An interactive web application for exploring human plasma and fibroblast metabolomics data from patients with inborn errors of metabolism.

Metabolomic profiling is instrumental in understanding the systemic and cellular impact of inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), monogenic disorders caused by pathogenic genomic variants in genes involved in metabolism. This study encompasses untargeted metabolomics analysis of plasma from 474 individuals and fibroblasts from 67 subjects, incorporating healthy controls, patients with 65 different monogenic diseases, and numerous undiagnosed cases. We introduce a web application designed for the in-depth exploration of this extensive metabolomics database. The application offers a user-friendly interface for data review, download, and detailed analysis of metabolic deviations linked to IEMs at the level of individual patients or groups of patients with the same diagnosis. It also provides interactive tools for investigating metabolic relationships and offers comparative analyses of plasma and fibroblast profiles. This tool emphasizes the metabolic interplay within and across biological matrices, enriching our understanding of metabolic regulation in health and disease. As a resource, the application provides broad utility in research, offering novel insights into metabolic pathways and their alterations in various disorders.

Clinical Exome Studies Have Inconsistent Coverage.

BACKGROUND: Exome sequencing has become a commonly used clinical diagnostic test. Multiple studies have examined the diagnostic utility and individual laboratory performance of exome testing; however, no previous study has surveyed and compared the data quality from multiple clinical laboratories. METHODS: We examined sequencing data from 36 clinical exome tests from 3 clinical laboratories. Exome data were compared in terms of overall characteristics and coverage of specific genes and nucleotide positions. The sets of genes examined included genes in Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) (n = 17723), a subset of genes clinically relevant to epilepsy (n = 108), and genes that are recommended for reporting of secondary findings (n = 57; excludes X-linked genes). RESULTS: The average exome nucleotide coverage (≥20×) of each laboratory varied at 96.49% (CV = 3%), 96.54% (CV = 1%), and 91.68% (CV = 4%), for laboratories A, B, and C, respectively. For CCDS genes, the average number of completely covered genes varied at 12184 (CV = 29%), 11687 (CV = 13%), and 5989 (CV = 37%), for laboratories A, B, and C, respectively. With smaller subsets of genes related to epilepsy and secondary findings, the CV revealed low consistency, with a maximum CV seen in laboratory C for both epilepsy genes (CV = 60%) and secondary findings genes (CV = 71%). CONCLUSIONS: Poor consistency in complete gene coverage was seen in the clinical exome laboratories surveyed. The degree of consistency varied widely between the laboratories.

A Novel Homozygous Deletion within the FRY Gene Associated with Nonsyndromic Developmental Delay.

The role of autosomal recessive (AR) variants in clinically heterogeneous conditions such as intellectual disability and developmental delay (ID/DD) has been difficult to uncover. Implication of causative pathogenic AR variants often requires investigation within large and consanguineous families, and/or identifying rare biallelic variants in affected individuals. Furthermore, detection of homozygous gene-level copy number variants during first-line genomic microarray testing in the pediatric population is a rare finding. We describe a 6.7-year-old male patient with ID/DD and a novel homozygous deletion involving the FRY gene identified by genomic SNP microarray. This deletion was observed within a large region of homozygosity on the long arm of chromosome 13 and in a background of increased low-level (2.6%) autosomal homozygosity, consistent with a reported common ancestry in the family. FRY encodes a protein that regulates cell cytoskeletal dynamics, functions in chromosomal alignment in mitosis in vitro, and has been shown to function in the nervous system in vivo. Homozygous mutation of FRY has been previously reported in 2 consanguineous families from studies of autosomal recessive ID in Middle Eastern and Northern African populations. This report provides additional supportive evidence that deleterious biallelic mutation of FRY is associated with ID/DD and illustrates the utility of genomic SNP microarray detection of low-level homozygosity.