Quantifying the polygenic contribution to variable expressivity in eleven rare genetic disorders.

Rare genetic disorders (RGDs) often exhibit significant clinical variability among affected individuals, a disease characteristic termed variable expressivity. Recently, the aggregate effect of common variation, quantified as polygenic scores (PGSs), has emerged as an effective tool for predictions of disease risk and trait variation in the general population. Here, we measure the effect of PGSs on 11 RGDs including four sex-chromosome aneuploidies (47,XXX; 47,XXY; 47,XYY; 45,X) that affect height; two copy-number variant (CNV) disorders (16p11.2 deletions and duplications) and a Mendelian disease (melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency (MC4R)) that affect BMI; and two Mendelian diseases affecting cholesterol: familial hypercholesterolemia (FH; LDLR and APOB) and familial hypobetalipoproteinemia (FHBL; PCSK9 and APOB). Our results demonstrate that common, polygenic factors of relevant complex traits frequently contribute to variable expressivity of RGDs and that PGSs may be a useful metric for predicting clinical severity in affected individuals and for risk stratification.

Using large clinical data sets to infer pathogenicity for rare copy number variants in autism cohorts.

Copy number variants (CNVs) have a major role in the etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and several of these have reached statistical significance in case-control analyses. Nevertheless, current ASD cohorts are not large enough to detect very rare CNVs that may be causative or contributory (that is, risk alleles). Here, we use a tiered approach, in which clinically significant CNVs are first identified in large clinical cohorts of neurodevelopmental disorders (including but not specific to ASD), after which these CNVs are then systematically identified within well-characterized ASD cohorts. We focused our initial analysis on 48 recurrent CNVs (segmental duplication-mediated 'hotspots') from 24 loci in 31 516 published clinical cases with neurodevelopmental disorders and 13 696 published controls, which yielded a total of 19 deletion CNVs and 11 duplication CNVs that reached statistical significance. We then investigated the overlap of these 30 CNVs in a combined sample of 3955 well-characterized ASD cases from three published studies. We identified 73 deleterious recurrent CNVs, including 36 deletions from 11 loci and 37 duplications from seven loci, for a frequency of 1 in 54; had we considered the ASD cohorts alone, only 58 CNVs from eight loci (24 deletions from three loci and 34 duplications from five loci) would have reached statistical significance. In conclusion, until there are sufficiently large ASD research cohorts with enough power to detect very rare causative or contributory CNVs, data from larger clinical cohorts can be used to infer the likely clinical significance of CNVs in ASD.

Towards an evidence-based process for the clinical interpretation of copy number variation.

The evidence-based review (EBR) process has been widely used to develop standards for medical decision-making and to explore complex clinical questions. This approach can be applied to genetic tests, such as chromosomal microarrays, in order to assist in the clinical interpretation of certain copy number variants (CNVs), particularly those that are rare, and guide array design for optimal clinical utility. To address these issues, the International Standards for Cytogenomic Arrays Consortium has established an EBR Work Group charged with building a framework to systematically assess the potential clinical relevance of CNVs throughout the genome. This group has developed a rating system enumerating the evidence supporting or refuting dosage sensitivity for individual genes and regions that considers the following criteria: number of causative mutations reported; patterns of inheritance; consistency of phenotype; evidence from large-scale case-control studies; mutational mechanisms; data from public genome variation databases; and expert consensus opinion. The system is designed to be dynamic in nature, with regions being reevaluated periodically to incorporate emerging evidence. The evidence collected will be displayed within a publically available database, and can be used in part to inform clinical laboratory CNV interpretations as well as to guide array design.

Subtelomere FISH analysis of 11 688 cases: an evaluation of the frequency and pattern of subtelomere rearrangements in individuals with developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Subtelomere fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) analysis has increasingly been used as an adjunct to routine cytogenetic testing in order to detect small rearrangements. Previous reports have estimated an overall abnormality rate of 6%, with a range of 2-29% because of different inclusion criteria. METHODS: This study presents data compiled from 11 688 cases referred for subtelomere FISH testing in three clinical cytogenetic laboratories. RESULTS: In this study population, the detection rate for clinically significant subtelomere abnormalities was approximately 2.5%, with an additional 0.5% detection of presumed familial variants. Approximately half of the clinically significant abnormalities identified were terminal deletions, the majority of which were de novo. Most of the remaining cases were unbalanced translocations between two chromosomes or two arms of the same chromosome. Approximately 60% of the unbalanced translocations were inherited from a parent carrying a balanced form of the rearrangement. Other abnormalities identified included tandem duplications, apparently balanced translocations, partial deletions, and insertions. Interestingly, 9 cases (0.08%) were found to have interstitial deletions of non-telomeric control loci, either BCR on 22q or PML on 15q. The most common clinically significant imbalances found were deletions of 1p, 22q, 4p, 9q, 8p, 2q and 20p. The most common familial variants were a deletion or duplication of 10q, deletion of 4q, deletion of Yq, and duplication of X/Yp onto Xq. CONCLUSIONS: This study of subtelomere rearrangements is a 20 fold increase in number over the previously reported largest study and represents an unbiased analysis of subtelomere rearrangements in a large, unselected patient population.

Distinct phenotype associated with a cryptic subtelomeric deletion of 19p13.3-pter.

Telomeres are gene rich regions with a high recombination rate. Cryptic subtelomeric rearrangements are estimated to account for 5% of mental retardation/malformation syndromes. Here we present the first patient with a deletion of 19p13.3, identified by subtelomeric FISH analysis. His features included a distinctive facial appearance, cleft palate, hearing impairment, congenital heart malformation, keloid scarring, immune dysregulation, and mild learning difficulties. Subtelomeric FISH analysis identified a deletion of 19p13.3-pter. The deletion size was determined to be 1.2 Mb by FISH analysis. It extended from within the chromosomal region covered by BAC RP11-50C6 to 19pter. The deleted area encompassed approximately 60 genes. Fifteen possible candidate genes were considered with respect to the phenotype, including follistatin-related precursor 3 (FSTL3) and serine-threonine kinase 11 (STK-11).

The dynamic nature and evolutionary history of subtelomeric and pericentromeric regions.

The organization and evolution of the subtelomeric and pericentromeric regions of human chromosomes exhibit unique characteristics compared to other regions of the genome. As shown in Fig. 1 the functional elements of the centromere and telomere are comprised of highly repetitive DNA sequences, which are responsible for carrying out the main mechanistic duties of these two regions: chromosome segregation and end replication, respectively. The nature of the repeats in these two regions and their function have been reviewed separately and, therefore, will not be discussed in more detail here (Sullivan et al., 1996, 2001; McEachern et al., 2000; Henikoff et al., 2001). Adjacent to these functional element regions, the centromere and telomere regions share an interesting architecture as depicted in Fig. 1. For both pericentromeric and subtelomeric regions, blocks of recent genomic duplications form a zone of shared sequence homologies between certain subsets of human chromosomes. The dynamic nature and evolutionary history of these regions and the unique DNA sequence adjacent to them will be the focus of this review.

"Molecular rulers" for calibrating phenotypic effects of telomere imbalance.

As a result of the increasing use of genome wide telomere screening, it has become evident that a significant proportion of people with idiopathic mental retardation have subtle abnormalities involving the telomeres of human chromosomes. However, during the course of these studies, there have also been telomeric imbalances identified in normal people that are not associated with any apparent phenotype. We have begun to scrutinize cases from both of these groups by determining the extent of the duplication or deletion associated with the imbalance. Five cases were examined where the telomere rearrangement resulted in trisomy for the 16p telomere. The size of the trisomic segment ranged from approximately 4-7 Mb and the phenotype included mental and growth retardation, brain malformations, heart defects, cleft palate, pancreatic insufficiency, genitourinary abnormalities, and dysmorphic features. Three cases with telomeric deletions without apparent phenotypic effects were also examined, one from 10q and two from 17p. All three deletions were inherited from a phenotypically normal parent carrying the same deletion, thus without apparent phenotypic effect. The largest deletion among these cases was approximately 600 kb on 17p. Similar studies are necessary for all telomeric regions to differentiate between those telomeric rearrangements that are pathogenic and those that are benign variants. Towards this goal, we are developing "molecular rulers" that incorporate multiple clones at each telomere that span the most distal 5 Mb region. While telomere screening has enabled the identification of telomere rearrangements, the use of molecular rulers will allow better phenotype prediction and prognosis related to these findings.

Organisation of the pericentromeric region of chromosome 15: at least four partial gene copies are amplified in patients with a proximal duplication of 15q.

Clinical cytogenetic laboratories frequently identify an apparent duplication of proximal 15q that does not involve probes within the PWS/AS critical region and is not associated with any consistent phenotype. Previous mapping data placed several pseudogenes, NF1, IgH D/V, and GABRA5 in the pericentromeric region of proximal 15q. Recent studies have shown that these pseudogene sequences have increased copy numbers in subjects with apparent duplications of proximal 15q. To determine the extent of variation in a control population, we analysed NF1 and IgH D pseudogene copy number in interphase nuclei from 20 cytogenetically normal subjects by FISH. Both loci are polymorphic in controls, ranging from 1-4 signals for NF1 and 1-3 signals for IgH D. Eight subjects with apparent duplications, examined by the same method, showed significantly increased NF1 copy number (5-10 signals). IgH D copy number was also increased in 6/8 of these patients (4-9 signals). We identified a fourth pseudogene, BCL8A, which maps to the pericentromeric region and is coamplified along with the NF1 sequences. Interphase FISH ordering experiments show that IgH D lies closest to the centromere, while BCL8A is the most distal locus in this pseudogene array; the total size of the amplicon is estimated at approximately 1 Mb. The duplicated chromosome was inherited from either sex parent, indicating no parent of origin effect, and no consistent phenotype was present. FISH analysis with one or more of these probes is therefore useful in discriminating polymorphic amplification of proximal pseudogene sequences from clinically significant duplications of 15q.

LIS1 missense mutations cause milder lissencephaly phenotypes including a child with normal IQ.

BACKGROUND: Classical lissencephaly is a disorder of neuroblast migration with most patients having mutations of either the LIS1 or DCX genes. Most patients with lissencephaly secondary to LIS1 mutations have a severe malformation consisting of generalized agyria and pachygyria. However, increasing experience suggests that the phenotypic spectrum is wider than previously thought. METHODS: The authors describe the clinical and imaging features and mutation data of the five known patients with missense mutations of the LIS1 gene and emphasize one patient with normal intelligence. RESULTS: Patients with a missense mutation of the LIS1 gene have a wider and milder spectrum of cortical malformations and clinical sequelae compared with patients with other mutation types. CONCLUSION: Milder and more variable phenotypes seen in patients with missense mutations of LIS1 are likely a consequence of suboptimal function of the mutant LIS1 protein, rather than complete loss of function of this protein. The authors suggest that the few patients found thus far with missense mutations of LIS1 results from an underascertainment of patients with more subtle malformations and that abnormalities of the LIS1 gene may account for a greater spectrum of neurologic problems in childhood than has previously been appreciated.

LIS1: from cortical malformation to essential protein of cellular dynamics.

The LIS1 gene was cloned following the study of children with lissencephaly and cytogenetic abnormalities involving chromosome 17p, however, the role of the LIS1 protein in normal cortical development is not precisely defined. LIS1 is a component of evolutionarily conserved intracellular multiprotein complexes and recent literature shows that these complexes are essential, not only for neuronal migration, but they might also be fundamental components of the machinery for cell proliferation and intracellular transport.

Erythropoietin acts as a trophic factor in neonatal rat intestine.

BACKGROUND: Erythropoietin (Epo) receptors are present on enterocytes of fetal and neonatal small bowel but the role of Epo in the bowel is not known. AIMS: We tested the following hypotheses: (1) enterally dosed Epo is absorbed from the intestines of neonatal rats, (2) Epo acts as a trophic factor in developing small bowel, and (3) the trophic effects of Epo are dependent on the route of administration. METHODS: The dose dependent effects of enterally dosed recombinant human erythropoietin (rEpo 0--1000 U/kg/day) were studied in artificially raised rat pups and compared with dam raised controls and dam raised pups given rEpo in rat milk. After one week, reticulocyte counts, haematocrits, and plasma Epo concentrations were measured, and calibrated morphometric measurements of villi were performed. The effects of route of rEpo administration (enteral v parenteral) on erythropoiesis, bowel growth, and disaccharidase activity were studied in nursing pups treated for one and two weeks. RESULTS: Serum Epo concentrations ranged from undetectable (<0.6 mU/ml) to 8.4 mU/ml in control and enterally dosed pups (median 1.8 mU/ml), and from 4.9 to 82.3 mU/ml (median 20.4 mU/ml) in parenterally dosed animals. No increase in haematocrit or reticulocyte count was noted in enterally treated pups compared with controls after up to two weeks of treatment. Small bowel length was greater in rEpo treated pups, and a dose dependent increase in villus surface area which was independent of the route of dosing and associated with increased BrdU uptake was found. CONCLUSIONS: rEpo is not enterally absorbed in an intact and functional form from the intestines of neonatal rat pups. Thus enterally dosed rEpo has no erythropoietic effects. However, rEpo acts as a trophic factor in developing rat small bowel whether given enterally or parenterally.

Incomplete penetrance with normal MRI in a woman with germline mutation of the DCX gene.

X-linked isolated lissencephaly sequence (ILS) and subcortical band heterotopia are allelic human disorders associated with mutations of the DCX gene in both familial and sporadic forms. The authors describe a large Sardinian family in which three brothers with ILS have a missense mutation of the DCX gene. Their mother, a nonmosaic carrier, has a normal phenotype and cranial MRI. Skewed X-inactivation in the lymphocytes was also ruled out. This is the first report of an asymptomatic carrier of a DCX mutation likely due to apparent nonpenetrance.

The human aminophospholipid-transporting ATPase gene ATP10C maps adjacent to UBE3A and exhibits similar imprinted expression.

Maternal duplications of the imprinted 15q11-13 domain result in an estimated 1%-2% of autism-spectrum disorders, and linkage to autism has been identified within 15q12-13. UBE3A, the Angelman syndrome gene, has, to date, been the only maternally expressed, imprinted gene identified within this region, but mutations have not been found in autistic patients. Here we describe the characterization of ATP10C, a new human imprinted gene, which encodes a putative protein homologous to the mouse aminophospholipid-transporting ATPase Atp10c. ATP10C maps within 200 kb distal to UBE3A and, like UBE3A, also demonstrates imprinted, preferential maternal expression in human brain. The location and imprinted expression of ATP10C thus make it a candidate for chromosome 15-associated autism and suggest that it may contribute to the Angelman syndrome phenotype.

Further evidence for linkage of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) susceptibility loci on chromosomes 2p11, 8q22 and 11q23-24 in South African Afrikaners.

Utilizing DNA samples from 91 Afrikaner nuclear families with one or more affected children, five genomic regions on chromosomes 2p, 8q, 11q, 20q, and 21q that gave evidence for association with GTS in previous case-control association studies were investigated for linkage and association with GTS. Highly polymorphic markers with mean heterozygosity of 0.77 were typed and resulting genotypes evaluated using single marker transmission disequilibrium (TDT), single marker haplotype relative risk (HRR), and multi-marker "extended" TDT and HRR methods. Single marker TDT analysis showed evidence for linkage or association, with p-values near 0.05, for markers D2S139, GATA28F12, and D11S1377 on chromosomes 2p11, 8q22 and 11q23-24, respectively. Extended, two-locus TDT and HRR analysis provided further evidence for linkage or association on chromosome 2 with p-values of 0.007 and 0.025, and chromosome 8 with p-values of 0.059 and 0.013, respectively. These results provide important additional evidence for the location of GTS susceptibility loci.

Olfactory receptor-gene clusters, genomic-inversion polymorphisms, and common chromosome rearrangements.

The olfactory receptor (OR)-gene superfamily is the largest in the mammalian genome. Several of the human OR genes appear in clusters with > or = 10 members located on almost all human chromosomes, and some chromosomes contain more than one cluster. We demonstrate, by experimental and in silico data, that unequal crossovers between two OR gene clusters in 8p are responsible for the formation of three recurrent chromosome macrorearrangements and a submicroscopic inversion polymorphism. The first two macrorearrangements are the inverted duplication of 8p, inv dup(8p), which is associated with a distinct phenotype, and a supernumerary marker chromosome, +der(8)(8p23.1pter), which is also a recurrent rearrangement and is associated with minor anomalies. We demonstrate that it is the reciprocal of the inv dup(8p). The third macrorearrangment is a recurrent 8p23 interstitial deletion associated with heart defect. Since inv dup(8p)s originate consistently in maternal meiosis, we investigated the maternal chromosomes 8 in eight mothers of subjects with inv dup(8p) and in the mother of one subject with +der(8), by means of probes included between the two 8p-OR gene clusters. All the mothers were heterozygous for an 8p submicroscopic inversion that was delimited by the 8p-OR gene clusters and was present, in heterozygous state, in 26% of a population of European descent. Thus, inversion heterozygosity may cause susceptibility to unequal recombination, leading to the formation of the inv dup(8p) or to its reciprocal product, the +der(8p). After the Yp inversion polymorphism, which is the preferential background for the PRKX/PRKY translocation in XX males and XY females, the OR-8p inversion is the second genomic polymorphism that confers susceptibility to the formation of common chromosome rearrangements. Accordingly, it may be possible to develop a profile of the individual risk of having progeny with chromosome rearrangements.

Mutation analysis of the DCX gene and genotype/phenotype correlation in subcortical band heterotopia.

Subcortical band heterotopia (SBH) comprises part of a spectrum of phenotypes associated with classical lissencephaly (LIS). LIS and SBH are caused by alterations in at least two genes: LIS1 (PAFAH1B1) at 17p13.3 and DCX (doublecortin) at Xq22.3-q23. DCX mutations predominantly cause LIS in hemizygous males and SBH in heterozygous females, and we have evaluated several families with LIS male and SBH female siblings. In this study, we performed detailed DCX mutation analysis and genotype-phenotype correlation in a large cohort with typical SBH. We screened 26 sporadic SBH females and 11 LIS/SBH families for DCX mutations by direct sequencing. We found 29 mutations in 22 sporadic patients and 11 pedigrees, including five deletions, four nonsense mutations, 19 missense mutations and one splice donor site mutation. The DCX mutation prevalence was 84.6% (22 of 26) in sporadic SBH patients and 100% (11 of 11) in SBH pedigrees. Maternal germline mosaicism was found in one family. Significant differences in genotype were found in relation to band thickness and familial vs sporadic status.

Molecular characterisation of four cases of intrachromosomal triplication of chromosome 15q11-q14.

CONTEXT: Chromosomal abnormalities that involve the proximal region of chromosome 15q occur relatively frequently in the human population. However, interstitial triplications involving one 15 homologue are very rare with three cases reported to date. OBJECTIVE: To provide a detailed molecular characterisation of four additional patients with interstitial triplications of chromosome 15q11-q14. DESIGN: Molecular analyses were performed using DNA markers and probes specific for the 15q11-q14 region. SETTING: Molecular cytogenetics laboratory at the University of Chicago. SUBJECTS: Four patients with mild to severe mental retardation and features of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) or Angelman syndrome (AS) were referred for molecular cytogenetic analysis following identification of a suspected duplication/triplication of chromosome 15q11-q14 by routine cytogenetic analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) was performed to determine the type of chromosomal abnormality present, the extent of the abnormal region, and the orientation of the extra chromosomal segments. Molecular polymorphism analysis was performed to determine the parental origin of the abnormality. Methylation and northern blot analyses of the SNRPN gene were performed to determine the effect of extra copies of the SNRPN gene on its methylation pattern and expression. RESULTS: Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) using probes within and flanking the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome critical region indicated that all patients carried an intrachromosomal triplication of proximal 15q11-q14 in one of the two chromosome 15 homologues (trip(15)). In all patients the orientation of the triplicated segments was normal-inverted-normal, suggesting that a common mechanism of rearrangement may have been involved. Microsatellite analysis showed the parental origin of the trip(15) to be maternal in three cases and paternal in one case. The paternal triplication patient had features similar to PWS, one maternal triplication patient had features similar to AS, and the other two maternal triplication patients had non-specific findings including hypotonia and mental retardation. Methylation analysis at exon 1 of the SNRPN locus showed increased dosage of either the paternal or maternal bands in the paternal or maternal triplication patients, respectively, suggesting that the methylation pattern shows a dose dependent increase that correlates with the parental origin of the triplication. In addition, the expression of SNRPN was analysed by northern blotting and expression levels were consistent with dosage and parental origin of the triplication. CONCLUSIONS: These four additional cases of trip(15) will provide additional information towards understanding the phenotypic effects of this abnormality and aid in understanding the mechanism of formation of other chromosome 15 rearrangements.

Molecular cytogenetic analysis of telomere rearrangements.

Genomic imbalances involving the telomeric regions of human chromosomes, which contain the highest gene concentration in the genome, are proposed to have severe phenotypic consequences. For this reason, it is important to identify telomere rearrangements and assess their contribution to human pathology. This unit describes the structure and function of human telomeres and outlines several FISH-based methodologies that can be employed to study these unique regions of human chromosomes.