Segregation analysis identifies specific alpha-defensin (DEFA1A3) SNP-CNV haplotypes in predisposition to IgA nephropathy.

BACKGROUND: Immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is a disorder of the immune system affecting kidney function, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have defined numerous loci with associated variation, all implicating components of innate or adaptive immunity. Among these, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a region including the multiallelic copy number variation (CNV) of DEFA1A3 are associated with IgA nephropathy in both European and Asian populations. At present, the precise factors underlying the observed associations at DEFA1A3 have not been defined, although the key alleles differ between Asian and European populations, and multiple independent factors may be involved even within a single population. METHODS: In this study, we measured DEFA1A3 copy number in UK family trios with an offspring affected by IgA nephropathy, used the population distributions of joint SNP-CNV haplotypes to infer the likely segregation in trios, and applied transmission disequilibrium tests (TDT) to examine joint SNP-CNV haplotypes for over- or undertransmission into affected offspring from heterozygous parents. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We observed overtransmission of 3-copy class 2 haplotypes (raw p = 0.029) and some evidence for under-transmission of 3-copy class 1 haplotypes (raw p = 0.051), although these apparent effects were not statistically significant after correction for testing of multiple haplotypes.

Skin microbiome alters attractiveness to Anopheles mosquitoes.

BACKGROUND: Some people produce specific body odours that make them more attractive than others to mosquitoes, and consequently are at higher risk of contracting vector-borne diseases. The skin microbiome can break down carbohydrates, fatty acids and peptides on the skin into volatiles that mosquitoes can differentiate. RESULTS: Here, we examined how skin microbiome composition of women differs in relation to level of attractiveness to Anopheles coluzzii mosquitoes, to identify volatiles in body odour and metabolic pathways associated with individuals that tend to be poorly-attractive to mosquitoes. We used behavioural assays to measure attractiveness of participants to An. coluzzii mosquitoes, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of the bacteria sampled from the skin and gas chromatography of volatiles in body odour. We found differences in skin microbiome composition between the poorly- and highly-attractive groups, particularly eight Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) belonging to the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes phyla. Staphylococcus 2 ASVs are four times as abundant in the highly-attractive compared to poorly-attractive group. Associations were found between these ASVs and volatiles known to be attractive to Anopheles mosquitoes. Propanoic pathways are enriched in the poorly-attractive participants compared to those found to be highly-attractive. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that variation in attractiveness of people to mosquitoes is related to the composition of the skin microbiota, knowledge that could improve odour-baited traps or other next generation vector control tools.

Copy number variation of human AMY1 is a minor contributor to variation in salivary amylase expression and activity.

BACKGROUND: Salivary amylase in humans is encoded by the copy variable gene AMY1 in the amylase gene cluster on chromosome 1. Although the role of salivary amylase is well established, the consequences of the copy number variation (CNV) at AMY1 on salivary amylase protein production are less well understood. The amylase gene cluster is highly structured with a fundamental difference between odd and even AMY1 copy number haplotypes. In this study, we aimed to explore, in samples from 119 unrelated individuals, not only the effects of AMY1 CNV on salivary amylase protein expression and amylase enzyme activity but also whether there is any evidence for underlying difference between the common haplotypes containing odd numbers of AMY1 and even copy number haplotypes. RESULTS: AMY1 copy number was significantly correlated with the variation observed in salivary amylase production (11.7% of variance, P < 0.0005) and enzyme activity (13.6% of variance, P < 0.0005) but did not explain the majority of observed variation between individuals. AMY1-odd and AMY1-even haplotypes showed a different relationship between copy number and expression levels, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.052). CONCLUSIONS: Production of salivary amylase is correlated with AMY1 CNV, but the majority of interindividual variation comes from other sources. Long-range haplotype structure may affect expression, but this was not significant in our data.

Recurrent Rearrangements of Human Amylase Genes Create Multiple Independent CNV Series.

The human amylase gene cluster includes the human salivary (AMY1) and pancreatic amylase genes (AMY2A and AMY2B), and is a highly variable and dynamic region of the genome. Copy number variation (CNV) of AMY1 has been implicated in human dietary adaptation, and in population association with obesity, but neither of these findings has been independently replicated. Despite these functional implications, the structural genomic basis of CNV has only been defined in detail very recently. In this work, we use high-resolution analysis of copy number, and analysis of segregation in trios, to define new, independent allelic series of amylase CNVs in sub-Saharan Africans, including a series of higher-order expansions of a unit consisting of one copy each of AMY1, AMY2A, and AMY2B. We use fiber-FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) to define unexpected complexity in the accompanying rearrangements. These findings demonstrate recurrent involvement of the amylase gene region in genomic instability, involving at least five independent rearrangements of the pancreatic amylase genes (AMY2A and AMY2B). Structural features shared by fundamentally distinct lineages strongly suggest that the common ancestral state for the human amylase cluster contained more than one, and probably three, copies of AMY1.

Obesity, starch digestion and amylase: association between copy number variants at human salivary (AMY1) and pancreatic (AMY2) amylase genes.

The human salivary amylase genes display extensive copy number variation (CNV), and recent work has implicated this variation in adaptation to starch-rich diets, and in association with body mass index. In this work, we use paralogue ratio tests, microsatellite analysis, read depth and fibre-FISH to demonstrate that human amylase CNV is not a smooth continuum, but is instead partitioned into distinct haplotype classes. There is a fundamental structural distinction between haplotypes containing odd or even numbers of AMY1 gene units, in turn coupled to CNV in pancreatic amylase genes AMY2A and AMY2B. Most haplotypes have one copy each of AMY2A and AMY2B and contain an odd number of copies of AMY1; consequently, most individuals have an even total number of AMY1. In contrast, haplotypes carrying an even number of AMY1 genes have rearrangements leading to CNVs of AMY2A/AMY2B. Read-depth and experimental data show that different populations harbour different proportions of these basic haplotype classes. In Europeans, the copy numbers of AMY1 and AMY2A are correlated, so that phenotypic associations caused by variation in pancreatic amylase copy number could be detected indirectly as weak association with AMY1 copy number. We show that the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay previously applied to the high-throughput measurement of AMY1 copy number is less accurate than the measures we use and that qPCR data in other studies have been further compromised by systematic miscalibration. Our results uncover new patterns in human amylase variation and imply a potential role for AMY2 CNV in functional associations.

CCL3L1 copy number, CCR5 genotype and susceptibility to tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is a major infectious disease and functional studies have provided evidence that both the chemokine MIP-1α and its receptor CCR5 play a role in susceptibility to TB. Thus by measuring copy number variation of CCL3L1, one of the genes that encode MIP-1α, and genotyping a functional promoter polymorphism -2459A > G in CCR5 (rs1799987) we investigate the influence of MIP-1α and CCR5, independently and combined, in susceptibility to clinically active TB in three populations, a Peruvian population (n = 1132), a !Xhosa population (n = 605) and a South African Coloured population (n = 221). The three populations include patients with clinically diagnosed pulmonary TB, as well as other, less prevalent forms of extrapulmonary TB. METHODS AND RESULTS: Copy number of CCL3L1 was measured using the paralogue ratio test and exhibited ranges between 0-6 copies per diploid genome (pdg) in Peru, between 0-12 pdg in !Xhosa samples and between 0-10 pdg in South African Coloured samples. The CCR5 promoter polymorphism was observed to differ significantly in allele frequency between populations (*A; Peru f = 0.67, !Xhosa f = 0.38, Coloured f = 0.48). CONCLUSIONS: The case-control association studies performed however find, surprisingly, no evidence for an influence of variation in genes coding for MIP-1α or CCR5 individually or together in susceptibility to clinically active TB in these populations.

Accurate measurement of gene copy number for human alpha-defensin DEFA1A3.

BACKGROUND: Multi-allelic copy number variants include examples of extensive variation between individuals in the copy number of important genes, most notably genes involved in immune function. The definition of this variation, and analysis of its impact on function, has been hampered by the technical difficulty of large-scale but accurate typing of genomic copy number. The copy-variable alpha-defensin locus DEFA1A3 on human chromosome 8 commonly varies between 4 and 10 copies per diploid genome, and presents considerable challenges for accurate high-throughput typing. RESULTS: In this study, we developed two paralogue ratio tests and three allelic ratio measurements that, in combination, provide an accurate and scalable method for measurement of DEFA1A3 gene number. We combined information from different measurements in a maximum-likelihood framework which suggests that most samples can be assigned to an integer copy number with high confidence, and applied it to typing 589 unrelated European DNA samples. Typing the members of three-generation pedigrees provided further reassurance that correct integer copy numbers had been assigned. Our results have allowed us to discover that the SNP rs4300027 is strongly associated with DEFA1A3 gene copy number in European samples. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed an accurate and robust method for measurement of DEFA1A3 copy number. Interrogation of rs4300027 and associated SNPs in Genome-Wide Association Study SNP data provides no evidence that alpha-defensin copy number is a strong risk factor for phenotypes such as Crohn's disease, type I diabetes, HIV progression and multiple sclerosis.

Determination of haplotypes at structurally complex regions using emulsion haplotype fusion PCR.

BACKGROUND: Genotyping and massively-parallel sequencing projects result in a vast amount of diploid data that is only rarely resolved into its constituent haplotypes. It is nevertheless this phased information that is transmitted from one generation to the next and is most directly associated with biological function and the genetic causes of biological effects. Despite progress made in genome-wide sequencing and phasing algorithms and methods, problems assembling (and reconstructing linear haplotypes in) regions of repetitive DNA and structural variation remain. These dynamic and structurally complex regions are often poorly understood from a sequence point of view. Regions such as these that are highly similar in their sequence tend to be collapsed onto the genome assembly. This is turn means downstream determination of the true sequence haplotype in these regions poses a particular challenge. For structurally complex regions, a more focussed approach to assembling haplotypes may be required. RESULTS: In order to investigate reconstruction of spatial information at structurally complex regions, we have used an emulsion haplotype fusion PCR approach to reproducibly link sequences of up to 1kb in length to allow phasing of multiple variants from neighbouring loci, using allele-specific PCR and sequencing to detect the phase. By using emulsion systems linking flanking regions to amplicons within the CNV, this led to the reconstruction of a 59kb haplotype across the DEFA1A3 CNV in HapMap individuals. CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated a novel use for emulsion haplotype fusion PCR in addressing the issue of reconstructing structural haplotypes at multiallelic copy variable regions, using the DEFA1A3 locus as an example.

Alpha-cardiac myosin heavy chain (MYH6) mutations affecting myofibril formation are associated with congenital heart defects.

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are collectively the most common form of congenital malformation. Studies of human cases and animal models have revealed that mutations in several genes are responsible for both familial and sporadic forms of CHD. We have previously shown that a mutation in MYH6 can cause an autosomal dominant form of atrial septal defect (ASD), whereas others have identified mutations of the same gene in patients with hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy. In the present study, we report a mutation analysis of MYH6 in patients with a wide spectrum of sporadic CHD. The mutation analysis of MYH6 was performed in DNA samples from 470 cases of isolated CHD using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography and sequence analysis to detect point mutations and small deletions or insertions, and multiplex amplifiable probe hybridization to detect partial or complete copy number variations. One non-sense mutation, one splicing site mutation and seven non-synonymous coding mutations were identified. Transfection of plasmids encoding mutant and non-mutant green fluorescent protein-MYH6 fusion proteins in mouse myoblasts revealed that the mutations A230P and A1366D significantly disrupt myofibril formation, whereas the H252Q mutation significantly enhances myofibril assembly in comparison with the non-mutant protein. Our data indicate that functional variants of MYH6 are associated with cardiac malformations in addition to ASD and provide a novel potential mechanism. Such phenotypic heterogeneity has been observed in other genes mutated in CHD.

Measurement methods and accuracy in copy number variation: failure to replicate associations of beta-defensin copy number with Crohn's disease.

The copy number variation in beta-defensin genes on human chromosome 8 has been proposed to underlie susceptibility to inflammatory disorders, but presents considerable challenges for accurate typing on the scale required for adequately powered case-control studies. In this work, we have used accurate methods of copy number typing based on the paralogue ratio test (PRT) to assess beta-defensin copy number in more than 1500 UK DNA samples including more than 1000 cases of Crohn's disease. A subset of 625 samples was typed using both PRT-based methods and standard real-time PCR methods, from which direct comparisons highlight potentially serious shortcomings of a real-time PCR assay for typing this variant. Comparing our PRT-based results with two previous studies based only on real-time PCR, we find no evidence to support the reported association of Crohn's disease with either low or high beta-defensin copy number; furthermore, it is noteworthy that there are disagreements between different studies on the observed frequency distribution of copy number states among European controls. We suggest safeguards to be adopted in assessing and reporting the accuracy of copy number measurement, with particular emphasis on integer clustering of results, to avoid reporting of spurious associations in future case-control studies.

Allelic recombination between distinct genomic locations generates copy number diversity in human beta-defensins.

Beta-defensins are small secreted antimicrobial and signaling peptides involved in the innate immune response of vertebrates. In humans, a cluster of at least 7 of these genes shows extensive copy number variation, with a diploid copy number commonly ranging between 2 and 7. Using a genetic mapping approach, we show that this cluster is at not 1 but 2 distinct genomic loci approximately 5 Mb apart on chromosome band 8p23.1, contradicting the most recent genome assembly. We also demonstrate that the predominant mechanism of change in beta-defensin copy number is simple allelic recombination occurring in the interval between the 2 distinct genomic loci for these genes. In 416 meiotic transmissions, we observe 3 events creating a haplotype copy number not found in the parent, equivalent to a germ-line rate of copy number change of approximately 0.7% per gamete. This places it among the fastest-changing copy number variants currently known.

Copy number variation of ß-defensin genes in Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVES: Behçet's disease (BD) may be triggered by infectious agents in genetically susceptible persons. Human ß-defensin 2 is an inducible antimicrobial peptide, the level of which can be influenced by copy number (CN) of the DEFB4. We investigated the relationship between copy number variation (CNV) of DEFB4 and BD. METHODS: One hundred and ninety-seven patients with BD and 197 healthy controls were enrolled. After measuring CN of DEFB4 with a paralogue ratio test, the CNV was compared between patients and controls. CNV was also analysed in comparison with the clinical manifestations of BD. RESULTS: The CN of DEFB4 was unimodally distributed among the study subjects with mean CN of 4.57 and standard deviation of 1.28. BD samples had numerically lower CN than controls, but the difference was not statistically significant (4.49 ± 1.21 vs. 4.65 ± 1.36, p=0.245). Regarding the relationship between CN of DEFB4 and clinical manifestations, there was no difference of CNV depending on the clinical manifestations. CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant difference in CNV of DEFB4 between patients with BD and controls. Our results suggest that CNV of DEFB4 may not contribute to the pathogenesis of BD.

Genomic copy number variation, human health, and disease.

Despite the long recognised effects of chromosomal structural abnormalities and completion of the Human Genome Project, much of the structural variation in the genome has gone unrecognised until recently. Deletions and duplications of DNA strands of between a few hundred bp and several million bp-collectively referred to as copy number variants-are now known to be widespread. Since 2007, rigorous and adequately powered genome-wide association studies based on single nucleotide polymorphisms have yielded replicated associations to several common diseases. Some copy number variants explain rare, previously uncharacterised disorders, and they are now expected to explain some of the genetic contribution to common diseases. We review efforts to map copy number variants and discuss present and future prospects for assessment of their relation to human health and disease.

Multiplex Paralogue Ratio Tests for accurate measurement of multiallelic CNVs.

Demonstrating an association between a polymorphism and a disease phenotype through case-control studies requires reliable large-scale genotyping, but accurate measurement of copy number variation has proven to be technically challenging. Here we build on our previous experience with Paralogue Ratio Tests (PRT) to develop PRT copy number determination at the CCL3L1/CCL4L1 copy number variant. A multiplex PRT assay based on four independent comparative PCRs results in a convenient, accurate and robust method of multiallelic copy number measurement suitable for use in large-scale case-control studies, which can unambiguously assign virtually all samples tested to discrete copy number classes.

Constitutional trisomy 8 and Behçet syndrome.

The characteristic clinical features of constitutional trisomy 8 include varying degrees of developmental delay, joint contractures and deep palmar and plantar creases. There is an established literature, which describes features of Behçet syndrome occurring in phenotypically normal individuals with myelodysplastic syndromes and trisomy 8 in their bone marrow. In this article, we describe four patients with constitutional trisomy 8, all with varying clinical phenotypes, who developed features of Behçet, in particular but not exclusively mucocutaneous ulceration. In addition, we examined gene copy numbers of the variable-number neutrophil defensin genes DEFA1A3 in one of the cases (case 1) and her parents, together with 14 cases of Behçet syndrome in comparison with 121 normal controls. The gene copy number was highest in case 1 (copy number 14) and was also increased in her parents (both copy number 9). However the mean copy number for DEFA1A3 among the 14 Behçet syndrome patients was actually lower (5.1) than among the controls (mean of 6.8 copies). Thus, we conclude that patients with constitutional trisomy 8 and those with trisomy 8 confined to the bone marrow are both at increased risk of developing features of Behçet syndrome. The mechanism may relate to increased chromosome 8 gene dosage with further analysis of candidate genes on chromosome 8 required.

Accurate, high-throughput typing of copy number variation using paralogue ratios from dispersed repeats.

Recent work has demonstrated an unexpected prevalence of copy number variation in the human genome, and has highlighted the part this variation may play in predisposition to common phenotypes. Some important genes vary in number over a high range (e.g. DEFB4, which commonly varies between two and seven copies), and have posed formidable technical challenges for accurate copy number typing, so that there are no simple, cheap, high-throughput approaches suitable for large-scale screening. We have developed a simple comparative PCR method based on dispersed repeat sequences, using a single pair of precisely designed primers to amplify products simultaneously from both test and reference loci, which are subsequently distinguished and quantified via internal sequence differences. We have validated the method for the measurement of copy number at DEFB4 by comparison of results from >800 DNA samples with copy number measurements by MAPH/REDVR, MLPA and array-CGH. The new Paralogue Ratio Test (PRT) method can require as little as 10 ng genomic DNA, appears to be comparable in accuracy to the other methods, and for the first time provides a rapid, simple and inexpensive method for copy number analysis, suitable for application to typing thousands of samples in large case-control association studies.

No Evidence for Association of BMI with Salivary Amylase Gene Copy Number in the UK 1958 Birth Cohort.

OBJECTIVE: In a 2014 publication, evidence was presented supporting the association of BMI with the copy number of the salivary amylase 1 (AMY1) gene, with an unprecedented effect size of -0.15 kg/m2 (SE 0.02) per copy of AMY1. Most well-powered attempts to reproduce these findings have not been successful. However, because of different study designs, a significant association may still apply under restricted conditions such as in particular age groups. This study specifically tested the BMI-AMY1 association at different age points in the same individuals using longitudinal BMI information from participants in the UK 1958 Birth Cohort study. METHODS: This study measured the AMY1 copy number by paralogue ratio tests in genomic DNA and by using array comparative genomic hybridization data. BMI data from 1958 Birth Cohort participants were available from eight different age points between 7 and 50 years. RESULTS: No evidence, even at nominal significance, was found for association of the AMY1 copy number with BMI at any age point in approximately 1,400 members of the 1958 Birth Cohort or in 2,835 people from two disease cohorts from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. CONCLUSIONS: The results do not support an association between BMI and AMY1 copy number at any age point.

Directional and balancing selection in human beta-defensins.

BACKGROUND: In primates, infection is an important force driving gene evolution, and this is reflected in the importance of infectious disease in human morbidity today. The beta-defensins are key components of the innate immune system, with antimicrobial and cell signalling roles, but also reproductive functions. Here we examine evolution of beta-defensins in catarrhine primates and variation within different human populations. RESULTS: We show that five beta-defensin genes that do not show copy number variation in humans show evidence of positive selection in catarrhine primates, and identify specific codons that have been under selective pressure. Direct haplotyping of DEFB127 in humans suggests long-term balancing selection: there are two highly diverged haplotype clades carrying different variants of a codon that, in primates, is positively selected. For DEFB132, we show that extensive diversity, including a four-state amino acid polymorphism (valine, isoleucine, alanine and threonine at position 93), is present in hunter-gatherer populations, both African and non-African, but not found in samples from agricultural populations. CONCLUSION: Some, but not all, beta-defensin genes show positive selection in catarrhine primates. There is suggestive evidence of different selective pressures on these genes in humans, but the nature of the selective pressure remains unclear and is likely to differ between populations.

Analysis of Multiallelic CNVs by Emulsion Haplotype Fusion PCR.

Emulsion-fusion PCR recovers long-range sequence information by combining products in cis from individual genomic DNA molecules. Emulsion droplets act as very numerous small reaction chambers in which different PCR products from a single genomic DNA molecule are condensed into short joint products, to unite sequences in cis from widely separated genomic sites. These products can therefore provide information about the arrangement of sequences and variants at a larger scale than established long-read sequencing methods. The method has been useful in defining the phase of variants in haplotypes, the typing of inversions, and determining the configuration of sequence variants in multiallelic CNVs. In this description we outline the rationale for the application of emulsion-fusion PCR methods to the analysis of multiallelic CNVs, and give practical details for our own implementation of the method in that context.