@article {822, title = {Gene-based analyses of the maternal genome implicate maternal effect genes as risk factors for conotruncal heart defects.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {15}, year = {2020}, month = {2020}, pages = {e0234357}, abstract = {

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) affect approximately 1\% of newborns. Epidemiological studies have identified several genetically-mediated maternal phenotypes (e.g., pregestational diabetes, chronic hypertension) that are associated with the risk of CHDs in offspring. However, the role of the maternal genome in determining CHD risk has not been defined. We present findings from gene-level, genome-wide studies that link CHDs to maternal effect genes as well as to maternal genes related to hypertension and proteostasis. Maternal effect genes, which provide the mRNAs and proteins in the oocyte that guide early embryonic development before zygotic gene activation, have not previously been implicated in CHD risk. Our findings support a role for and suggest new pathways by which the maternal genome may contribute to the development of CHDs in offspring.

}, keywords = {Adult, Case-Control Studies, Child, Preschool, Family, Female, Genetic Testing, Heart Defects, Congenital, Humans, Hypertension, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Maternal Exposure, Maternal Inheritance, Middle Aged, Oocytes, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Proteostasis, Risk Factors}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0234357}, author = {Sewda, Anshuman and Agopian, A J and Goldmuntz, Elizabeth and Hakonarson, Hakon and Morrow, Bernice E and Musfee, Fadi and Taylor, Deanne and Mitchell, Laura E} } @article {497, title = {Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals a Monogenic Cause of Disease in ≈43\% of 35 Families With Midaortic Syndrome.}, journal = {Hypertension}, volume = {71}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 04}, pages = {691-699}, abstract = {

Midaortic syndrome (MAS) is a rare cause of severe childhood hypertension characterized by narrowing of the abdominal aorta in children and is associated with extensive vascular disease. It may occur as part of a genetic syndrome, such as neurofibromatosis, or as consequence of a pathological inflammatory disease. However, most cases are considered idiopathic. We hypothesized that in a high percentage of these patients, a monogenic cause of disease may be detected by evaluating whole exome sequencing data for mutations in 1 of 38 candidate genes previously described to cause vasculopathy. We studied a cohort of 36 individuals from 35 different families with MAS by exome sequencing. In 15 of 35 families (42.9\%), we detected likely causal dominant mutations. In 15 of 35 (42.9\%) families with MAS, whole exome sequencing revealed a mutation in one of the genes previously associated with vascular disease (, , , , and ). Ten of the 15 mutations have not previously been reported. This is the first report of , , or mutations in individuals with MAS. Mutations were detected in (6/15 families), (4/15 families), (3/15 families), and one family each for and Eight individuals had syndromic disease and 7 individuals had isolated MAS. Whole exome sequencing can provide conclusive molecular genetic diagnosis in a high fraction of individuals with syndromic or isolated MAS. Establishing an etiologic diagnosis may reveal genotype/phenotype correlations for MAS in the future and should, therefore, be performed routinely in MAS.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Aorta, Abdominal, Aortic Valve Stenosis, Child, Child, Preschool, Cohort Studies, Female, Genetic Association Studies, Humans, Hypertension, Jagged-1 Protein, Male, Mutation, Neurofibromatoses, Neurofibromin 1, Pedigree, Syndrome, United States, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {1524-4563}, doi = {10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.10296}, author = {Warejko, Jillian K and Schueler, Markus and Vivante, Asaf and Tan, Weizhen and Daga, Ankana and Lawson, Jennifer A and Braun, Daniela A and Shril, Shirlee and Amann, Kassaundra and Somers, Michael J G and Rodig, Nancy M and Baum, Michelle A and Daouk, Ghaleb and Traum, Avram Z and Kim, Heung Bae and Vakili, Khashayar and Porras, Diego and Lock, James and Rivkin, Michael J and Chaudry, Gulraiz and Smoot, Leslie B and Singh, Michael N and Smith, Edward R and Mane, Shrikant M and Lifton, Richard P and Stein, Deborah R and Ferguson, Michael A and Hildebrandt, Friedhelm} } @article {94, title = {Disrupted nitric oxide signaling due to GUCY1A3 mutations increases risk for moyamoya disease, achalasia and hypertension.}, journal = {Clin Genet}, volume = {90}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 10}, pages = {351-60}, abstract = {

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a progressive vasculopathy characterized by occlusion of the terminal portion of the internal carotid arteries and its branches, and the formation of compensatory moyamoya collateral vessels. Homozygous mutations in GUCY1A3 have been reported as a cause of MMD and achalasia. Probands (n = 96) from unrelated families underwent sequencing of GUCY1A3. Functional studies were performed to confirm the pathogenicity of identified GUCY1A3 variants. Two affected individuals from the unrelated families were found to have compound heterozygous mutations in GUCY1A3. MM041 was diagnosed with achalasia at 4 years of age, hypertension and MMD at 18 years of age. MM149 was diagnosed with MMD and hypertension at the age of 20 months. Both individuals carry one allele that is predicted to lead to haploinsufficiency and a second allele that is predicted to produce a mutated protein. Biochemical studies of one of these alleles, GUCY1A3 Cys517Tyr, showed that the mutant protein (a subunit of soluble guanylate cyclase) has a significantly blunted signaling response with exposure to nitric oxide (NO). GUCY1A3 missense and haploinsufficiency mutations disrupt NO signaling leading to MMD and hypertension, with or without achalasia.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Child, Child, Preschool, Cohort Studies, Esophageal Achalasia, Female, Humans, Hypertension, Infant, Male, Middle Aged, Moyamoya Disease, Mutation, Nitric Oxide, Nonlinear Dynamics, Regression Analysis, Sf9 Cells, Signal Transduction, Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase}, issn = {1399-0004}, doi = {10.1111/cge.12739}, author = {Wallace, S and Guo, D-C and Regalado, E and Mellor-Crummey, L and Bamshad, M and Nickerson, D A and Dauser, R and Hanchard, N and Marom, R and Martin, E and Berka, V and Sharina, I and Ganesan, V and Saunders, D and Morris, S A and Milewicz, D M} } @article {25, title = {Loss-of-function variants influence the human serum metabolome.}, journal = {Sci Adv}, volume = {2}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Aug}, pages = {e1600800}, abstract = {

The metabolome is a collection of small molecules resulting from multiple cellular and biological processes that can act as biomarkers of disease, and African-Americans exhibit high levels of genetic diversity. Exome sequencing of a sample of deeply phenotyped African-Americans allowed us to analyze the effects of annotated loss-of-function (LoF) mutations on 308 serum metabolites measured by untargeted liquid and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. In an independent sample, we identified and replicated four genes harboring six LoF mutations that significantly affected five metabolites. These sites were related to a 19 to 45\% difference in geometric mean metabolite levels, with an average effect size of 25\%. We show that some of the affected metabolites are risk predictors or diagnostic biomarkers of disease and, using the principle of Mendelian randomization, are in the causal pathway of disease. For example, LoF mutations in SLCO1B1 elevate the levels of hexadecanedioate, a fatty acid significantly associated with increased blood pressure levels and risk of incident heart failure in both African-Americans and an independent sample of European-Americans. We show that SLCO1B1 LoF mutations significantly increase the risk of incident heart failure, thus implicating the metabolite in the causal pathway of disease. These results reveal new avenues into gene function and the understanding of disease etiology by integrating -omic technologies into a deeply phenotyped population study.

}, keywords = {Aged, Biomarkers, Black or African American, Exome, Female, Genetic Variation, Heart Failure, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Hypertension, Liver-Specific Organic Anion Transporter 1, Male, Metabolome, Middle Aged, Mutation, Risk Factors, White People}, issn = {2375-2548}, doi = {10.1126/sciadv.1600800}, author = {Yu, Bing and Li, Alexander H and Metcalf, Ginger A and Muzny, Donna M and Morrison, Alanna C and White, Simon and Mosley, Thomas H and Gibbs, Richard A and Boerwinkle, Eric} } @article {171, title = {Recurrent gain of function mutation in calcium channel CACNA1H causes early-onset hypertension with primary aldosteronism.}, journal = {Elife}, volume = {4}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 24}, pages = {e06315}, abstract = {

Many Mendelian traits are likely unrecognized owing to absence of traditional segregation patterns in families due to causation by de novo mutations, incomplete penetrance, and/or variable expressivity. Genome-level sequencing can overcome these complications. Extreme childhood phenotypes are promising candidates for new Mendelian traits. One example is early onset hypertension, a rare form of a global cause of morbidity and mortality. We performed exome sequencing of 40 unrelated subjects with hypertension due to primary aldosteronism by age 10. Five subjects (12.5\%) shared the identical, previously unidentified, heterozygous CACNA1H(M1549V) mutation. Two mutations were demonstrated to be de novo events, and all mutations occurred independently. CACNA1H encodes a voltage-gated calcium channel (CaV3.2) expressed in adrenal glomerulosa. CACNA1H(M1549V) showed drastically impaired channel inactivation and activation at more hyperpolarized potentials, producing increased intracellular Ca(2+), the signal for aldosterone production. This mutation explains disease pathogenesis and provides new insight into mechanisms mediating aldosterone production and hypertension.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Age of Onset, Aldosterone, Amino Acid Sequence, Calcium, Calcium Channels, T-Type, Calcium Signaling, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Gene Expression, Genotype, Heterozygote, Humans, Hyperaldosteronism, Hypertension, Infant, Male, Membrane Potentials, Middle Aged, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Phenotype, Recurrence, Sequence Alignment, Zona Glomerulosa}, issn = {2050-084X}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.06315}, author = {Scholl, Ute I and St{\"o}lting, Gabriel and Nelson-Williams, Carol and Vichot, Alfred A and Choi, Murim and Loring, Erin and Prasad, Manju L and Goh, Gerald and Carling, Tobias and Juhlin, C Christofer and Quack, Ivo and Rump, Lars C and Thiel, Anne and Lande, Marc and Frazier, Britney G and Rasoulpour, Majid and Bowlin, David L and Sethna, Christine B and Trachtman, Howard and Fahlke, Christoph and Lifton, Richard P} } @article {247, title = {A form of the metabolic syndrome associated with mutations in DYRK1B.}, journal = {N Engl J Med}, volume = {370}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 May 15}, pages = {1909-1919}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Genetic analysis has been successful in identifying causative mutations for individual cardiovascular risk factors. Success has been more limited in mapping susceptibility genes for clusters of cardiovascular risk traits, such as those in the metabolic syndrome.

METHODS: We identified three large families with coinheritance of early-onset coronary artery disease, central obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. We used linkage analysis and whole-exome sequencing to identify the disease-causing gene.

RESULTS: A founder mutation was identified in DYRK1B, substituting cysteine for arginine at position 102 in the highly conserved kinase-like domain. The mutation precisely cosegregated with the clinical syndrome in all the affected family members and was absent in unaffected family members and unrelated controls. Functional characterization of the disease gene revealed that nonmutant protein encoded by DYRK1B inhibits the SHH (sonic hedgehog) and Wnt signaling pathways and consequently enhances adipogenesis. Furthermore, DYRK1B promoted the expression of the key gluconeogenic enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase. The R102C allele showed gain-of-function activities by potentiating these effects. A second mutation, substituting proline for histidine 90, was found to cosegregate with a similar clinical syndrome in an ethnically distinct family.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate a role for DYRK1B in adipogenesis and glucose homeostasis and associate its altered function with an inherited form of the metabolic syndrome. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.).

}, keywords = {Coronary Artery Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Exome, Female, Founder Effect, Genetic Linkage, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Glucose-6-Phosphatase, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Metabolic Syndrome, Mutation, Obesity, Abdominal, Pedigree, Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases, Protein-Tyrosine Kinases}, issn = {1533-4406}, doi = {10.1056/NEJMoa1301824}, author = {Keramati, Ali R and Fathzadeh, Mohsen and Go, Gwang-Woong and Singh, Rajvir and Choi, Murim and Faramarzi, Saeed and Mane, Shrikant and Kasaei, Mohammad and Sarajzadeh-Fard, Kazem and Hwa, John and Kidd, Kenneth K and Babaee Bigi, Mohammad A and Malekzadeh, Reza and Hosseinian, Adallat and Babaei, Masoud and Lifton, Richard P and Mani, Arya} }