Expanding the genetics and phenotypes of ocular congenital cranial dysinnervation disorders.

Purpose: To identify genetic etiologies and genotype/phenotype associations for unsolved ocular congenital cranial dysinnervation disorders (oCCDDs). Methods: We coupled phenotyping with exome or genome sequencing of 467 pedigrees with genetically unsolved oCCDDs, integrating analyses of pedigrees, human and animal model phenotypes, and de novo variants to identify rare candidate single nucleotide variants, insertion/deletions, and structural variants disrupting protein-coding regions. Prioritized variants were classified for pathogenicity and evaluated for genotype/phenotype correlations. Results: Analyses elucidated phenotypic subgroups, identified pathogenic/likely pathogenic variant(s) in 43/467 probands (9.2%), and prioritized variants of uncertain significance in 70/467 additional probands (15.0%). These included known and novel variants in established oCCDD genes, genes associated with syndromes that sometimes include oCCDDs (e.g., MYH10, KIF21B, TGFBR2, TUBB6), genes that fit the syndromic component of the phenotype but had no prior oCCDD association (e.g., CDK13, TGFB2), genes with no reported association with oCCDDs or the syndromic phenotypes (e.g., TUBA4A, KIF5C, CTNNA1, KLB, FGF21), and genes associated with oCCDD phenocopies that had resulted in misdiagnoses. Conclusion: This study suggests that unsolved oCCDDs are clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorders often overlapping other Mendelian conditions and nominates many candidates for future replication and functional studies.

GATK-gCNV enables the discovery of rare copy number variants from exome sequencing data.

Copy number variants (CNVs) are major contributors to genetic diversity and disease. While standardized methods, such as the genome analysis toolkit (GATK), exist for detecting short variants, technical challenges have confounded uniform large-scale CNV analyses from whole-exome sequencing (WES) data. Given the profound impact of rare and de novo coding CNVs on genome organization and human disease, we developed GATK-gCNV, a flexible algorithm to discover rare CNVs from sequencing read-depth information, complete with open-source distribution via GATK. We benchmarked GATK-gCNV in 7,962 exomes from individuals in quartet families with matched genome sequencing and microarray data, finding up to 95% recall of rare coding CNVs at a resolution of more than two exons. We used GATK-gCNV to generate a reference catalog of rare coding CNVs in WES data from 197,306 individuals in the UK Biobank, and observed strong correlations between per-gene CNV rates and measures of mutational constraint, as well as rare CNV associations with multiple traits. In summary, GATK-gCNV is a tunable approach for sensitive and specific CNV discovery in WES data, with broad applications.

Convergent coexpression of autism-associated genes suggests some novel risk genes may not be detectable in large-scale genetic studies.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heritable neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions and communication. Protein-altering variants in many genes have been shown to contribute to ASD; however, understanding the convergence across many genes remains a challenge. We demonstrate that coexpression patterns from 993 human postmortem brains are significantly correlated with the transcriptional consequences of CRISPR perturbations in human neurons. Across 71 ASD risk genes, there was significant tissue-specific convergence implicating synaptic pathways. Tissue-specific convergence was further demonstrated across schizophrenia and atrial fibrillation risk genes. The degree of ASD convergence was significantly correlated with ASD association from rare variation and differential expression in ASD brains. Positively convergent genes showed intolerance to functional mutations and had shorter coding lengths than known risk genes even after removing association with ASD. These results indicate that convergent coexpression can identify potentially novel genes that are unlikely to be discovered by sequencing studies.

A cell type-aware framework for nominating non-coding variants in Mendelian regulatory disorders.

Unsolved Mendelian cases often lack obvious pathogenic coding variants, suggesting potential non-coding etiologies. Here, we present a single cell multi-omic framework integrating embryonic mouse chromatin accessibility, histone modification, and gene expression assays to discover cranial motor neuron (cMN) cis-regulatory elements and subsequently nominate candidate non-coding variants in the congenital cranial dysinnervation disorders (CCDDs), a set of Mendelian disorders altering cMN development. We generated single cell epigenomic profiles for ~86,000 cMNs and related cell types, identifying ~250,000 accessible regulatory elements with cognate gene predictions for ~145,000 putative enhancers. Seventy-five percent of elements (44 of 59) validated in an in vivo transgenic reporter assay, demonstrating that single cell accessibility is a strong predictor of enhancer activity. Applying our cMN atlas to 899 whole genome sequences from 270 genetically unsolved CCDD pedigrees, we achieved significant reduction in our variant search space and nominated candidate variants predicted to regulate known CCDD disease genes MAFB, PHOX2A, CHN1, and EBF3 - as well as new candidates in recurrently mutated enhancers through peak- and gene-centric allelic aggregation. This work provides novel non-coding variant discoveries of relevance to CCDDs and a generalizable framework for nominating non-coding variants of potentially high functional impact in other Mendelian disorders.

Statistical and functional convergence of common and rare genetic influences on autism at chromosome 16p.

The canonical paradigm for converting genetic association to mechanism involves iteratively mapping individual associations to the proximal genes through which they act. In contrast, in the present study we demonstrate the feasibility of extracting biological insights from a very large region of the genome and leverage this strategy to study the genetic influences on autism. Using a new statistical approach, we identified the 33-Mb p-arm of chromosome 16 (16p) as harboring the greatest excess of autism's common polygenic influences. The region also includes the mechanistically cryptic and autism-associated 16p11.2 copy number variant. Analysis of RNA-sequencing data revealed that both the common polygenic influences within 16p and the 16p11.2 deletion were associated with decreased average gene expression across 16p. The transcriptional effects of the rare deletion and diffuse common variation were correlated at the level of individual genes and analysis of Hi-C data revealed patterns of chromatin contact that may explain this transcriptional convergence. These results reflect a new approach for extracting biological insight from genetic association data and suggest convergence of common and rare genetic influences on autism at 16p.

Rare coding variation provides insight into the genetic architecture and phenotypic context of autism.

Some individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) carry functional mutations rarely observed in the general population. We explored the genes disrupted by these variants from joint analysis of protein-truncating variants (PTVs), missense variants and copy number variants (CNVs) in a cohort of 63,237 individuals. We discovered 72 genes associated with ASD at false discovery rate (FDR) ≤ 0.001 (185 at FDR ≤ 0.05). De novo PTVs, damaging missense variants and CNVs represented 57.5%, 21.1% and 8.44% of association evidence, while CNVs conferred greatest relative risk. Meta-analysis with cohorts ascertained for developmental delay (DD) (n = 91,605) yielded 373 genes associated with ASD/DD at FDR ≤ 0.001 (664 at FDR ≤ 0.05), some of which differed in relative frequency of mutation between ASD and DD cohorts. The DD-associated genes were enriched in transcriptomes of progenitor and immature neuronal cells, whereas genes showing stronger evidence in ASD were more enriched in maturing neurons and overlapped with schizophrenia-associated genes, emphasizing that these neuropsychiatric disorders may share common pathways to risk.

Developmental Variability in Autism Across 17 000 Autistic Individuals and 4000 Siblings Without an Autism Diagnosis: Comparisons by Cohort, Intellectual Disability, Genetic Etiology, and Age at Diagnosis.

Importance: Presence of developmental delays in autism is well established, yet few studies have characterized variability in developmental milestone attainment in this population. Objective: To characterize variability in the age at which autistic individuals attain key developmental milestones based on co-occurring intellectual disability (ID), presence of a rare disruptive genetic variant associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), age at autism diagnosis, and research cohort membership. Design: The study team harmonized data from 4 cross-sectional autism cohorts: the Autism Genetics Research Exchange (n = 3284; 1997-2015), The Autism Simplex Collection (n = 694; 2008-2011), the Simons Simplex Collection (n = 2753; 2008-2011), and the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (n = 10 367; 2016-present). The last sample further included 4145 siblings without an autism diagnosis or ID. Participants: Convenience sample of 21 243 autistic individuals or their siblings without an autism diagnosis aged 4 to 17 years. Main Outcomes and Measures: Parents reported ages at which participants attained key milestones including smiling, sitting upright, crawling, walking, spoon-feeding self, speaking words, speaking phrases, and acquiring bladder and bowel control. A total of 5295 autistic individuals, and their biological parents, were genetically characterized to identify de novo variants in NDD-associated genes. The study team conducted time-to-event analyses to estimate and compare percentiles in time with milestone attainment across autistic individuals, subgroups of autistic individuals, and the sibling sample. Results: Seventeen thousand ninety-eight autistic individuals (mean age, 9.15 years; 80.8% male) compared with 4145 siblings without autism or ID (mean age, 10.2 years; 50.2% female) showed delays in milestone attainment, with median (IQR) delays ranging from 0.7 (0.3-1.6) to 19.7 (11.4-32.2) months. More severe and more variable delays in autism were associated with the presence of co-occurring ID, carrying an NDD-associated rare genetic variant, and being diagnosed with autism by age 5 years. More severe and more variable delays were also associated with membership in earlier study cohorts, consistent with autism's diagnostic and ascertainment expansion over the last 30 years. Conclusions and Relevance: As the largest summary to date of developmental milestone attainment in autism, to our knowledge, this study demonstrates substantial developmental variability across different conditions and provides important context for understanding the phenotypic and etiological heterogeneity of autism.

The female protective effect against autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed three to four times more frequently in males than in females. Genetic studies of rare variants support a female protective effect (FPE) against ASD. However, sex differences in common inherited genetic risk for ASD are less studied, particularly within families. Leveraging the Danish iPSYCH resource, we found siblings of female ASD cases (n = 1,707) had higher rates of ASD than siblings of male ASD cases (n = 6,270; p < 1.0 × 10-10). In the Simons Simplex and SPARK collections, mothers of ASD cases (n = 7,436) carried more polygenic risk for ASD than fathers of ASD cases (n = 5,926; 0.08 polygenic risk score [PRS] SD; p = 7.0 × 10-7). Further, male unaffected siblings under-inherited polygenic risk (n = 1,519; p = 0.03). Using both epidemiologic and genetic approaches, our findings strongly support an FPE against ASD's common inherited influences.

Whole exome sequencing analyses reveal gene-microbiota interactions in the context of IBD.

OBJECTIVE: Both the gut microbiome and host genetics are known to play significant roles in the pathogenesis of IBD. However, the interaction between these two factors and its implications in the aetiology of IBD remain underexplored. Here, we report on the influence of host genetics on the gut microbiome in IBD. DESIGN: To evaluate the impact of host genetics on the gut microbiota of patients with IBD, we combined whole exome sequencing of the host genome and whole genome shotgun sequencing of 1464 faecal samples from 525 patients with IBD and 939 population-based controls. We followed a four-step analysis: (1) exome-wide microbial quantitative trait loci (mbQTL) analyses, (2) a targeted approach focusing on IBD-associated genomic regions and protein truncating variants (PTVs, minor allele frequency (MAF) >5%), (3) gene-based burden tests on PTVs with MAF <5% and exome copy number variations (CNVs) with site frequency <1%, (4) joint analysis of both cohorts to identify the interactions between disease and host genetics. RESULTS: We identified 12 mbQTLs, including variants in the IBD-associated genes IL17REL, MYRF, SEC16A and WDR78. For example, the decrease of the pathway acetyl-coenzyme A biosynthesis, which is involved in short chain fatty acids production, was associated with variants in the gene MYRF (false discovery rate <0.05). Changes in functional pathways involved in the metabolic potential were also observed in participants carrying rare PTVs or CNVs in CYP2D6, GPR151 and CD160 genes. These genes are known for their function in the immune system. Moreover, interaction analyses confirmed previously known IBD disease-specific mbQTLs in TNFSF15. CONCLUSION: This study highlights that both common and rare genetic variants affecting the immune system are key factors in shaping the gut microbiota in the context of IBD and pinpoints towards potential mechanisms for disease treatment.

Detection of de novo copy number deletions from targeted sequencing of trios.

MOTIVATION: De novo copy number deletions have been implicated in many diseases, but there is no formal method to date that identifies de novo deletions in parent-offspring trios from capture-based sequencing platforms. RESULTS: We developed Minimum Distance for Targeted Sequencing (MDTS) to fill this void. MDTS has similar sensitivity (recall), but a much lower false positive rate compared to less specific CNV callers, resulting in a much higher positive predictive value (precision). MDTS also exhibited much better scalability. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: MDTS is freely available as open source software from the Bioconductor repository. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Activity-Dependent Degradation of the Nascentome by the Neuronal Membrane Proteasome.

Activity-dependent changes in neuronal function require coordinated regulation of the protein synthesis and protein degradation machinery to maintain protein homeostasis, critical for proper neuronal function. However, the biochemical evidence for this balance and coordination is largely lacking. Leveraging our recent discovery of a neuronal-specific 20S membrane proteasome complex (NMP), we began exploring how neuronal activity regulates its function. Here, we found that the NMP degrades exclusively a large fraction of ribosome-associated nascent polypeptides that are being newly synthesized during neuronal stimulation. Using deep-coverage and global mass spectrometry, we identified the nascent protein substrates of the NMP, which included products encoding immediate-early genes, such as c-Fos and Npas4. Intriguingly, we found that turnover of nascent polypeptides and not full-length proteins through the NMP occurred independent of canonical ubiquitylation pathways. We propose that these findings generally define a neuronal activity-induced protein homeostasis program of coordinated protein synthesis and degradation through the NMP.