600, Norway
| | - Cristen J Willer
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Gonçalo R Abecasis
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
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Woodward AA, Urbanowicz RJ, Naj AC, Moore JH. Genetic heterogeneity: Challenges, impacts, and methods through an associative lens. Genet Epidemiol 2022; 46:555-571. [PMID: 35924480 PMCID: PMC9669229 DOI: 10.1002/gepi.22497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Genetic heterogeneity describes the occurrence of the same or similar phenotypes through different genetic mechanisms in different individuals. Robustly characterizing and accounting for genetic heterogeneity is crucial to pursuing the goals of precision medicine, for discovering novel disease biomarkers, and for identifying targets for treatments. Failure to account for genetic heterogeneity may lead to missed associations and incorrect inferences. Thus, it is critical to review the impact of genetic heterogeneity on the design and analysis of population level genetic studies, aspects that are often overlooked in the literature. In this review, we first contextualize our approach to genetic heterogeneity by proposing a high-level categorization of heterogeneity into "feature," "outcome," and "associative" heterogeneity, drawing on perspectives from epidemiology and machine learning to illustrate distinctions between them. We highlight the unique nature of genetic heterogeneity as a heterogeneous pattern of association that warrants specific methodological considerations. We then focus on the challenges that preclude effective detection and characterization of genetic heterogeneity across a variety of epidemiological contexts. Finally, we discuss systems heterogeneity as an integrated approach to using genetic and other high-dimensional multi-omic data in complex disease research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa A. Woodward
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and InformaticsUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Ryan J. Urbanowicz
- Department of Computational BiomedicineCedars‐Sinai Medical CenterLos AngelesCaliforniaUSA
| | - Adam C. Naj
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and InformaticsUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Jason H. Moore
- Department of Computational BiomedicineCedars‐Sinai Medical CenterLos AngelesCaliforniaUSA
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Mukhopadhyay N, Noble JA, Govil M, Marazita ML, Greenberg DA. Identifying genetic risk loci for diabetic complications and showing evidence for heterogeneity of type 1 diabetes based on complications risk. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0192696. [PMID: 29444168 PMCID: PMC5812614 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a genetically heterogeneous disease. However, the extent of this heterogeneity, and what observations may distinguish different forms, is unclear. One indicator may be T1D-related microvascular complications (MVCs), which are familial, but occur in some families, and not others. We tested the hypothesis that T1D plus MVC is genetically distinct from T1D without MCV. We studied 415 families (2,462 individuals, 896 with T1D) using genome-wide linkage analysis, comparing families with and without MVC. We also tested for interaction between identified loci and alleles at the HLA-DRB1 locus. We found significant linkage scores at 1p36.12, 1q32.1, 8q21.3, 12p11.21 and 22q11.21. In all regions except 1p36.12, linkage scores differed between MVC-based phenotype groups, suggesting that families with MVCs express different genetic influences than those without. Our linkage results also suggested gene-gene interaction between the above putative loci and the HLA region; HLA-based strata produced significantly increased linkage scores in some strata, but not others within a phenotype group. We conclude that families with type 1 diabetes plus MVCs are genetically different from those with diabetes alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nandita Mukhopadhyay
- Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics, Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Janelle A. Noble
- Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California, United States of America
| | - Manika Govil
- Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics, Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Mary L. Marazita
- Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics, Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Clinical and Translational Science Institute, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - David A. Greenberg
- Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Pediatrics, Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
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