Somatic cancer driver mutations are enriched and associated with inflammatory states in Alzheimer's disease microglia.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-associated neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive neuronal loss and pathological accumulation of the misfolded proteins amyloid-ß and tau1,2. Neuroinflammation mediated by microglia and brain-resident macrophages plays a crucial role in AD pathogenesis1-5, though the mechanisms by which age, genes, and other risk factors interact remain largely unknown. Somatic mutations accumulate with age and lead to clonal expansion of many cell types, contributing to cancer and many non-cancer diseases6,7. Here we studied somatic mutation in normal aged and AD brains by three orthogonal methods and in three independent AD cohorts. Analysis of bulk RNA sequencing data from 866 samples from different brain regions revealed significantly higher (~two-fold) overall burdens of somatic single-nucleotide variants (sSNVs) in AD brains compared to age-matched controls. Molecular-barcoded deep (>1000X) gene panel sequencing of 311 prefrontal cortex samples showed enrichment of sSNVs and somatic insertions and deletions (sIndels) in cancer driver genes in AD brain compared to control, with recurrent, and often multiple, mutations in genes implicated in clonal hematopoiesis (CH)8,9. Pathogenic sSNVs were enriched in CSF1R+ microglia of AD brains, and the high proportion of microglia (up to 40%) carrying some sSNVs in cancer driver genes suggests mutation-driven microglial clonal expansion (MiCE). Analysis of single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNAseq) from temporal neocortex of 62 additional AD cases and controls exhibited nominally increased mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs) associated with CH10,11. Microglia carrying mCA showed upregulated pro-inflammatory genes, resembling the transcriptomic features of disease-associated microglia (DAM) in AD. Our results suggest that somatic driver mutations in microglia are common with normal aging but further enriched in AD brain, driving MiCE with inflammatory and DAM signatures. Our findings provide the first insights into microglial clonal dynamics in AD and identify potential new approaches to AD diagnosis and therapy.

Somatic Mosaicism in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia Reveals Widespread Degeneration from Focal Mutations.

Although mutations in dozens of genes have been implicated in familial forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) and frontotemporal degeneration (fFTD), most cases of these conditions are sporadic (sALS and sFTD), with no family history, and their etiology remains obscure. We tested the hypothesis that somatic mosaic mutations, present in some but not all cells, might contribute in these cases, by performing ultra-deep, targeted sequencing of 88 genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases in postmortem brain and spinal cord samples from 404 individuals with sALS or sFTD and 144 controls. Known pathogenic germline mutations were found in 20.6% of ALS, and 26.5% of FTD cases. Predicted pathogenic somatic mutations in ALS/FTD genes were observed in 2.7% of sALS and sFTD cases that did not carry known pathogenic or novel germline mutations. Somatic mutations showed low variant allele fraction (typically <2%) and were often restricted to the region of initial discovery, preventing detection through genetic screening in peripheral tissues. Damaging somatic mutations were preferentially enriched in primary motor cortex of sALS and prefrontal cortex of sFTD, mirroring regions most severely affected in each disease. Somatic mutation analysis of bulk RNA-seq data from brain and spinal cord from an additional 143 sALS cases and 23 controls confirmed an overall enrichment of somatic mutations in sALS. Two adult sALS cases were identified bearing pathogenic somatic mutations in DYNC1H1 and LMNA, two genes associated with pediatric motor neuron degeneration. Our study suggests that somatic mutations in fALS/fFTD genes, and in genes associated with more severe diseases in the germline state, contribute to sALS and sFTD, and that mosaic mutations in a small fraction of cells in focal regions of the nervous system can ultimately result in widespread degeneration.

Cell lineage analysis with somatic mutations reveals late divergence of neuronal cell types and cortical areas in human cerebral cortex.

The mammalian cerebral cortex shows functional specialization into regions with distinct neuronal compositions, most strikingly in the human brain, but little is known in about how cellular lineages shape cortical regional variation and neuronal cell types during development. Here, we use somatic single nucleotide variants (sSNVs) to map lineages of neuronal sub-types and cortical regions. Early-occurring sSNVs rarely respect Brodmann area (BA) borders, while late-occurring sSNVs mark neuron-generating clones with modest regional restriction, though descendants often dispersed into neighboring BAs. Nevertheless, in visual cortex, BA17 contains 30-70% more sSNVs compared to the neighboring BA18, with clones across the BA17/18 border distributed asymmetrically and thus displaying different cortex-wide dispersion patterns. Moreover, we find that excitatory neuron-generating clones with modest regional restriction consistently share low-mosaic sSNVs with some inhibitory neurons, suggesting significant co-generation of excitatory and some inhibitory neurons in the dorsal cortex. Our analysis reveals human-specific cortical cell lineage patterns, with both regional inhomogeneities in progenitor proliferation and late divergence of excitatory/inhibitory lineages.

Contribution of Somatic Ras/Raf/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Variants in the Hippocampus in Drug-Resistant Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Importance: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common focal epilepsy subtype and is often refractory to antiseizure medications. While most patients with MTLE do not have pathogenic germline genetic variants, the contribution of postzygotic (ie, somatic) variants in the brain is unknown. Objective: To test the association between pathogenic somatic variants in the hippocampus and MTLE. Design, Setting, and Participants: This case-control genetic association study analyzed the DNA derived from hippocampal tissue of neurosurgically treated patients with MTLE and age-matched and sex-matched neurotypical controls. Participants treated at level 4 epilepsy centers were enrolled from 1988 through 2019, and clinical data were collected retrospectively. Whole-exome and gene-panel sequencing (each genomic region sequenced more than 500 times on average) were used to identify candidate pathogenic somatic variants. A subset of novel variants was functionally evaluated using cellular and molecular assays. Patients with nonlesional and lesional (mesial temporal sclerosis, focal cortical dysplasia, and low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors) drug-resistant MTLE who underwent anterior medial temporal lobectomy were eligible. All patients with available frozen tissue and appropriate consents were included. Control brain tissue was obtained from neurotypical donors at brain banks. Data were analyzed from June 2020 to August 2022. Exposures: Drug-resistant MTLE. Main Outcomes and Measures: Presence and abundance of pathogenic somatic variants in the hippocampus vs the unaffected temporal neocortex. Results: Of 105 included patients with MTLE, 53 (50.5%) were female, and the median (IQR) age was 32 (26-44) years; of 30 neurotypical controls, 11 (36.7%) were female, and the median (IQR) age was 37 (18-53) years. Eleven pathogenic somatic variants enriched in the hippocampus relative to the unaffected temporal neocortex (median [IQR] variant allele frequency, 1.92 [1.5-2.7] vs 0.3 [0-0.9]; P = .01) were detected in patients with MTLE but not in controls. Ten of these variants were in PTPN11, SOS1, KRAS, BRAF, and NF1, all predicted to constitutively activate Ras/Raf/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Immunohistochemical studies of variant-positive hippocampal tissue demonstrated increased Erk1/2 phosphorylation, indicative of Ras/Raf/MAPK activation, predominantly in glial cells. Molecular assays showed abnormal liquid-liquid phase separation for the PTPN11 variants as a possible dominant gain-of-function mechanism. Conclusions and Relevance: Hippocampal somatic variants, particularly those activating Ras/Raf/MAPK signaling, may contribute to the pathogenesis of sporadic, drug-resistant MTLE. These findings may provide a novel genetic mechanism and highlight new therapeutic targets for this common indication for epilepsy surgery.

Prevalence and mechanisms of somatic deletions in single human neurons during normal aging and in DNA repair disorders.

Replication errors and various genotoxins cause DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) where error-prone repair creates genomic mutations, most frequently focal deletions, and defective repair may lead to neurodegeneration. Despite its pathophysiological importance, the extent to which faulty DSB repair alters the genome, and the mechanisms by which mutations arise, have not been systematically examined reflecting ineffective methods. Here, we develop PhaseDel, a computational method to detect focal deletions and characterize underlying mechanisms in single-cell whole genome sequences (scWGS). We analyzed high-coverage scWGS of 107 single neurons from 18 neurotypical individuals of various ages, and found that somatic deletions increased with age and in highly expressed genes in human brain. Our analysis of 50 single neurons from DNA repair-deficient diseases with progressive neurodegeneration (Cockayne syndrome, Xeroderma pigmentosum, and Ataxia telangiectasia) reveals elevated somatic deletions compared to age-matched controls. Distinctive mechanistic signatures and transcriptional associations suggest roles for somatic deletions in neurodegeneration.

Somatic mutations in single human cardiomyocytes reveal age-associated DNA damage and widespread oxidative genotoxicity.

The accumulation of somatic DNA mutations over time is a hallmark of aging in many dividing and nondividing cells but has not been studied in postmitotic human cardiomyocytes. Using single-cell whole-genome sequencing, we identified and characterized the landscape of somatic single-nucleotide variants (sSNVs) in 56 single cardiomyocytes from 12 individuals (aged from 0.4 to 82 years). Cardiomyocyte sSNVs accumulate with age at rates that are faster than in many dividing cell types and nondividing neurons. Cardiomyocyte sSNVs show distinctive mutational signatures that implicate failed nucleotide excision repair and base excision repair of oxidative DNA damage, and defective mismatch repair. Since age-accumulated sSNVs create many damaging mutations that disrupt gene functions, polyploidization in cardiomyocytes may provide a mechanism of genetic compensation to minimize the complete knockout of essential genes during aging. Age-related accumulation of cardiac mutations provides a paradigm to understand the influence of aging on cardiac dysfunction.

Somatic genomic changes in single Alzheimer's disease neurons.

Dementia in Alzheimer's disease progresses alongside neurodegeneration1-4, but the specific events that cause neuronal dysfunction and death remain poorly understood. During normal ageing, neurons progressively accumulate somatic mutations5 at rates similar to those of dividing cells6,7 which suggests that genetic factors, environmental exposures or disease states might influence this accumulation5. Here we analysed single-cell whole-genome sequencing data from 319 neurons from the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and neurotypical control individuals. We found that somatic DNA alterations increase in individuals with Alzheimer's disease, with distinct molecular patterns. Normal neurons accumulate mutations primarily in an age-related pattern (signature A), which closely resembles 'clock-like' mutational signatures that have been previously described in healthy and cancerous cells6-10. In neurons affected by Alzheimer's disease, additional DNA alterations are driven by distinct processes (signature C) that highlight C>A and other specific nucleotide changes. These changes potentially implicate nucleotide oxidation4,11, which we show is increased in Alzheimer's-disease-affected neurons in situ. Expressed genes exhibit signature-specific damage, and mutations show a transcriptional strand bias, which suggests that transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair has a role in the generation of mutations. The alterations in Alzheimer's disease affect coding exons and are predicted to create dysfunctional genetic knockout cells and proteostatic stress. Our results suggest that known pathogenic mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease may lead to genomic damage to neurons that can progressively impair function. The aberrant accumulation of DNA alterations in neurodegeneration provides insight into the cascade of molecular and cellular events that occurs in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

SMAD4 represses FOSL1 expression and pancreatic cancer metastatic colonization.

Metastasis is a complex and poorly understood process. In pancreatic cancer, loss of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß/BMP effector SMAD4 is correlated with changes in altered histopathological transitions, metastatic disease, and poor prognosis. In this study, we use isogenic cancer cell lines to identify SMAD4 regulated genes that contribute to the development of metastatic colonization. We perform an in vivo screen identifying FOSL1 as both a SMAD4 target and sufficient to drive colonization to the lung. The targeting of these genes early in treatment may provide a therapeutic benefit.

MIPP-Seq: ultra-sensitive rapid detection and validation of low-frequency mosaic mutations.

BACKGROUND: Mosaic mutations contribute to numerous human disorders. As such, the identification and precise quantification of mosaic mutations is essential for a wide range of research applications, clinical diagnoses, and early detection of cancers. Currently, the low-throughput nature of single allele assays (e.g., allele-specific ddPCR) commonly used for genotyping known mutations at very low alternate allelic fractions (AAFs) have limited the integration of low-level mosaic analyses into clinical and research applications. The growing importance of mosaic mutations requires a more rapid, low-cost solution for mutation detection and validation. METHODS: To overcome these limitations, we developed Multiple Independent Primer PCR Sequencing (MIPP-Seq) which combines the power of ultra-deep sequencing and truly independent assays. The accuracy of MIPP-seq to quantifiable detect and measure extremely low allelic fractions was assessed using a combination of SNVs, insertions, and deletions at known allelic fractions in blood and brain derived DNA samples. RESULTS: The Independent amplicon analyses of MIPP-Seq markedly reduce the impact of allelic dropout, amplification bias, PCR-induced, and sequencing artifacts. Using low DNA inputs of either 25 ng or 50 ng of DNA, MIPP-Seq provides sensitive and quantitative assessments of AAFs as low as 0.025% for SNVs, insertion, and deletions. CONCLUSIONS: MIPP-Seq provides an ultra-sensitive, low-cost approach for detecting and validating known and novel mutations in a highly scalable system with broad utility spanning both research and clinical diagnostic testing applications. The scalability of MIPP-Seq allows for multiplexing mutations and samples, which dramatically reduce costs of variant validation when compared to methods like ddPCR. By leveraging the power of individual analyses of multiple unique and independent reactions, MIPP-Seq can validate and precisely quantitate extremely low AAFs across multiple tissues and mutational categories including both indels and SNVs. Furthermore, using Illumina sequencing technology, MIPP-seq provides a robust method for accurate detection of novel mutations at an extremely low AAF.

Identification of Somatic Mutations From Bulk and Single-Cell Sequencing Data.

Somatic mutations are DNA variants that occur after the fertilization of zygotes and accumulate during the developmental and aging processes in the human lifespan. Somatic mutations have long been known to cause cancer, and more recently have been implicated in a variety of non-cancer diseases. The patterns of somatic mutations, or mutational signatures, also shed light on the underlying mechanisms of the mutational process. Advances in next-generation sequencing over the decades have enabled genome-wide profiling of DNA variants in a high-throughput manner; however, unlike germline mutations, somatic mutations are carried only by a subset of the cell population. Thus, sensitive bioinformatic methods are required to distinguish mutant alleles from sequencing and base calling errors in bulk tissue samples. An alternative way to study somatic mutations, especially those present in an extremely small number of cells or even in a single cell, is to sequence single-cell genomes after whole-genome amplification (WGA); however, it is critical and technically challenging to exclude numerous technical artifacts arising during error-prone and uneven genome amplification in current WGA methods. To address these challenges, multiple bioinformatic tools have been developed. In this review, we summarize the latest progress in methods for identification of somatic mutations and the challenges that remain to be addressed in the future.

MosaicBase: A Knowledgebase of Postzygotic Mosaic Variants in Noncancer Disease-related and Healthy Human Individuals.

Mosaic variants resulting from postzygotic mutations are prevalent in the human genome and play important roles in human diseases. However, except for cancer-related variants, there is no collection of postzygotic mosaic variants in noncancer disease-related and healthy individuals. Here, we present MosaicBase, a comprehensive database that includes 6698 mosaic variants related to 266 noncancer diseases and 27,991 mosaic variants identified in 422 healthy individuals. Genomic and phenotypic information of each variant was manually extracted and curated from 383 publications. MosaicBase supports the query of variants with Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) entries, genomic coordinates, gene symbols, or Entrez IDs. We also provide an integrated genome browser for users to easily access mosaic variants and their related annotations for any genomic region. By analyzing the variants collected in MosaicBase, we find that mosaic variants that directly contribute to disease phenotype show features distinct from those of variants in individuals with mild or no phenotypes, in terms of their genomic distribution, mutation signatures, and fraction of mutant cells. MosaicBase will not only assist clinicians in genetic counseling and diagnosis but also provide a useful resource to understand the genomic baseline of postzygotic mutations in the general human population. MosaicBase is publicly available at http://mosaicbase.com/ or http://49.4.21.8:8000.

Parallel RNA and DNA analysis after deep sequencing (PRDD-seq) reveals cell type-specific lineage patterns in human brain.

Elucidating the lineage relationships among different cell types is key to understanding human brain development. Here we developed parallel RNA and DNA analysis after deep sequencing (PRDD-seq), which combines RNA analysis of neuronal cell types with analysis of nested spontaneous DNA somatic mutations as cell lineage markers, identified from joint analysis of single-cell and bulk DNA sequencing by single-cell MosaicHunter (scMH). PRDD-seq enables simultaneous reconstruction of neuronal cell type, cell lineage, and sequential neuronal formation ("birthdate") in postmortem human cerebral cortex. Analysis of two human brains showed remarkable quantitative details that relate mutation mosaic frequency to clonal patterns, confirming an early divergence of precursors for excitatory and inhibitory neurons, and an "inside-out" layer formation of excitatory neurons as seen in other species. In addition our analysis allows an estimate of excitatory neuron-restricted precursors (about 10) that generate the excitatory neurons within a cortical column. Inhibitory neurons showed complex, subtype-specific patterns of neurogenesis, including some patterns of development conserved relative to mouse, but also some aspects of primate cortical interneuron development not seen in mouse. PRDD-seq can be broadly applied to characterize cell identity and lineage from diverse archival samples with single-cell resolution and in potentially any developmental or disease condition.

Somatic LINE-1 retrotransposition in cortical neurons and non-brain tissues of Rett patients and healthy individuals.

Mounting evidence supports that LINE-1 (L1) retrotransposition can occur postzygotically in healthy and diseased human tissues, contributing to genomic mosaicism in the brain and other somatic tissues of an individual. However, the genomic distribution of somatic human-specific LINE-1 (L1Hs) insertions and their potential impact on carrier cells remain unclear. Here, using a PCR-based targeted bulk sequencing approach, we profiled 9,181 somatic insertions from 20 postmortem tissues from five Rett patients and their matched healthy controls. We identified and validated somatic L1Hs insertions in both cortical neurons and non-brain tissues. In Rett patients, somatic insertions were significantly depleted in exons-mainly contributed by long genes-than healthy controls, implying that cells carrying MECP2 mutations might be defenseless against a second exonic L1Hs insertion. We observed a significant increase of somatic L1Hs insertions in the brain compared with non-brain tissues from the same individual. Compared to germline insertions, somatic insertions were less sense-depleted to transcripts, indicating that they underwent weaker selective pressure on the orientation of insertion. Our observations demonstrate that somatic L1Hs insertions contribute to genomic diversity and MeCP2 dysfunction alters their genomic patterns in Rett patients.

AutismKB 2.0: a knowledgebase for the genetic evidence of autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with strong genetic contributions. To provide a comprehensive resource for the genetic evidence of ASD, we have updated the Autism KnowledgeBase (AutismKB) to version 2.0. AutismKB 2.0 integrates multiscale genetic data on 1379 genes, 5420 copy number variations and structural variations, 11 669 single-nucleotide variations or small insertions/deletions (SNVs/indels) and 172 linkage regions. In particular, AutismKB 2.0 highlights 5669 de novo SNVs/indels due to their significant contribution to ASD genetics and includes 789 mosaic variants due to their recently discovered contributions to ASD pathogenesis. The genes and variants are annotated extensively with genetic evidence and clinical evidence. To help users fully understand the functional consequences of SNVs and small indels, we provided comprehensive predictions of pathogenicity with iFish, SIFT, Polyphen etc. To improve user experiences, the new version incorporates multiple query methods, including simple query, advanced query and batch query. It also functionally integrates two analytical tools to help users perform downstream analyses, including a gene ranking tool and an enrichment analysis tool, KOBAS. AutismKB 2.0 is freely available and can be a valuable resource for researchers.

A model for postzygotic mosaicisms quantifies the allele fraction drift, mutation rate, and contribution to de novo mutations.

The allele fraction (AF) distribution, occurrence rate, and evolutionary contribution of postzygotic single-nucleotide mosaicisms (pSNMs) remain largely unknown. In this study, we developed a mathematical model to describe the accumulation and AF drift of pSNMs during the development of multicellular organisms. By applying the model, we quantitatively analyzed two large-scale data sets of pSNMs identified from human genomes. We found that the postzygotic mutation rate per cell division during early embryogenesis, especially during the first cell division, was higher than the average mutation rate in either male or female gametes. We estimated that the stochastic cell death rate per cell cleavage during human embryogenesis was ∼5%, and parental pSNMs occurring during the first three cell divisions contributed to ∼10% of the de novo mutations observed in children. We further demonstrated that the genomic profiles of pSNMs could be used to measure the divergence distance between tissues. Our results highlight the importance of pSNMs in estimating recurrence risk and clarified the quantitative relationship between postzygotic and de novo mutations.

Distinctive types of postzygotic single-nucleotide mosaicisms in healthy individuals revealed by genome-wide profiling of multiple organs.

Postzygotic single-nucleotide mosaicisms (pSNMs) have been extensively studied in tumors and are known to play critical roles in tumorigenesis. However, the patterns and origin of pSNMs in normal organs of healthy humans remain largely unknown. Using whole-genome sequencing and ultra-deep amplicon re-sequencing, we identified and validated 164 pSNMs from 27 postmortem organ samples obtained from five healthy donors. The mutant allele fractions ranged from 1.0% to 29.7%. Inter- and intra-organ comparison revealed two distinctive types of pSNMs, with about half originating during early embryogenesis (embryonic pSNMs) and the remaining more likely to result from clonal expansion events that had occurred more recently (clonal expansion pSNMs). Compared to clonal expansion pSNMs, embryonic pSNMs had higher proportion of C>T mutations with elevated mutation rate at CpG sites. We observed differences in replication timing between these two types of pSNMs, with embryonic and clonal expansion pSNMs enriched in early- and late-replicating regions, respectively. An increased number of embryonic pSNMs were located in open chromatin states and topologically associating domains that transcribed embryonically. Our findings provide new insights into the origin and spatial distribution of postzygotic mosaicism during normal human development.

Genomic mosaicism in paternal sperm and multiple parental tissues in a Dravet syndrome cohort.

Genomic mosaicism in parental gametes and peripheral tissues is an important consideration for genetic counseling. We studied a Chinese cohort affected by a severe epileptic disorder, Dravet syndrome (DS). There were 56 fathers who donated semen and 15 parents who donated multiple peripheral tissue samples. We used an ultra-sensitive quantification method, micro-droplet digital PCR (mDDPCR), to detect parental mosaicism of the proband's pathogenic mutation in SCN1A, the causal gene of DS in 112 families. Ten of the 56 paternal sperm samples were found to exhibit mosaicism of the proband's mutations, with mutant allelic fractions (MAFs) ranging from 0.03% to 39.04%. MAFs in the mosaic fathers' sperm were significantly higher than those in their blood (p = 0.00098), even after conditional probability correction (p' = 0.033). In three mosaic fathers, ultra-low fractions of mosaicism (MAF < 1%) were detected in the sperm samples. In 44 of 45 cases, mosaicism was also observed in other parental peripheral tissues. Hierarchical clustering showed that MAFs measured in the paternal sperm, hair follicles and urine samples were clustered closest together. Milder epileptic phenotypes were more likely to be observed in mosaic parents (p = 3.006e-06). Our study provides new insights for genetic counseling.

Postzygotic single-nucleotide mosaicisms contribute to the etiology of autism spectrum disorder and autistic traits and the origin of mutations.

The roles and characteristics of postzygotic single-nucleotide mosaicisms (pSNMs) in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) remain unclear. In this study of the whole exomes of 2,361 families in the Simons Simplex Collection, we identified 1,248 putative pSNMs in children and 285 de novo SNPs in children with detectable parental mosaicism. Ultra-deep amplicon resequencing suggested a validation rate of 51%. Analyses of validated pSNMs revealed that missense/loss-of-function (LoF) pSNMs with a high mutant allele fraction (MAF≥ 0.2) contributed to ASD diagnoses (P = 0.022, odds ratio [OR] = 5.25), whereas missense/LoF pSNMs with a low MAF (MAF<0.2) contributed to autistic traits in male non-ASD siblings (P = 0.033). LoF pSNMs in parents were less likely to be transmitted to offspring than neutral pSNMs (P = 0.037), and missense/LoF pSNMs in parents with a low MAF were transmitted more to probands than to siblings (P = 0.016, OR = 1.45). We estimated that pSNMs in probands or de novo mutations inherited from parental pSNMs increased the risk of ASD by approximately 6%. Adding pSNMs into the transmission and de novo association test model revealed 13 new ASD risk genes. These results expand the existing repertoire of genes involved in ASD and shed new light on the contribution of genomic mosaicisms to ASD diagnoses and autistic traits.

MosaicHunter: accurate detection of postzygotic single-nucleotide mosaicism through next-generation sequencing of unpaired, trio, and paired samples.

Genomic mosaicism arising from postzygotic mutations has long been associated with cancer and more recently with non-cancer diseases. It has also been detected in healthy individuals including healthy parents of children affected with genetic disorders, highlighting its critical role in the origin of genetic mutations. However, most existing software for the genome-wide identification of single-nucleotide mosaicisms (SNMs) requires a paired control tissue obtained from the same individual which is often unavailable for non-cancer individuals and sometimes missing in cancer studies. Here, we present MosaicHunter (http://mosaichunter.cbi.pku.edu.cn), a bioinformatics tool that can identify SNMs in whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing data of unpaired samples without matched controls using Bayesian genotypers. We evaluate the accuracy of MosaicHunter on both simulated and real data and demonstrate that it has improved performance compared with other somatic mutation callers. We further demonstrate that incorporating sequencing data of the parents can be an effective approach to significantly improve the accuracy of detecting SNMs in an individual when a matched control sample is unavailable. Finally, MosaicHunter also has a paired mode that can take advantage of matched control samples when available, making it a useful tool for detecting SNMs in both non-cancer and cancer studies.