@article {872, title = {Rapid, Paralog-Sensitive CNV Analysis of 2457 Human Genomes Using QuicK-mer2.}, journal = {Genes (Basel)}, volume = {11}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 01 29}, abstract = {

Gene duplication is a major mechanism for the evolution of gene novelty, and copy-number variation makes a major contribution to inter-individual genetic diversity. However, most approaches for studying copy-number variation rely upon uniquely mapping reads to a genome reference and are unable to distinguish among duplicated sequences. Specialized approaches to interrogate specific paralogs are comparatively slow and have a high degree of computational complexity, limiting their effective application to emerging population-scale data sets. We present QuicK-mer2, a self-contained, mapping-free approach that enables the rapid construction of paralog-specific copy-number maps from short-read sequence data. This approach is based on the tabulation of unique k-mer sequences from short-read data sets, and is able to analyze a 20X coverage human genome in approximately 20 min. We applied our approach to newly released sequence data from the 1000 Genomes Project, constructed paralog-specific copy-number maps from 2457 unrelated individuals, and uncovered copy-number variation of paralogous genes. We identify nine genes where none of the analyzed samples have a copy number of two, 92 genes where the majority of samples have a copy number other than two, and describe rare copy number variation effecting multiple genes at the APOBEC3 locus.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Computational Biology, DNA Copy Number Variations, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Duplication, Genome, Human, Humans, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes11020141}, author = {Shen, Feichen and Kidd, Jeffrey M} } @article {703, title = {COL4A1 mutations as a potential novel cause of autosomal dominant CAKUT in humans.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {138}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Oct}, pages = {1105-1115}, abstract = {

Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) are the most common cause of chronic kidney disease (~ 45\%) that manifests before 30~years of age. The genetic locus containing COL4A1 (13q33-34) has been implicated in vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), but mutations in COL4A1 have not been reported in CAKUT. We hypothesized that COL4A1 mutations cause CAKUT in humans. We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) in 550 families with CAKUT. As negative control cohorts we used WES sequencing data from patients with nephronophthisis (NPHP) with no genetic cause identified (n = 257) and with nephrotic syndrome (NS) due to monogenic causes (n = 100). We identified a not previously reported heterozygous missense variant in COL4A1 in three siblings with isolated VUR. When examining 549 families with CAKUT, we identified nine additional different heterozygous missense mutations in COL4A1 in 11 individuals from 11 unrelated families with CAKUT, while no COL4A1 mutations were identified in a control cohort with NPHP and only one in the cohort with NS. Most individuals (12/14) had isolated CAKUT with no extrarenal features. The predominant phenotype was VUR (9/14). There were no clinical features of the COL4A1-related disorders (e.g., HANAC syndrome, porencephaly, tortuosity of retinal arteries). Whereas COL4A1-related disorders are typically caused by glycine substitutions in the collagenous domain (84.4\% of variants), only one variant in our cohort is a glycine substitution within the collagenous domain (1/10). We identified heterozygous COL4A1 mutations as a potential novel autosomal dominant cause of CAKUT that is allelic to the established COL4A1-related disorders and predominantly caused by non-glycine substitutions.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Amino Acid Substitution, Collagen Type IV, Computational Biology, Congenital Abnormalities, Databases, Genetic, DNA Mutational Analysis, Evolution, Molecular, Female, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Loci, Genomics, Heterozygote, Humans, Kidney, Kidney Diseases, Cystic, Male, Mutation, Nephrotic Syndrome, Phenotype, Urinary Tract, Web Browser, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-019-02042-4}, author = {Kitzler, Thomas M and Schneider, Ronen and Kohl, Stefan and Kolvenbach, Caroline M and Connaughton, Dervla M and Dai, Rufeng and Mann, Nina and Nakayama, Makiko and Majmundar, Amar J and Wu, Chen-Han W and Kari, Jameela A and El Desoky, Sherif M and Senguttuvan, Prabha and Bogdanovic, Radovan and Staji{\'c}, Natasa and Valivullah, Zaheer and Lek, Monkol and Mane, Shrikant and Lifton, Richard P and Tasic, Velibor and Shril, Shirlee and Hildebrandt, Friedhelm} } @article {447, title = {A noncoding variant in GANAB explains isolated polycystic liver disease (PCLD) in a large family.}, journal = {Hum Mutat}, volume = {39}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 03}, pages = {378-382}, abstract = {

Expanded mutation detection and novel gene discovery for isolated polycystic liver disease (PCLD) are necessary as 50\% of cases do not have identified mutations in the seven published disease genes. We investigated a family with five affected siblings for which no loss-of-function variants were identified by whole exome sequencing analysis. SNP genotyping and linkage analysis narrowed the candidate regions to \~{}8\% of the genome, which included two published PCLD genes in close proximity to each other, GANAB and LRP5. Based on these findings, we re-evaluated the exome sequencing data and identified a novel intronic nine base pair deletion in the vicinity of the GANAB exon 24 splice donor that had initially been discarded by the sequence analysis pipelines. We used a minigene assay to show that this deletion leads to skipping of exon 24 in cell lines and primary human cholangiocytes. These findings prompt genomic evaluation beyond the coding region to enhance mutation detection in PCLD and to avoid premature implication of other genes in linkage disequilibrium.

}, keywords = {Base Sequence, Cysts, DNA, Intergenic, Evolution, Molecular, Exons, Glucosidases, Humans, Liver Diseases, Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor-Related Protein-5, Mutation}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.23383}, author = {Besse, Whitney and Choi, Jungmin and Ahram, Dina and Mane, Shrikant and Sanna-Cherchi, Simone and Torres, Vicente and Somlo, Stefan} } @article {629, title = {A novel pathogenic variant in a family with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia and benign familial infantile seizures.}, journal = {Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud}, volume = {4}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 02}, abstract = {

Paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) is a rare neurological disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of dyskinetic movements without alteration of consciousness that are often triggered by the initiation of voluntary movements. Whole-exome sequencing has revealed a cluster of pathogenic variants in (proline-rich transmembrane protein), a gene with a function in synaptic regulation that remains poorly understood. Here, we report the discovery of a novel pathogenic variant inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern in a family with PKD and benign familial infantile seizures (BFIS). After targeted Sanger sequencing did not identify the presence of previously described pathogenic variants, we carried out whole-exome sequencing in the proband and her affected paternal grandfather. This led to the discovery of a novel variant, NM_001256442:exon3:c.C959T/NP_660282.2:p.A320V, altering an evolutionarily conserved alanine at the amino acid position 320 located in the M2 transmembrane region. Sanger sequencing further confirmed the presence of this variant in four affected family members (paternal grandfather, father, brother, and proband) and its absence in two unaffected ones (paternal grandmother and mother). This newly found variant further reinforces the importance of in PKD, BFIS, and possibly other movement disorders. Future functional studies using animal models and human pluripotent stem cell models will provide new insights into the role of and the significance of this variant in regulating neural development and/or function.

}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, Child, Chromosome Segregation, Conserved Sequence, Dystonia, Epilepsy, Benign Neonatal, Evolution, Molecular, Family, Female, Humans, Infant, Inheritance Patterns, Male, Membrane Proteins, Mutation, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Pedigree}, issn = {2373-2873}, doi = {10.1101/mcs.a002287}, author = {Lu, Jacqueline G and Bishop, Juliet and Cheyette, Sarah and Zhulin, Igor B and Guo, Su and Sobreira, Nara and Brenner, Steven E} } @article {352, title = {Intensification: A Resource for Amplifying Population-Genetic Signals with Protein Repeats.}, journal = {J Mol Biol}, volume = {429}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 02 03}, pages = {435-445}, abstract = {

Large-scale genome sequencing holds great promise for the interpretation of protein structures through the discovery of many, rare functional variants in the human population. However, because protein-coding regions are under high selective constraints, these variants occur at low frequencies, such that there is often insufficient statistics for downstream calculations. To address this problem, we develop the Intensification approach, which uses the modular structure of repeat protein domains to amplify signals of selection from population genetics and traditional interspecies conservation. In particular, we are able to aggregate variants at the codon level to identify important positions in repeat domains that show strong conservation signals. This allows us to compare conservation over different evolutionary timescales. It also enables us to visualize population-genetic measures on protein structures. We make available the Intensification results as an online resource (http://intensification.gersteinlab.org) and illustrate the approach through a case study on the tetratricopeptide repeat.

}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Chromosome Mapping, Codon, Computational Biology, Databases, Genetic, Evolution, Molecular, Genetics, Population, Humans, Internet, Molecular Structure, Protein Conformation, Proteins, Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted, X-Rays}, issn = {1089-8638}, doi = {10.1016/j.jmb.2016.12.003}, author = {Chen, Jieming and Wang, Bo and Regan, Lynne and Gerstein, Mark} } @article {535, title = {Localized structural frustration for evaluating the impact of sequence variants.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {44}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 12 01}, pages = {10062-10073}, abstract = {

Population-scale sequencing is increasingly uncovering large numbers of rare single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in coding regions of the genome. The rarity of these variants makes it challenging to evaluate their deleteriousness with conventional phenotype-genotype associations. Protein structures provide a way of addressing this challenge. Previous efforts have focused on globally quantifying the impact of SNVs on protein stability. However, local perturbations may severely impact protein functionality without strongly disrupting global stability (e.g. in relation to catalysis or allostery). Here, we describe a workflow in which localized frustration, quantifying unfavorable local interactions, is employed as a metric to investigate such effects. Using this workflow on the Protein Databank, we find that frustration produces many immediately intuitive results: for instance, disease-related SNVs create stronger changes in localized frustration than non-disease related variants, and rare SNVs tend to disrupt local interactions to a larger extent than common variants. Less obviously, we observe that somatic SNVs associated with oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) induce very different changes in frustration. In particular, those associated with TSGs change the frustration more in the core than the surface (by introducing loss-of-function events), whereas those associated with oncogenes manifest the opposite pattern, creating gain-of-function events.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, Databases, Protein, Evolution, Molecular, Genes, Tumor Suppressor, Genetic Variation, Humans, Neoplasms, Oncogenes, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Workflow}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkw927}, author = {Kumar, Sushant and Clarke, Declan and Gerstein, Mark} } @article {107, title = {Comparative Genomic Analyses of the Human NPHP1 Locus Reveal Complex Genomic Architecture and Its Regional Evolution in Primates.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {11}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec}, pages = {e1005686}, abstract = {

Many loci in the human genome harbor complex genomic structures that can result in susceptibility to genomic rearrangements leading to various genomic disorders. Nephronophthisis 1 (NPHP1, MIM$\#$ 256100) is an autosomal recessive disorder that can be caused by defects of NPHP1; the gene maps within the human 2q13 region where low copy repeats (LCRs) are abundant. Loss of function of NPHP1 is responsible for approximately 85\% of the NPHP1 cases-about 80\% of such individuals carry a large recurrent homozygous NPHP1 deletion that occurs via nonallelic homologous recombination (NAHR) between two flanking directly oriented ~45 kb LCRs. Published data revealed a non-pathogenic inversion polymorphism involving the NPHP1 gene flanked by two inverted ~358 kb LCRs. Using optical mapping and array-comparative genomic hybridization, we identified three potential novel structural variant (SV) haplotypes at the NPHP1 locus that may protect a haploid genome from the NPHP1 deletion. Inter-species comparative genomic analyses among primate genomes revealed massive genomic changes during evolution. The aggregated data suggest that dynamic genomic rearrangements occurred historically within the NPHP1 locus and generated SV haplotypes observed in the human population today, which may confer differential susceptibility to genomic instability and the NPHP1 deletion within a personal genome. Our study documents diverse SV haplotypes at a complex LCR-laden human genomic region. Comparative analyses provide a model for how this complex region arose during primate evolution, and studies among humans suggest that intra-species polymorphism may potentially modulate an individual{\textquoteright}s susceptibility to acquiring disease-associated alleles.

}, keywords = {Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Alleles, Animals, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Dosage, Gene Rearrangement, Genome, Human, Genomic Structural Variation, Haplotypes, Humans, Kidney Diseases, Cystic, Membrane Proteins, Primates}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1005686}, author = {Yuan, Bo and Liu, Pengfei and Gupta, Aditya and Beck, Christine R and Tejomurtula, Anusha and Campbell, Ian M and Gambin, Tomasz and Simmons, Alexandra D and Withers, Marjorie A and Harris, R Alan and Rogers, Jeffrey and Schwartz, David C and Lupski, James R} } @article {175, title = {Structural variation mutagenesis of the human genome: Impact on disease and evolution.}, journal = {Environ Mol Mutagen}, volume = {56}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 06}, pages = {419-36}, abstract = {

Watson-Crick base-pair changes, or single-nucleotide variants (SNV), have long been known as a source of mutations. However, the extent to which DNA structural variation, including duplication and deletion copy number variants (CNV) and copy number neutral inversions and translocations, contribute to human genome variation and disease has been appreciated only recently. Moreover, the potential complexity of structural variants (SV) was not envisioned; thus, the frequency of complex genomic rearrangements and how such events form remained a mystery. The concept of genomic disorders, diseases due to genomic rearrangements and not sequence-based changes for which genomic architecture incite genomic instability, delineated a new category of conditions distinct from chromosomal syndromes and single-gene Mendelian diseases. Nevertheless, it is the mechanistic understanding of CNV/SV formation that has promoted further understanding of human biology and disease and provided insights into human genome and gene evolution. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 56:419-436, 2015. {\textcopyright} 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

}, keywords = {Animals, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Dosage, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome, Human, Genomic Structural Variation, Humans, Mutagenesis}, issn = {1098-2280}, doi = {10.1002/em.21943}, author = {Lupski, James R} }