@article {893, title = {Association of structural variation with cardiometabolic traits in Finns.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {108}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 04 01}, pages = {583-596}, abstract = {

The contribution of genome structural variation (SV) to quantitative traits associated with cardiometabolic diseases remains largely unknown. Here, we present the results of a study examining genetic association between SVs and cardiometabolic traits in the Finnish population. We used sensitive methods to identify and genotype 129,166 high-confidence SVs from deep whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data of 4,848 individuals. We tested the 64,572 common and low-frequency SVs for association with 116 quantitative traits and tested candidate associations using exome sequencing and array genotype data from an additional 15,205 individuals. We discovered 31 genome-wide significant associations at 15 loci, including 2 loci at which SVs have strong phenotypic effects: (1) a deletion of the ALB promoter that is greatly enriched in the Finnish population and causes decreased serum albumin level in carriers (p = 1.47~{\texttimes} 10) and is also associated with increased levels of total cholesterol (p = 1.22~{\texttimes} 10) and 14 additional cholesterol-related traits, and (2) a multi-allelic copy number variant (CNV) at PDPR that is strongly associated with pyruvate (p = 4.81~{\texttimes} 10) and alanine (p = 6.14~{\texttimes} 10) levels and resides within a structurally complex genomic region that has accumulated many rearrangements over evolutionary time. We also confirmed six previously reported associations, including five led by stronger signals in single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and one linking recurrent HP gene deletion and cholesterol levels (p = 6.24~{\texttimes} 10), which was also found to be strongly associated with increased glycoprotein level (p = 3.53~{\texttimes} 10). Our study confirms that integrating SVs in trait-mapping studies will expand our knowledge of genetic factors underlying disease risk.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cholesterol, DNA Copy Number Variations, Female, Finland, Genome, Human, Genomic Structural Variation, Genotype, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Mitochondrial Proteins, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Pyruvate Dehydrogenase (Lipoamide)-Phosphatase, Pyruvic Acid, Serum Albumin, Human}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.03.008}, author = {Chen, Lei and Abel, Haley J and Das, Indraniel and Larson, David E and Ganel, Liron and Kanchi, Krishna L and Regier, Allison A and Young, Erica P and Kang, Chul Joo and Scott, Alexandra J and Chiang, Colby and Wang, Xinxin and Lu, Shuangjia and Christ, Ryan and Service, Susan K and Chiang, Charleston W K and Havulinna, Aki S and Kuusisto, Johanna and Boehnke, Michael and Laakso, Markku and Palotie, Aarno and Ripatti, Samuli and Freimer, Nelson B and Locke, Adam E and Stitziel, Nathan O and Hall, Ira M} } @article {898, title = {Haplotype-resolved diverse human genomes and integrated analysis of structural variation.}, journal = {Science}, volume = {372}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 04 02}, abstract = {

Long-read and strand-specific sequencing technologies together facilitate the de novo assembly of high-quality haplotype-resolved human genomes without parent-child trio data. We present 64 assembled haplotypes from 32 diverse human genomes. These highly contiguous haplotype assemblies (average minimum contig length needed to cover 50\% of the genome: 26 million base pairs) integrate all forms of genetic variation, even across complex loci. We identified 107,590 structural variants (SVs), of which 68\% were not discovered with short-read sequencing, and 278 SV hotspots (spanning megabases of gene-rich sequence). We characterized 130 of the most active mobile element source elements and found that 63\% of all SVs arise through homology-mediated mechanisms. This resource enables reliable graph-based genotyping from short reads of up to 50,340 SVs, resulting in the identification of 1526 expression quantitative trait loci as well as SV candidates for adaptive selection within the human population.

}, keywords = {Female, Genetic Variation, Genome, Human, Genotype, Haplotypes, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, INDEL Mutation, Interspersed Repetitive Sequences, Male, Population Groups, Quantitative Trait Loci, Retroelements, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Inversion, Whole Genome Sequencing}, issn = {1095-9203}, doi = {10.1126/science.abf7117}, author = {Ebert, Peter and Audano, Peter A and Zhu, Qihui and Rodriguez-Martin, Bernardo and Porubsky, David and Bonder, Marc Jan and Sulovari, Arvis and Ebler, Jana and Zhou, Weichen and Serra Mari, Rebecca and Yilmaz, Feyza and Zhao, Xuefang and Hsieh, PingHsun and Lee, Joyce and Kumar, Sushant and Lin, Jiadong and Rausch, Tobias and Chen, Yu and Ren, Jingwen and Santamarina, Martin and H{\"o}ps, Wolfram and Ashraf, Hufsah and Chuang, Nelson T and Yang, Xiaofei and Munson, Katherine M and Lewis, Alexandra P and Fairley, Susan and Tallon, Luke J and Clarke, Wayne E and Basile, Anna O and Byrska-Bishop, Marta and Corvelo, Andr{\'e} and Evani, Uday S and Lu, Tsung-Yu and Chaisson, Mark J P and Chen, Junjie and Li, Chong and Brand, Harrison and Wenger, Aaron M and Ghareghani, Maryam and Harvey, William T and Raeder, Benjamin and Hasenfeld, Patrick and Regier, Allison A and Abel, Haley J and Hall, Ira M and Flicek, Paul and Stegle, Oliver and Gerstein, Mark B and Tubio, Jose M C and Mu, Zepeng and Li, Yang I and Shi, Xinghua and Hastie, Alex R and Ye, Kai and Chong, Zechen and Sanders, Ashley D and Zody, Michael C and Talkowski, Michael E and Mills, Ryan E and Devine, Scott E and Lee, Charles and Korbel, Jan O and Marschall, Tobias and Eichler, Evan E} } @article {881, title = {Copy number variants~and fixed duplications among 198 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {16}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 05}, pages = {e1008742}, abstract = {

The rhesus macaque is an abundant species of Old World monkeys and a valuable model organism for biomedical research due to its close phylogenetic relationship to humans. Copy number variation is one of the main sources of genomic diversity within and between species and a widely recognized cause of inter-individual differences in disease risk. However, copy number differences among rhesus macaques and between the human and macaque genomes, as well as the relevance of this diversity to research involving this nonhuman primate, remain understudied. Here we present a high-resolution map of sequence copy number for the rhesus macaque genome constructed from a dataset of 198 individuals. Our results show that about one-eighth of the rhesus macaque reference genome is composed of recently duplicated regions, either copy number variable regions or fixed duplications. Comparison with human genomic copy number maps based on previously published data shows that, despite overall similarities in the genome-wide distribution of these regions, there are specific differences at the chromosome level. Some of these create differences in the copy number profile between human disease genes and their rhesus macaque orthologs. Our results highlight the importance of addressing the number of copies of target genes in the design of experiments and cautions against human-centered assumptions in research conducted with model organisms. Overall, we present a genome-wide copy number map from a large sample of rhesus macaque individuals representing an important novel contribution concerning the evolution of copy number in primate genomes.

}, keywords = {Animals, Chromosome Mapping, DNA Copy Number Variations, Female, Gene Duplication, Genetics, Population, Genome, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Macaca mulatta, Male, Open Reading Frames, Phylogeny, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Species Specificity}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1008742}, author = {Bras{\'o}-Vives, Marina and Povolotskaya, Inna S and Hartas{\'a}nchez, Diego A and Farr{\'e}, Xavier and Fernandez-Callejo, Marcos and Raveendran, Muthuswamy and Harris, R Alan and Rosene, Douglas L and Lorente-Galdos, Belen and Navarro, Arcadi and Marques-Bonet, Tomas and Rogers, Jeffrey and Juan, David} } @article {711, title = {De novo and inherited variants in ZNF292 underlie a neurodevelopmental disorder with features of autism spectrum disorder.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {22}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 03}, pages = {538-546}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are genetically heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorders. We sought to delineate the clinical, molecular, and neuroimaging spectrum of a novel neurodevelopmental disorder caused by variants in the zinc finger protein 292 gene (ZNF292).

METHODS: We ascertained a cohort of 28 families with ID due to putatively pathogenic ZNF292 variants that were identified via targeted and exome sequencing. Available data were analyzed to characterize the canonical phenotype and examine genotype-phenotype relationships.

RESULTS: Probands presented with ID as well as a spectrum of neurodevelopmental features including ASD, among others. All ZNF292 variants were de novo, except in one family with dominant inheritance. ZNF292 encodes a highly conserved zinc finger protein that acts as a transcription factor and is highly expressed in the developing human brain supporting its critical role in neurodevelopment.

CONCLUSION: De novo and dominantly inherited variants in ZNF292 are associated with a range of neurodevelopmental features including ID and ASD. The clinical spectrum is broad, and most individuals present with mild to moderate ID with or without other syndromic features. Our results suggest that variants in ZNF292 are likely a recurrent cause of a neurodevelopmental disorder manifesting as ID with or without ASD.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Carrier Proteins, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neuroimaging, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/s41436-019-0693-9}, author = {Mirzaa, Ghayda M and Chong, Jessica X and Piton, Am{\'e}lie and Popp, Bernt and Foss, Kimberly and Guo, Hui and Harripaul, Ricardo and Xia, Kun and Scheck, Joshua and Aldinger, Kimberly A and Sajan, Samin A and Tang, Sha and Bonneau, Dominique and Beck, Anita and White, Janson and Mahida, Sonal and Harris, Jacqueline and Smith-Hicks, Constance and Hoyer, Juliane and Zweier, Christiane and Reis, Andr{\'e} and Thiel, Christian T and Jamra, Rami Abou and Zeid, Natasha and Yang, Amy and Farach, Laura S and Walsh, Laurence and Payne, Katelyn and Rohena, Luis and Velinov, Milen and Ziegler, Alban and Schaefer, Elise and Gatinois, Vincent and Genevi{\`e}ve, David and Simon, Marleen E H and Kohler, Jennefer and Rotenberg, Joshua and Wheeler, Patricia and Larson, Austin and Ernst, Michelle E and Akman, Cigdem I and Westman, Rachel and Blanchet, Patricia and Schillaci, Lori-Anne and Vincent-Delorme, Catherine and Gripp, Karen W and Mattioli, Francesca and Guyader, Gwena{\"e}l Le and Gerard, B{\'e}n{\'e}dicte and Mathieu-Dramard, Mich{\`e}le and Morin, Gilles and Sasanfar, Roksana and Ayub, Muhammad and Vasli, Nasim and Yang, Sandra and Person, Rick and Monaghan, Kristin G and Nickerson, Deborah A and van Binsbergen, Ellen and Enns, Gregory M and Dries, Annika M and Rowe, Leah J and Tsai, Anne C H and Svihovec, Shayna and Friedman, Jennifer and Agha, Zehra and Qamar, Raheel and Rodan, Lance H and Martinez-Agosto, Julian and Ockeloen, Charlotte W and Vincent, Marie and Sunderland, William James and Bernstein, Jonathan A and Eichler, Evan E and Vincent, John B and Bamshad, Michael J} } @article {885, title = {Evaluation of the VISAGE Basic Tool for Appearance and Ancestry Prediction Using PowerSeq Chemistry on the MiSeq FGx System.}, journal = {Genes (Basel)}, volume = {11}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 06 26}, abstract = {

The study of DNA to predict externally visible characteristics (EVCs) and the biogeographical ancestry (BGA) from unknown samples is gaining relevance in forensic genetics. Technical developments in Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS) enable the simultaneous analysis of hundreds of DNA markers, which improves successful Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP). The EU-funded VISAGE (VISible Attributes through GEnomics) Consortium has developed various targeted MPS-based lab tools to apply FDP in routine forensic analyses. Here, we present an evaluation of the VISAGE Basic tool for appearance and ancestry prediction based on PowerSeq chemistry (Promega) on a MiSeq FGx System (Illumina). The panel consists of 153 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that provide information about EVCs (41 SNPs for eye, hair and skin color from HIrisPlex-S) and continental BGA (115 SNPs; three overlap with the EVCs SNP set). The assay was evaluated for sensitivity, repeatability and genotyping concordance, as well as its performance with casework-type samples. This targeted MPS assay provided complete genotypes at all 153 SNPs down to 125 pg of input DNA and 99.67\% correct genotypes at 50 pg. It was robust in terms of repeatability and concordance and provided useful results with casework-type samples. The results suggest that this MPS assay is a useful tool for basic appearance and ancestry prediction in forensic genetics for users interested in applying PowerSeq chemistry and MiSeq for this purpose.

}, keywords = {DNA Fingerprinting, Eye Color, Forensic Genetics, Genetic Markers, Genotype, Hair Color, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Skin Pigmentation, Software}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes11060708}, author = {Palencia-Madrid, Leire and Xavier, Catarina and de la Puente, Maria and Hohoff, Carsten and Phillips, Christopher and Kayser, Manfred and Parson, Walther} } @article {812, title = {A genome-wide case-only test for the detection of digenic inheritance in human exomes.}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, volume = {117}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 08 11}, pages = {19367-19375}, abstract = {

Whole-exome sequencing (WES) has facilitated the discovery of genetic lesions underlying monogenic disorders. Incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity suggest a contribution of additional genetic lesions to clinical manifestations and outcome. Some monogenic disorders may therefore actually be digenic. However, only a few digenic disorders have been reported, all discovered by candidate gene approaches applied to at least one locus. We propose here a two-locus genome-wide test for detecting digenic inheritance in WES data. This approach uses the gene as the unit of analysis and tests all pairs of genes to detect pairwise gene {\texttimes} gene interactions underlying disease. It is a case-only method, which has several advantages over classic case-control tests, in particular by avoiding recruitment of controls. Our simulation studies based on real WES data identified two major sources of type I error inflation in this case-only test: linkage disequilibrium and population stratification. Both were corrected by specific procedures. Moreover, our case-only approach is more powerful than the corresponding case-control test for detecting digenic interactions in various population stratification scenarios. Finally, we confirmed the potential of our unbiased, genome-wide approach by successfully identifying a previously reported digenic lesion in patients with craniosynostosis. Our case-only test is a powerful and timely tool for detecting digenic inheritance in WES data from patients.

}, keywords = {Craniosynostoses, Epistasis, Genetic, Exome, Genetic Linkage, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Models, Genetic, Multifactorial Inheritance, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {1091-6490}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1920650117}, author = {Kerner, Gaspard and Bouaziz, Matthieu and Cobat, Aurelie and Bigio, Benedetta and Timberlake, Andrew T and Bustamante, Jacinta and Lifton, Richard P and Casanova, Jean-Laurent and Abel, Laurent} } @article {647, title = {Inherited glomerular diseases in the gilded age of genomic advancements.}, journal = {Pediatr Nephrol}, volume = {35}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 06}, pages = {959-968}, abstract = {

The synchronized advent of high-throughput next-generation sequencing technology and knowledge of the human genome has rendered exponential contributions to our understanding of the pathophysiology of glomerular kidney diseases. A genetic diagnosis can now be made or confirmed in about two-thirds of the suspected inherited glomerular diseases. Next-generation sequencing is adept at identifying single nucleotide variations and small insertions or deletions that constitute majority of the disease-causing mutations. Description of the complete mutation spectrum in syndromic glomerulopathies may require the use of both sequencing and cytogenetic methods to detect large structural DNA variation in addition to single nucleotide changes. The enthusiastic application of genetic and genomic knowledge to inherited glomerular diseases has uncovered anticipated and unforeseen challenges mainly related to the biological interpretation of variants of uncertain significance and the limited benefit on clinical management for the individual patient when a diagnosis is obtained. To attain the ultimate goal of transforming clinical decision-making based on accurate genetic diagnosis using genomic information, these challenges need to be addressed. Till then, the glory of genomic medicine stands the test of time in this gilded age of genomic advancements.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Age Factors, Branchio-Oto-Renal Syndrome, Child, Female, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Infant, Kidney Failure, Chronic, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Renal Insufficiency, Chronic, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {1432-198X}, doi = {10.1007/s00467-019-04266-y}, author = {Gulati, Ashima and Dahl, Neera and Tufro, Alda} } @article {915, title = {Low-level parental somatic mosaic SNVs in exomes from a large cohort of trios with diverse suspected Mendelian conditions.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {22}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 11}, pages = {1768-1776}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to assess the scale of low-level parental mosaicism in exome sequencing (ES) databases.

METHODS: We analyzed approximately 2000 family trio ES data sets from the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics (BHCMG) and Baylor Genetics (BG). Among apparent de novo single-nucleotide variants identified in the affected probands, we selected rare unique variants with variant allele fraction (VAF) between 30\% and 70\% in the probands and lower than 10\% in one of the parents.

RESULTS: Of 102 candidate mosaic variants validated using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing, droplet digital polymerase chain reaction, or blocker displacement amplification, 27 (26.4\%) were confirmed to be low- (VAF between 1\% and 10\%) or very low (VAF <1\%) level mosaic. Detection precision in parental samples with two or more alternate reads was 63.6\% (BHCMG) and 43.6\% (BG). In nine investigated individuals, we observed variability of mosaic ratios among blood, saliva, fibroblast, buccal, hair, and urine samples.

CONCLUSION: Our computational pipeline enables robust discrimination between true and false positive candidate mosaic variants and efficient detection of low-level mosaicism in ES samples. We confirm that the presence of two or more alternate reads in the parental sample is a reliable predictor of low-level parental somatic mosaicism.

}, keywords = {Exome, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Mosaicism, Parents, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/s41436-020-0897-z}, author = {Gambin, Tomasz and Liu, Qian and Karolak, Justyna A and Grochowski, Christopher M and Xie, Nina G and Wu, Lucia R and Yan, Yan Helen and Cao, Ye and Coban Akdemir, Zeynep H and Wilson, Theresa A and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Chen, Ed and Eng, Christine M and Muzny, Donna and Posey, Jennifer E and Yang, Yaping and Zhang, David Y and Shaw, Chad and Liu, Pengfei and Lupski, James R and Stankiewicz, Pawe{\l}} } @article {839, title = {Mapping and characterization of structural variation in 17,795 human genomes.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {583}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 07}, pages = {83-89}, abstract = {

A key goal of whole-genome sequencing for studies of human genetics is to interrogate all forms of variation, including single-nucleotide variants, small insertion or deletion (indel) variants and structural variants. However, tools and resources for the study of structural variants have lagged behind those for smaller variants. Here we used a scalable pipeline to map and characterize structural variants in 17,795 deeply sequenced human genomes. We publicly release site-frequency data to create the largest, to our knowledge, whole-genome-sequencing-based structural variant resource so far. On average, individuals carry 2.9 rare structural variants that alter coding regions; these variants affect the dosage or structure of 4.2 genes and account for 4.0-11.2\% of rare high-impact coding alleles. Using a computational model, we estimate that structural variants account for 17.2\% of rare alleles genome-wide, with predicted deleterious effects that are equivalent to loss-of-function coding alleles; approximately 90\% of such structural variants are noncoding deletions (mean 19.1 per genome). We report 158,991 ultra-rare structural variants and show that 2\% of individuals carry ultra-rare megabase-scale structural variants, nearly half of which are balanced or complex rearrangements. Finally, we infer the dosage sensitivity of genes and noncoding elements, and reveal trends that relate to element class and conservation. This work will help to guide the analysis and interpretation of structural variants in the era of whole-genome sequencing.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Case-Control Studies, Continental Population Groups, Epigenesis, Genetic, Female, Gene Dosage, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Quantitative Trait Loci, Software, Whole Genome Sequencing}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-020-2371-0}, author = {Abel, Haley J and Larson, David E and Regier, Allison A and Chiang, Colby and Das, Indraniel and Kanchi, Krishna L and Layer, Ryan M and Neale, Benjamin M and Salerno, William J and Reeves, Catherine and Buyske, Steven and Matise, Tara C and Muzny, Donna M and Zody, Michael C and Lander, Eric S and Dutcher, Susan K and Stitziel, Nathan O and Hall, Ira M} } @article {826, title = {Molecular diagnosis in recessive pediatric neurogenetic disease can help reduce disease recurrence in families.}, journal = {BMC Med Genomics}, volume = {13}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 05 13}, pages = {68}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The causes for thousands of individually rare recessive diseases have been discovered since the adoption of next generation sequencing (NGS). Following the molecular diagnosis in older children in a family, parents could use this information to opt for fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies, which could inform decisions about elective termination of pregnancy. The use of NGS diagnostic sequencing in families has not been demonstrated to yield benefit in subsequent pregnancies to reduce recurrence. Here we evaluated whether genetic diagnosis in older children in families supports reduction in recurrence of recessive neurogenetic disease.

METHODS: Retrospective study involving families with a child with a recessive pediatric brain disease (rPBD) that underwent NGS-based molecular diagnosis. Prenatal molecular testing was offered to couples in which a molecular diagnosis was made, to help couples seeking to prevent recurrence. With this information, families made decisions about elective termination. Pregnancies that were carried to term were assessed for the health of child and mother, and compared with historic recurrence risk of recessive disease.

RESULTS: Between 2010 and 2016, 1172 families presented with a child a likely~rPBD, 526 families received a molecular diagnosis, 91 families returned to the clinic with 101 subsequent pregnancies, and 84 opted for fetal genotyping. Sixty tested negative for recurrence for the biallelic mutation~in the fetus, and all, except for one spontaneous abortion, carried to term, and were unaffected at follow-up. Of 24 that genotyped positive~for~the biallelic mutation, 16 were electively terminated, and 8 were carried to term and showed features of disease similar to that of the older~affected sibling(s). Among the 101 pregnancies, disease recurrence in living offspring deviated from the expected 25\% to the observed 12\% ([95\% CI 0{\textperiodcentered}04 to 0{\textperiodcentered}20], p = 0{\textperiodcentered}011).

CONCLUSIONS: Molecular diagnosis in an older child, coupled with prenatal fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies and genetic counselling, allows families to make informed decisions to reduce recessive neurogenetic disease recurrence.

}, keywords = {Child, Preschool, Female, Genes, Recessive, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Genotype, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Mutation, Nervous System Diseases, Pedigree, Pregnancy, Prenatal Diagnosis, Recurrence, Retrospective Studies}, issn = {1755-8794}, doi = {10.1186/s12920-020-0714-1}, author = {Issa, Mahmoud Y and Chechlacz, Zinayida and Stanley, Valentina and George, Renee D and McEvoy-Venneri, Jennifer and Belandres, Denice and Elbendary, Hasnaa M and Gaber, Khaled R and Nabil, Ahmed and Abdel-Hamid, Mohamed S and Zaki, MAH S and Gleeson, Joseph G} } @article {852, title = {Next Generation Sequencing of 134 Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Regression.}, journal = {Genes (Basel)}, volume = {11}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 07 25}, abstract = {

Approximately 30\% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience developmental regression, the etiology of which remains largely unknown. We performed a complete literature search and identified 47 genes that had been implicated in such cases. We sequenced these genes in a preselected cohort of 134 individuals with regressive autism. In total, 16 variants in 12 genes with evidence supportive of pathogenicity were identified. They were classified as variants of uncertain significance based on ACMG standards and guidelines. Among these were recurring variants in and , variants in genes that were linked to syndromic forms of ASD (, , , , , and ), and variants in the form of oligogenic heterozygosity (, , and ).

}, keywords = {Autism Spectrum Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Cohort Studies, Disease Progression, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Infant, Male, Mutation}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes11080853}, author = {Yin, Jiani and Chun, Chun-An and Zavadenko, Nikolay N and Pechatnikova, Natalia L and Naumova, Oxana Yu and Doddapaneni, Harsha V and Hu, Jianhong and Muzny, Donna M and Schaaf, Christian P and Grigorenko, Elena L} } @article {792, title = {Quantitative Assessment of Parental Somatic Mosaicism for Copy-Number Variant (CNV) Deletions.}, journal = {Curr Protoc Hum Genet}, volume = {106}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 06}, pages = {e99}, abstract = {

As genome sequencing methodologies have become more sensitive in detecting low-frequency rare-variant events, the link between post-zygotic mutagenesis and somatic mosaicism in the etiology of several human genetic conditions other than cancers has become more clear. Given that current clinical-genomics diagnostic methods have limited detection sensitivity for mosaic events, a copy-number variant (CNV) deletion inherited from a parent with low-level (<10\%) mosaicism can be erroneously interpreted in the proband to represent a de novo germline event. Here, we describe three sensitive, precise, and cost-efficient methods that can quantitatively assess the potential degree of parental somatic mosaicism levels for CNV deletions: droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), PCR amplicon-based next-generation sequencing (NGS), and quantitative PCR. ddPCR using the EvaGreen fluorescent dye protocol can specifically quantify the deleted or non-deleted alleles by analyzing the number of droplets positive for a fluorescent signal for each event. PCR amplicon-based NGS assesses the allele frequencies of a heterozygous single-nucleotide polymorphism within a deletion region. The difference in number of reads between the two genotypes indicates the level of somatic mosaicism for the CNV deletion. Quantitative PCR can be applied where the relative quantity of the deletion junction-specific product represents the level of mosaicism. Clinical implementation of these quantitative variant-detection methods enables potentially more accurate assessment of disease recurrence risk in family-based genetic counseling, allowing couples to engage in more informed family planning. {\textcopyright} 2020 by John Wiley \& Sons, Inc. Basic Protocol: Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) Alternate Protocol 1: PCR amplicon-based next-generation sequencing Alternate Protocol 2: Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR).

}, keywords = {DNA Copy Number Variations, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Mosaicism, Parents, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction}, issn = {1934-8258}, doi = {10.1002/cphg.99}, author = {Liu, Qian and Grochowski, Christopher M and Bi, Weimin and Lupski, James R and Stankiewicz, Pawe{\l}} } @article {628, title = {Dissecting the Causal Mechanism of X-Linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism by Integrating Genome and Transcriptome Assembly.}, journal = {Cell}, volume = {172}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 02 22}, pages = {897-909.e21}, abstract = {

X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism (XDP) is a Mendelian~neurodegenerative disease that is endemic to the Philippines and is associated with a founder haplotype. We integrated multiple genome and transcriptome assembly technologies to narrow the causal mutation to the TAF1 locus, which included a SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA) retrotransposition into intron 32 of the gene. Transcriptome analyses identified decreased expression of the canonical cTAF1 transcript among XDP probands, and de novo assembly~across multiple pluripotent stem-cell-derived neuronal lineages discovered aberrant TAF1 transcription that involved alternative splicing and intron retention (IR) in proximity to the SVA that was anti-correlated with overall TAF1 expression. CRISPR/Cas9 excision of the SVA rescued this XDP-specific~transcriptional signature and normalized TAF1 expression in probands. These data suggest an SVA-mediated aberrant transcriptional mechanism associated with XDP and may provide a roadmap for layered technologies and integrated assembly-based analyses for other unsolved Mendelian disorders.

}, keywords = {Alternative Splicing, Alu Elements, Base Sequence, Cohort Studies, CRISPR-Cas Systems, Dystonic Disorders, Family, Female, Genetic Diseases, X-Linked, Genetic Loci, Genome, Human, Haplotypes, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Histone Acetyltransferases, Humans, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Introns, Male, Minisatellite Repeats, Models, Genetic, Nerve Degeneration, Neural Stem Cells, Neurons, RNA, Messenger, Short Interspersed Nucleotide Elements, TATA-Binding Protein Associated Factors, Transcription Factor TFIID, Transcriptome}, issn = {1097-4172}, doi = {10.1016/j.cell.2018.02.011}, author = {Aneichyk, Tatsiana and Hendriks, William T and Yadav, Rachita and Shin, David and Gao, Dadi and Vaine, Christine A and Collins, Ryan L and Domingo, Aloysius and Currall, Benjamin and Stortchevoi, Alexei and Multhaupt-Buell, Trisha and Penney, Ellen B and Cruz, Lilian and Dhakal, Jyotsna and Brand, Harrison and Hanscom, Carrie and Antolik, Caroline and Dy, Marisela and Ragavendran, Ashok and Underwood, Jason and Cantsilieris, Stuart and Munson, Katherine M and Eichler, Evan E and Acu{\~n}a, Patrick and Go, Criscely and Jamora, R Dominic G and Rosales, Raymond L and Church, Deanna M and Williams, Stephen R and Garcia, Sarah and Klein, Christine and M{\"u}ller, Ulrich and Wilhelmsen, Kirk C and Timmers, H T Marc and Sapir, Yechiam and Wainger, Brian J and Henderson, Daniel and Ito, Naoto and Weisenfeld, Neil and Jaffe, David and Sharma, Nutan and Breakefield, Xandra O and Ozelius, Laurie J and Bragg, D Cristopher and Talkowski, Michael E} } @article {551, title = {Ximmer: a system for improving accuracy and consistency of CNV calling from exome data.}, journal = {Gigascience}, volume = {7}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 10 01}, abstract = {

Background: While exome and targeted next-generation DNA sequencing are primarily used for detecting single nucleotide changes and small indels, detection of copy number variants (CNVs) can provide highly valuable additional information from the data. Although there are dozens of exome CNV detection methods available, these are often difficult to use, and accuracy varies unpredictably between and within datasets.

Findings: We present Ximmer, a tool that supports an end-to-end process for evaluating, tuning, and running analysis methods for detection of CNVs in germline samples. Ximmer includes a simulation framework, implementations of several commonly used CNV detection methods, and a visualization and curation tool that together enable interactive exploration and quality control of CNV results. Using Ximmer, we comprehensively evaluate CNV detection on four datasets using five different detection methods. We show that application of Ximmer can improve accuracy and aid in quality control of CNV detection results. In addition, Ximmer can be used to run analyses and explore CNV results in exome data.

Conclusions: Ximmer offers a comprehensive tool and method for applying and improving accuracy of CNV detection methods for exome data.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Computational Biology, Computer Simulation, DNA Copy Number Variations, Exome, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Reproducibility of Results, ROC Curve, Sensitivity and Specificity, Software}, issn = {2047-217X}, doi = {10.1093/gigascience/giy112}, author = {Sadedin, Simon P and Ellis, Justine A and Masters, Seth L and Oshlack, Alicia} } @article {426, title = {Contribution of rare inherited and de novo variants in 2,871 congenital heart disease probands.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {49}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Nov}, pages = {1593-1601}, abstract = {

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of mortality from birth defects. Here, exome sequencing of a single cohort of 2,871 CHD probands, including 2,645 parent-offspring trios, implicated rare inherited mutations in 1.8\%, including a recessive founder mutation in GDF1 accounting for \~{}5\% of severe CHD in Ashkenazim, recessive genotypes in MYH6 accounting for \~{}11\% of Shone complex, and dominant FLT4 mutations accounting for 2.3\% of Tetralogy of Fallot. De novo mutations (DNMs) accounted for 8\% of cases, including \~{}3\% of isolated CHD patients and \~{}28\% with both neurodevelopmental and extra-cardiac congenital anomalies. Seven genes surpassed thresholds for genome-wide significance, and 12 genes not previously implicated in CHD had >70\% probability of being disease related. DNMs in \~{}440 genes were inferred to contribute to CHD. Striking overlap between genes with damaging DNMs in probands with CHD and autism was also found.

}, keywords = {Adult, Autistic Disorder, Cardiac Myosins, Case-Control Studies, Child, Exome, Female, Gene Expression, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Growth Differentiation Factor 1, Heart Defects, Congenital, Heterozygote, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Male, Mutation, Myosin Heavy Chains, Pedigree, Risk, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-3}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.3970}, author = {Jin, Sheng Chih and Homsy, Jason and Zaidi, Samir and Lu, Qiongshi and Morton, Sarah and DePalma, Steven R and Zeng, Xue and Qi, Hongjian and Chang, Weni and Sierant, Michael C and Hung, Wei-Chien and Haider, Shozeb and Zhang, Junhui and Knight, James and Bjornson, Robert D and Castaldi, Christopher and Tikhonoa, Irina R and Bilguvar, Kaya and Mane, Shrikant M and Sanders, Stephan J and Mital, Seema and Russell, Mark W and Gaynor, J William and Deanfield, John and Giardini, Alessandro and Porter, George A and Srivastava, Deepak and Lo, Cecelia W and Shen, Yufeng and Watkins, W Scott and Yandell, Mark and Yost, H Joseph and Tristani-Firouzi, Martin and Newburger, Jane W and Roberts, Amy E and Kim, Richard and Zhao, Hongyu and Kaltman, Jonathan R and Goldmuntz, Elizabeth and Chung, Wendy K and Seidman, Jonathan G and Gelb, Bruce D and Seidman, Christine E and Lifton, Richard P and Brueckner, Martina} } @article {636, title = {Copy Number Changes Identified Using Whole Exome Sequencing in Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and Palate in a Honduran Population.}, journal = {Birth Defects Res}, volume = {109}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Oct 02}, pages = {1257-1267}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The majority of cleft lip with or without cleft palate cases appear as an isolated, nonsyndromic entity (NSCLP). With the advent of next generation sequencing, whole exome sequencing (WES) has been used to identify single nucleotide variants and insertion/deletions which cause or increase the risk of NSCLP. However, to our knowledge, there are no published studies using WES in NSCLP to investigate copy number changes (CNCs), which are a major component of human genetic variation. Our study aimed to identify CNCs associated with NSCLP in a Honduran population using WES.

METHODS: WES was performed on two to four members of 27 multiplex Honduran families. CNCs were identified using two algorithms, CoNIFER and XHMM. Priority was given to CNCs that were identified in more than one patient and had variant frequencies of less than 5\% in reference data sets.

RESULTS: WES completion was defined as >90\% of the WES target at >8 {\texttimes} coverage and >80\% of the WES target at >20 {\texttimes} coverage. Twenty-four CNCs that met our inclusion criteria were identified by both CoNIFER and XHMM. These CNCs were confirmed using quantitative PCR. Pedigree analysis produced three CNCs corresponding to ADH7, AHR, and CRYZ segregating with NSCLP. Two of the three CNCs implicate genes, AHR and ADH7, whose known biological functions could plausibly play a role in NSCLP.

CONCLUSION: WES can be used to detect candidate CNCs that may be involved in the pathophysiology of NSCLP. Birth Defects Research 109:1257-1267, 2017. {\textcopyright} 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Alcohol Dehydrogenase, Alleles, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors, Child, Child, Preschool, Cleft Lip, Cleft Palate, DNA Copy Number Variations, Family, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Honduras, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon, Whole Exome Sequencing}, issn = {2472-1727}, doi = {10.1002/bdr2.1063}, author = {Cai, Yi and Patterson, Karynne E and Reinier, Frederic and Keesecker, Sarah E and Blue, Elizabeth and Bamshad, Michael and Haddad, Joseph} } @article {353, title = {Corner fracture type spondylometaphyseal dysplasia: Overlap with type II collagenopathies.}, journal = {Am J Med Genet A}, volume = {173}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Mar}, pages = {733-739}, abstract = {

Spondylometaphyseal dysplasia (SMD) corner fracture type (also known as SMD "Sutcliffe" type, MIM 184255) is a rare skeletal dysplasia that presents with mild to moderate short stature, developmental coxa vara, mild platyspondyly, corner fracture-like lesions, and metaphyseal abnormalities with sparing of the epiphyses. The molecular basis for this disorder has yet to be clarified. We describe two patients with SMD corner fracture type and heterozygous pathogenic variants in COL2A1. These two cases together with a third case of SMD corner fracture type with a heterozygous COL2A1 pathogenic variant previously described suggest that this disorder overlaps with type II collagenopathies. The finding of one of the pathogenic variants in a previously reported case of spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia (SEMD) Strudwick type and the significant clinical similarity suggest an overlap between SMD corner fracture and SEMD Strudwick types. {\textcopyright} 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Amino Acid Substitution, Bone Diseases, Developmental, Child, Preschool, Collagen Type II, Diagnosis, Differential, Exome, Genetic Association Studies, Genotype, Growth Disorders, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Hip Joint, Humans, Infant, Male, Mutation, Osteochondrodysplasias, Phenotype, Radiography, Tibial Fractures}, issn = {1552-4833}, doi = {10.1002/ajmg.a.38059}, author = {Machol, Keren and Jain, Mahim and Almannai, Mohammed and Orand, Thibault and Lu, James T and Tran, Alyssa and Chen, Yuqing and Schlesinger, Alan and Gibbs, Richard and Bonafe, Luisa and Campos-Xavier, Ana Belinda and Unger, Sheila and Superti-Furga, Andrea and Lee, Brendan H and Campeau, Philippe M and Burrage, Lindsay C} } @article {429, title = {Evolving health care through personal genomics.}, journal = {Nat Rev Genet}, volume = {18}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 04}, pages = {259-267}, abstract = {

With the rapid evolution of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies, the cost of sequencing a human genome has plummeted, and genomics has started to pervade health care across all stages of life - from preconception to adult medicine. Challenges to fully embracing genomics in a clinical setting remain, but some approaches are starting to overcome these barriers, such as community-driven data sharing to improve the accuracy and efficiency of applying genomics to patient care.

}, keywords = {Adult, Delivery of Health Care, Genetic Testing, Genome, Human, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Precision Medicine}, issn = {1471-0064}, doi = {10.1038/nrg.2016.162}, author = {Rehm, Heidi L} } @article {372, title = {Homozygous and hemizygous CNV detection from exome sequencing data in a Mendelian disease cohort.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {45}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 02 28}, pages = {1633-1648}, abstract = {

We developed an algorithm, HMZDelFinder, that uses whole exome sequencing (WES) data to identify rare and intragenic homozygous and hemizygous (HMZ) deletions that may represent complete loss-of-function of the indicated gene. HMZDelFinder was applied to 4866 samples in the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics (BHCMG) cohort and detected 773 HMZ deletion calls (567 homozygous or 206 hemizygous) with an estimated sensitivity of 86.5\% (82\% for single-exonic and 88\% for multi-exonic calls) and precision of 78\% (53\% single-exonic and 96\% for multi-exonic calls). Out of 773 HMZDelFinder-detected deletion calls, 82 were subjected to array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and/or breakpoint PCR and 64 were confirmed. These include 18 single-exon deletions out of which 8 were exclusively detected by HMZDelFinder and not by any of seven other CNV detection tools examined. Further investigation of the 64 validated deletion calls revealed at least 15 pathogenic HMZ deletions. Of those, 7 accounted for 17-50\% of pathogenic CNVs in different disease cohorts where 7.1-11\% of the molecular diagnosis solved rate was attributed to CNVs. In summary, we present an algorithm to detect rare, intragenic, single-exon deletion CNVs using WES data; this tool can be useful for disease gene discovery efforts and clinical WES analyses.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Alternative Splicing, Cohort Studies, Computational Biology, Consanguinity, Datasets as Topic, DNA Copy Number Variations, Exome, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Hemizygote, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Inheritance Patterns, Models, Genetic, Pedigree, Reproducibility of Results, Sequence Deletion, Workflow}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkw1237}, author = {Gambin, Tomasz and Akdemir, Zeynep C and Yuan, Bo and Gu, Shen and Chiang, Theodore and Carvalho, Claudia M B and Shaw, Chad and Jhangiani, Shalini and Boone, Philip M and Eldomery, Mohammad K and Karaca, Ender and Bayram, Yavuz and Stray-Pedersen, Asbj{\o}rg and Muzny, Donna and Charng, Wu-Lin and Bahrambeigi, Vahid and Belmont, John W and Boerwinkle, Eric and Beaudet, Arthur L and Gibbs, Richard A and Lupski, James R} } @article {364, title = {Improving genetic diagnosis in Mendelian disease with transcriptome sequencing.}, journal = {Sci Transl Med}, volume = {9}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 04 19}, abstract = {

Exome and whole-genome sequencing are becoming increasingly routine approaches in Mendelian disease diagnosis. Despite their success, the current diagnostic rate for genomic analyses across a variety of rare diseases is approximately 25 to 50\%. We explore the utility of transcriptome sequencing [RNA sequencing (RNA-seq)] as a complementary diagnostic tool in a cohort of 50 patients with genetically undiagnosed rare muscle disorders. We describe an integrated approach to analyze patient muscle RNA-seq, leveraging an analysis framework focused on the detection of transcript-level changes that are unique to the patient compared to more than 180 control skeletal muscle samples. We demonstrate the power of RNA-seq to validate candidate splice-disrupting mutations and to identify splice-altering variants in both exonic and deep intronic regions, yielding an overall diagnosis rate of 35\%. We also report the discovery of a highly recurrent de novo intronic mutation in that results in a dominantly acting splice-gain event, disrupting the critical glycine repeat motif of the triple helical domain. We identify this pathogenic variant in a total of 27 genetically unsolved patients in an external collagen VI-like dystrophy cohort, thus explaining approximately 25\% of patients clinically suggestive of having collagen VI dystrophy in whom prior genetic analysis is negative. Overall, this study represents a large systematic application of transcriptome sequencing to rare disease diagnosis and highlights its utility for the detection and interpretation of variants missed by current standard diagnostic approaches.

}, keywords = {Collagen Type VI, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Muscular Diseases, Mutation, Transcriptome}, issn = {1946-6242}, doi = {10.1126/scitranslmed.aal5209}, author = {Cummings, Beryl B and Marshall, Jamie L and Tukiainen, Taru and Lek, Monkol and Donkervoort, Sandra and Foley, A Reghan and Bolduc, Veronique and Waddell, Leigh B and Sandaradura, Sarah A and O{\textquoteright}Grady, Gina L and Estrella, Elicia and Reddy, Hemakumar M and Zhao, Fengmei and Weisburd, Ben and Karczewski, Konrad J and O{\textquoteright}Donnell-Luria, Anne H and Birnbaum, Daniel and Sarkozy, Anna and Hu, Ying and Gonorazky, Hernan and Claeys, Kristl and Joshi, Himanshu and Bournazos, Adam and Oates, Emily C and Ghaoui, Roula and Davis, Mark R and Laing, Nigel G and Topf, Ana and Kang, Peter B and Beggs, Alan H and North, Kathryn N and Straub, Volker and Dowling, James J and Muntoni, Francesco and Clarke, Nigel F and Cooper, Sandra T and B{\"o}nnemann, Carsten G and MacArthur, Daniel G} } @article {27, title = {Primary immunodeficiency diseases: Genomic approaches delineate heterogeneous Mendelian disorders.}, journal = {J Allergy Clin Immunol}, volume = {139}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jan}, pages = {232-245}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDDs) are clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorders thus far associated with mutations in more than 300 genes. The clinical phenotypes derived from distinct genotypes can overlap. Genetic etiology can be a prognostic indicator of disease severity and can influence treatment decisions.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the ability of whole-exome screening methods to detect disease-causing variants in patients with PIDDs.

METHODS: Patients with PIDDs from 278 families from 22 countries were investigated by using whole-exome sequencing. Computational copy number variant (CNV) prediction pipelines and an exome-tiling chromosomal microarray were also applied to identify intragenic CNVs. Analytic approaches initially focused on 475 known or candidate PIDD genes but were nonexclusive and further tailored based on clinical data, family history, and immunophenotyping.

RESULTS: A likely molecular diagnosis was achieved in 110 (40\%) unrelated probands. Clinical diagnosis was revised in about half (60/110) and management was directly altered in nearly a quarter (26/110) of families based on molecular findings. Twelve PIDD-causing CNVs were detected, including 7 smaller than 30~Kb that would not have been detected with conventional diagnostic CNV arrays.

CONCLUSION: This high-throughput genomic approach enabled detection of disease-related variants in unexpected genes; permitted detection of low-grade constitutional, somatic, and revertant mosaicism; and provided evidence of a mutational burden in mixed PIDD immunophenotypes.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Child, Preschool, DNA Copy Number Variations, Female, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes, Infant, Male, Middle Aged, Young Adult}, issn = {1097-6825}, doi = {10.1016/j.jaci.2016.05.042}, author = {Stray-Pedersen, Asbj{\o}rg and Sorte, Hanne S{\o}rmo and Samarakoon, Pubudu and Gambin, Tomasz and Chinn, Ivan K and Coban Akdemir, Zeynep H and Erichsen, Hans Christian and Forbes, Lisa R and Gu, Shen and Yuan, Bo and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Muzny, Donna M and R{\o}dningen, Olaug Kristin and Sheng, Ying and Nicholas, Sarah K and Noroski, Lenora M and Seeborg, Filiz O and Davis, Carla M and Canter, Debra L and Mace, Emily M and Vece, Timothy J and Allen, Carl E and Abhyankar, Harshal A and Boone, Philip M and Beck, Christine R and Wiszniewski, Wojciech and Fevang, B{\o}rre and Aukrust, P{\r a}l and Tj{\o}nnfjord, Geir E and Gedde-Dahl, Tobias and Hjorth-Hansen, Henrik and Dybedal, Ingunn and Nord{\o}y, Ingvild and J{\o}rgensen, Silje F and Abrahamsen, Tore G and {\O}verland, Torstein and Bechensteen, Anne Grete and Skogen, Vegard and Osnes, Liv T N and Kulseth, Mari Ann and Prescott, Trine E and Rustad, Cecilie F and Heimdal, Ketil R and Belmont, John W and Rider, Nicholas L and Chinen, Javier and Cao, Tram N and Smith, Eric A and Caldirola, Maria Soledad and Bezrodnik, Liliana and Lugo Reyes, Saul Oswaldo and Espinosa Rosales, Francisco J and Guerrero-Cursaru, Nina Denisse and Pedroza, Luis Alberto and Poli, Cecilia M and Franco, Jose L and Trujillo Vargas, Claudia M and Aldave Becerra, Juan Carlos and Wright, Nicola and Issekutz, Thomas B and Issekutz, Andrew C and Abbott, Jordan and Caldwell, Jason W and Bayer, Diana K and Chan, Alice Y and Aiuti, Alessandro and Cancrini, Caterina and Holmberg, Eva and West, Christina and Burstedt, Magnus and Karaca, Ender and Yesil, G{\"o}zde and Artac, Hasibe and Bayram, Yavuz and Atik, Mehmed Musa and Eldomery, Mohammad K and Ehlayel, Mohammad S and Jolles, Stephen and Flat{\o}, Berit and Bertuch, Alison A and Hanson, I Celine and Zhang, Victor W and Wong, Lee-Jun and Hu, Jianhong and Walkiewicz, Magdalena and Yang, Yaping and Eng, Christine M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Gibbs, Richard A and Shearer, William T and Lyle, Robert and Orange, Jordan S and Lupski, James R} } @article {339, title = {Resolution of Disease Phenotypes Resulting from Multilocus Genomic Variation.}, journal = {N Engl J Med}, volume = {376}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 01 05}, pages = {21-31}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Whole-exome sequencing can provide insight into the relationship between observed clinical phenotypes and underlying genotypes.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from a series of 7374 consecutive unrelated patients who had been referred to a clinical diagnostic laboratory for whole-exome sequencing; our goal was to determine the frequency and clinical characteristics of patients for whom more than one molecular diagnosis was reported. The phenotypic similarity between molecularly diagnosed pairs of diseases was calculated with the use of terms from the Human Phenotype Ontology.

RESULTS: A molecular diagnosis was rendered for 2076 of 7374 patients (28.2\%); among these patients, 101 (4.9\%) had diagnoses that involved two or more disease loci. We also analyzed parental samples, when available, and found that de novo variants accounted for 67.8\% (61 of 90) of pathogenic variants in autosomal dominant disease genes and 51.7\% (15 of 29) of pathogenic variants in X-linked disease genes; both variants were de novo in 44.7\% (17 of 38) of patients with two monoallelic variants. Causal copy-number variants were found in 12 patients (11.9\%) with multiple diagnoses. Phenotypic similarity scores were significantly lower among patients in whom the phenotype resulted from two distinct mendelian disorders that affected different organ systems (50 patients) than among patients with disorders that had overlapping phenotypic features (30 patients) (median score, 0.21 vs. 0.36; P=1.77{\texttimes}10).

CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we found multiple molecular diagnoses in 4.9\% of cases in which whole-exome sequencing was informative. Our results show that structured clinical ontologies can be used to determine the degree of overlap between two mendelian diseases in the same patient; the diseases can be distinct or overlapping. Distinct disease phenotypes affect different organ systems, whereas overlapping disease phenotypes are more likely to be caused by two genes encoding proteins that interact within the same pathway. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation.).

}, keywords = {Exome, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genetic Variation, Genotyping Techniques, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Phenotype, Retrospective Studies, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1533-4406}, doi = {10.1056/NEJMoa1516767}, author = {Posey, Jennifer E and Harel, Tamar and Liu, Pengfei and Rosenfeld, Jill A and James, Regis A and Coban Akdemir, Zeynep H and Walkiewicz, Magdalena and Bi, Weimin and Xiao, Rui and Ding, Yan and Xia, Fan and Beaudet, Arthur L and Muzny, Donna M and Gibbs, Richard A and Boerwinkle, Eric and Eng, Christine M and Sutton, V Reid and Shaw, Chad A and Plon, Sharon E and Yang, Yaping and Lupski, James R} } @article {356, title = {Sequencing of sporadic Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) identifies novel and potentially pathogenic de novo variants and excludes overlap with genes associated with autism spectrum disorder.}, journal = {Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet}, volume = {174}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jun}, pages = {381-389}, abstract = {

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has high heritability; however, studies of common variation account for <5\% of ADHD variance. Using data from affected participants without a family history of ADHD, we sought to identify de novo variants that could account for sporadic ADHD. Considering a total of 128 families, two analyses were conducted in parallel: first, in 11 unaffected parent/affected proband trios (or quads with the addition of an unaffected sibling) we completed exome sequencing. Six de novo missense variants at highly conserved bases were identified and validated from four of the 11 families: the brain-expressed genes TBC1D9, DAGLA, QARS, CSMD2, TRPM2, and WDR83. Separately, in 117 unrelated probands with sporadic ADHD, we sequenced a panel of 26 genes implicated in intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to evaluate whether variation in ASD/ID-associated genes were also present in participants with ADHD. Only one putative deleterious variant (Gln600STOP) in CHD1L was identified; this was found in a single proband. Notably, no other nonsense, splice, frameshift, or highly conserved missense variants in the 26 gene panel were identified and validated. These data suggest that de novo variant analysis in families with independently adjudicated sporadic ADHD diagnosis can identify novel genes implicated in ADHD pathogenesis. Moreover, that only one of the 128 cases (0.8\%, 11 exome, and 117 MIP sequenced participants) had putative deleterious variants within our data in 26 genes related to ID and ASD suggests significant independence in the genetic pathogenesis of ADHD as compared to ASD and ID phenotypes. {\textcopyright} 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

}, keywords = {Adult, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Biomarkers, Child, Exome, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Mutation, Missense, Phenotype}, issn = {1552-485X}, doi = {10.1002/ajmg.b.32527}, author = {Kim, Daniel Seung and Burt, Amber A and Ranchalis, Jane E and Wilmot, Beth and Smith, Joshua D and Patterson, Karynne E and Coe, Bradley P and Li, Yatong K and Bamshad, Michael J and Nikolas, Molly and Eichler, Evan E and Swanson, James M and Nigg, Joel T and Nickerson, Deborah A and Jarvik, Gail P} } @article {52, title = {Association Between Absolute Neutrophil Count and Variation at TCIRG1: The NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project.}, journal = {Genet Epidemiol}, volume = {40}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 09}, pages = {470-4}, abstract = {

Neutrophils are a key component of innate immunity. Individuals with low neutrophil count are susceptible to frequent infections. Linkage and association between congenital neutropenia and a single rare missense variant in TCIRG1 have been reported in a single family. Here, we report on nine rare missense variants at evolutionarily conserved sites in TCIRG1 that are associated with lower absolute neutrophil count (ANC; p = 0.005) in 1,058 participants from three cohorts: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC), Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA), and Jackson Heart Study (JHS) of the NHLBI Grand Opportunity Exome Sequencing Project (GO ESP). These results validate the effects of TCIRG1 coding variation on ANC and suggest that this gene may be associated with a spectrum of mild to severe effects on ANC.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alleles, Cohort Studies, Female, Gene Frequency, Genotype, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Leukocyte Count, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Missense, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.), Neutropenia, Neutrophils, Sequence Analysis, DNA, United States, Vacuolar Proton-Translocating ATPases}, issn = {1098-2272}, doi = {10.1002/gepi.21976}, author = {Rosenthal, Elisabeth A and Makaryan, Vahagn and Burt, Amber A and Crosslin, David R and Kim, Daniel Seung and Smith, Joshua D and Nickerson, Deborah A and Reiner, Alex P and Rich, Stephen S and Jackson, Rebecca D and Ganesh, Santhi K and Polfus, Linda M and Qi, Lihong and Dale, David C and Jarvik, Gail P} } @article {49, title = {Ataxia-Pancytopenia Syndrome Is Caused by Missense Mutations in SAMD9L.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {98}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jun 02}, pages = {1146-1158}, abstract = {

Ataxia-pancytopenia (AP) syndrome is characterized by cerebellar ataxia, variable hematologic cytopenias, and predisposition to marrow failure and myeloid leukemia, sometimes associated with monosomy 7. Here, in the four-generation family UW-AP, linkage analysis revealed four regions that provided the maximal LOD scores possible, one of which was in a commonly microdeleted chromosome 7q region. Exome sequencing identified a missense mutation (c.2640C>A, p.His880Gln) in the sterile alpha motif domain containing 9-like gene (SAMD9L) that completely cosegregated with disease. By targeted sequencing of SAMD9L, we subsequently identified a different missense mutation (c.3587G>C, p.Cys1196Ser) in affected members of the first described family with AP syndrome, Li-AP. Neither variant is reported in the public databases, both affect highly conserved amino acid residues, and both are predicted to be damaging. With time in culture, lymphoblastic cell lines (LCLs) from two affected individuals in family UW-AP exhibited copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity for large portions of the long arm of chromosome 7, resulting in retention of only the wild-type SAMD9L allele. Newly established LCLs from both individuals demonstrated the same phenomenon. In addition, targeted capture and sequencing of SAMD9L in uncultured blood DNA from both individuals showed bias toward the wild-type allele. These observations indicate in~vivo hematopoietic mosaicism. The hematopoietic cytopenias that characterize AP syndrome and the selective advantage for clones that have lost the mutant allele support the postulated role of SAMD9L in the regulation of cell proliferation. Furthermore, we show that AP syndrome is distinct from the dyskeratoses congenita telomeropathies, with which it shares some clinical characteristics.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Cerebellar Ataxia, Child, Chromosome Aberrations, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7, Exome, Female, Genetic Linkage, Genotype, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Loss of Heterozygosity, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Missense, Pancytopenia, Pedigree, Proteins, Tumor Suppressor Proteins, Young Adult}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.04.009}, author = {Chen, Dong-Hui and Below, Jennifer E and Shimamura, Akiko and Keel, Sioban B and Matsushita, Mark and Wolff, John and Sul, Youngmee and Bonkowski, Emily and Castella, Maria and Taniguchi, Toshiyasu and Nickerson, Deborah and Papayannopoulou, Thalia and Bird, Thomas D and Raskind, Wendy H} } @article {344, title = {Complex inheritance of ABCA4 disease: four mutations in a family with multiple macular phenotypes.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {135}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan}, pages = {9-19}, abstract = {

Over 800 mutations in the ABCA4 gene cause autosomal recessive Stargardt disease. Due to extensive genetic heterogeneity, observed variant-associated phenotypes can manifest tremendous variability of expression. Furthermore, the high carrier frequency of pathogenic ABCA4 alleles in the general population (~1:20) often results in pseudo-dominant inheritance patterns further complicating the diagnosis and characterization of affected individuals. This study describes a genotype/phenotype analysis of an unusual family with multiple macular disease phenotypes spanning across two generations and segregating four distinct ABCA4 mutant alleles. Complete sequencing of ABCA4 discovered two known missense mutations, p.C54Y and p.G1961E. Array comparative genomic hybridization revealed a large novel deletion combined with a small insertion, c.6148-698_c.6670del/insTGTGCACCTCCCTAG, and complete sequencing of the entire ABCA4 genomic locus uncovered a new deep intronic variant, c.302+68C>T. Patients with the p.G1961E mutation had the mildest, confined maculopathy phenotype with peripheral flecks while those with all other mutant allele combinations exhibited a more advanced stage of generalized retinal and choriocapillaris atrophy. This family epitomizes the clinical and genetic complexity of ABCA4-associated diseases. It contained variants from all classes of mutations, in the coding region, deep intronic, both single nucleotide variants and copy number variants that accounted for varying phenotypes segregating in an apparent dominant fashion. Unequivocally defining disease-associated alleles in the ABCA4 locus requires a multifaceted approach that includes advanced mutation detection methods and a thorough analysis of clinical phenotypes.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, DNA Copy Number Variations, Electroretinography, Female, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Macula Lutea, Macular Degeneration, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Pedigree, Phenotype}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-015-1605-y}, author = {Lee, Winston and Xie, Yajing and Zernant, Jana and Yuan, Bo and Bearelly, Srilaxmi and Tsang, Stephen H and Lupski, James R and Allikmets, Rando} } @article {93, title = {Exome sequencing identifies potential novel candidate genes in patients with unexplained colorectal adenomatous polyposis.}, journal = {Fam Cancer}, volume = {15}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Apr}, pages = {281-8}, abstract = {

In up to 30\% of patients with colorectal adenomatous polyposis, no germline mutation in the known genes APC, causing familial adenomatous polyposis, MUTYH, causing MUTYH-associated polyposis, and POLE or POLD1, causing Polymerase-Proofreading-associated polyposis can be identified, although a hereditary etiology is likely. To uncover new causative genes, exome sequencing was performed using DNA from leukocytes and a total of 12 colorectal adenomas from seven unrelated patients with unexplained sporadic adenomatous polyposis. For data analysis and variant filtering, an established bioinformatics pipeline including in-house tools was applied. Variants were filtered for rare truncating point mutations and copy-number variants assuming a dominant, recessive, or tumor suppressor model of inheritance. Subsequently, targeted sequence analysis of the most promising candidate genes was performed in a validation cohort of 191 unrelated patients. All relevant variants were validated by Sanger sequencing. The analysis of exome sequencing data resulted in the identification of rare loss-of-function germline mutations in three promising candidate genes (DSC2, PIEZO1, ZSWIM7). In the validation cohort, further variants predicted to be pathogenic were identified in DSC2 and PIEZO1. According to the somatic mutation spectra, the adenomas in this patient cohort follow the classical pathways of colorectal tumorigenesis. The present study identified three candidate genes which might represent rare causes for a predisposition to colorectal adenoma formation. Especially PIEZO1 (FAM38A) and ZSWIM7 (SWS1) warrant further exploration. To evaluate the clinical relevance of these genes, investigation of larger patient cohorts and functional studies are required.

}, keywords = {Adenomatous Polyposis Coli, Adenomatous Polyps, Aged, Desmocollins, Exome, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Germ-Line Mutation, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Ion Channels, Male, Middle Aged, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1573-7292}, doi = {10.1007/s10689-016-9870-z}, author = {Spier, Isabel and Kerick, Martin and Drichel, Dmitriy and Horpaopan, Sukanya and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and Laner, Andreas and Holzapfel, Stefanie and Peters, Sophia and Adam, Ronja and Zhao, Bixiao and Becker, Tim and Lifton, Richard P and Holinski-Feder, Elke and Perner, Sven and Thiele, Holger and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Hoffmann, Per and Timmermann, Bernd and Schweiger, Michal R and Aretz, Stefan} } @article {39, title = {Exome sequencing in mostly consanguineous Arab families with neurologic disease provides a high potential molecular diagnosis rate.}, journal = {BMC Med Genomics}, volume = {9}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jul 19}, pages = {42}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopment is orchestrated by a wide range of genes, and the genetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders are thus heterogeneous. We applied whole exome sequencing (WES) for molecular diagnosis and in silico analysis to identify novel disease gene candidates in a cohort from Saudi Arabia with primarily Mendelian neurologic diseases.

METHODS: We performed WES in 31 mostly consanguineous Arab families and analyzed both single nucleotide and copy number variants (CNVs) from WES data. Interaction/expression network and pathway analyses, as well as paralog studies were utilized to investigate potential pathogenicity and disease association of novel candidate genes. Additional cases for candidate genes were identified through the clinical WES database at Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories and GeneMatcher.

RESULTS: We found known pathogenic or novel variants in known disease genes with phenotypic expansion in 6 families, disease-associated CNVs in 2 families, and 12 novel disease gene candidates in 11 families, including KIF5B, GRM7, FOXP4, MLLT1, and KDM2B. Overall, a potential molecular diagnosis was provided by variants in known disease genes in 17 families (54.8~\%) and by novel candidate disease genes in an additional 11 families, making the potential molecular diagnostic rate ~90~\%.

CONCLUSIONS: Molecular diagnostic rate from WES is improved by exome-predicted CNVs. Novel candidate disease gene discovery is facilitated by paralog studies and through the use of informatics tools and available databases to identify additional evidence for pathogenicity.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

}, keywords = {Arabs, Cohort Studies, Consanguinity, Data Mining, Databases, Genetic, DNA Copy Number Variations, Exome, Female, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Molecular Diagnostic Techniques, Nervous System Diseases, Pedigree, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1755-8794}, doi = {10.1186/s12920-016-0208-3}, author = {Charng, Wu-Lin and Karaca, Ender and Coban Akdemir, Zeynep and Gambin, Tomasz and Atik, Mehmed M and Gu, Shen and Posey, Jennifer E and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Muzny, Donna M and Doddapaneni, Harsha and Hu, Jianhong and Boerwinkle, Eric and Gibbs, Richard A and Rosenfeld, Jill A and Cui, Hong and Xia, Fan and Manickam, Kandamurugu and Yang, Yaping and Faqeih, Eissa A and Al Asmari, Ali and Saleh, Mohammed A M and El-Hattab, Ayman W and Lupski, James R} } @article {373, title = {Identification of Rare Variants in Metabolites of the Carnitine Pathway by Whole Genome Sequencing Analysis.}, journal = {Genet Epidemiol}, volume = {40}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 09}, pages = {486-91}, abstract = {

We use whole genome sequence data and rare variant analysis methods to investigate a subset of the human serum metabolome, including 16 carnitine-related metabolites that are important components of mammalian energy metabolism. Medium pass sequence data consisting of 12,820,347 rare variants and serum metabolomics data were available on 1,456 individuals. By applying a penalization method, we identified two genes FGF8 and MDGA2 with significant effects on lysine and cis-4-decenoylcarnitine, respectively, using Δ-AIC and likelihood ratio test statistics. Single variant analyses in these regions did not identify a single low-frequency variant (minor allele count > 3) responsible for the underlying signal. The results demonstrate the utility of whole genome sequence and innovative analyses for identifying candidate regions influencing complex phenotypes.

}, keywords = {Biomarkers, Carnitine, Female, Fibroblast Growth Factor 8, Genetic Variation, GPI-Linked Proteins, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Lysine, Male, Metabolomics, Middle Aged, Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1098-2272}, doi = {10.1002/gepi.21980}, author = {Yazdani, Akram and Yazdani, Azam and Liu, Xiaoming and Boerwinkle, Eric} } @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 {112, title = {Low-level APC mutational mosaicism is the underlying cause in a substantial fraction of unexplained colorectal adenomatous polyposis cases.}, journal = {J Med Genet}, volume = {53}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Mar}, pages = {172-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: In 30-50\% of patients with colorectal adenomatous polyposis, no germline mutation in the known genes APC, causing familial adenomatous polyposis, MUTYH, causing MUTYH-associated polyposis, or POLE or POLD1, causing polymerase-proofreading-associated polyposis can be identified, although a hereditary aetiology is likely. This study aimed to explore the impact of APC mutational mosaicism in unexplained polyposis.

METHODS: To comprehensively screen for somatic low-level APC mosaicism, high-coverage next-generation sequencing of the APC gene was performed using DNA from leucocytes and a total of 53 colorectal tumours from 20 unrelated patients with unexplained sporadic adenomatous polyposis. APC mosaicism was assumed if the same loss-of-function APC mutation was present in >= 2 anatomically separated colorectal adenomas/carcinomas per patient. All mutations were validated using diverse methods.

RESULTS: In 25\% (5/20) of patients, somatic mosaicism of a pathogenic APC mutation was identified as underlying cause of the disease. In 2/5 cases, the mosaic level in leucocyte DNA was slightly below the sensitivity threshold of Sanger sequencing; while in 3/5 cases, the allelic fraction was either very low (0.1-1\%) or no mutations were detectable. The majority of mosaic mutations were located outside the somatic mutation cluster region of the gene.

CONCLUSIONS: The present data indicate a high prevalence of pathogenic mosaic APC mutations below the detection thresholds of routine diagnostics in adenomatous polyposis, even if high-coverage sequencing of leucocyte DNA alone is taken into account. This has important implications for both routine work-up and strategies to identify new causative genes in this patient group.

}, keywords = {Adenomatous Polyposis Coli, Adolescent, Adult, Colorectal Neoplasms, Genes, APC, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Middle Aged, Mutation, Mutation Rate}, issn = {1468-6244}, doi = {10.1136/jmedgenet-2015-103468}, author = {Spier, Isabel and Drichel, Dmitriy and Kerick, Martin and Kirfel, Jutta and Horpaopan, Sukanya and Laner, Andreas and Holzapfel, Stefanie and Peters, Sophia and Adam, Ronja and Zhao, Bixiao and Becker, Tim and Lifton, Richard P and Perner, Sven and Hoffmann, Per and Kristiansen, Glen and Timmermann, Bernd and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Holinski-Feder, Elke and Schweiger, Michal R and Aretz, Stefan} } @article {110, title = {Molecular diagnostic experience of whole-exome sequencing in adult patients.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {18}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 07}, pages = {678-85}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) is increasingly used as a diagnostic tool in medicine, but prior reports focus on predominantly pediatric cohorts with neurologic or developmental disorders. We describe the diagnostic yield and characteristics of WES in adults.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive WES reports for adults from a diagnostic laboratory. Phenotype composition was determined using Human Phenotype Ontology terms.

RESULTS: Molecular diagnoses were reported for 17.5\% (85/486) of adults, which is lower than that for a primarily pediatric population (25.2\%; P = 0.0003); the diagnostic rate was higher (23.9\%) for those 18-30 years of age compared to patients older than 30 years (10.4\%; P = 0.0001). Dual Mendelian diagnoses contributed to 7\% of diagnoses, revealing blended phenotypes. Diagnoses were more frequent among individuals with abnormalities of the nervous system, skeletal system, head/neck, and growth. Diagnostic rate was independent of family history information, and de novo mutations contributed to 61.4\% of autosomal dominant diagnoses.

CONCLUSION: Early WES experience in adults demonstrates molecular diagnoses in a substantial proportion of patients, informing clinical management, recurrence risk, and recommendations for relatives. A positive family history was not predictive, consistent with molecular diagnoses often revealed by de novo events, informing the Mendelian basis of genetic disease in adults.Genet Med 18 7, 678-685.

}, keywords = {Adult, Exome, Female, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Genome, Human, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Pathology, Molecular}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/gim.2015.142}, author = {Posey, Jennifer E and Rosenfeld, Jill A and James, Regis A and Bainbridge, Matthew and Niu, Zhiyv and Wang, Xia and Dhar, Shweta and Wiszniewski, Wojciech and Akdemir, Zeynep H C and Gambin, Tomasz and Xia, Fan and Person, Richard E and Walkiewicz, Magdalena and Shaw, Chad A and Sutton, V Reid and Beaudet, Arthur L and Muzny, Donna and Eng, Christine M and Yang, Yaping and Gibbs, Richard A and Lupski, James R and Boerwinkle, Eric and Plon, Sharon E} } @article {34, title = {Mutations in DCDC2 (doublecortin domain containing protein 2) in neonatal sclerosing cholangitis.}, journal = {J Hepatol}, volume = {65}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Dec}, pages = {1179-1187}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND \& AIMS: Neonatal sclerosing cholangitis (NSC) is a severe neonatal-onset cholangiopathy commonly leading to liver transplantation (LT) for end-stage liver disease in childhood. Liver biopsy findings histopathologically resemble those in biliary atresia (BA); however, in NSC extrahepatic bile ducts are patent, whilst in BA their lumina are obliterated. NSC is commonly seen in consanguineous kindreds, suggesting autosomal recessive inheritance.

METHODS: From 29 NSC patients (24 families) identified, DNA was available in 24 (21 families). Thirteen (7 male) patients (12 families) of consanguineous parentage were selected for whole exome sequencing. Sequence variants were filtered for homozygosity, pathogenicity, minor allele frequency, quality score, and encoded protein expression pattern.

RESULTS: Four of 13 patients were homozygous and two were compound heterozygous for mutations in the doublecortin domain containing 2 gene (DCDC2), which encodes DCDC2 protein and is expressed in cholangiocyte cilia. Another 11 patients were sequenced: one (with one sibling pair) was compound heterozygous for DCDC2 mutations. All mutations were protein-truncating. In available liver tissue from patients with DCDC2 mutations, immunostaining for human DCDC2 and the ciliary protein acetylated alpha-tubulin (ACALT) showed no expression (n=6) and transmission electron microscopy found that cholangiocytes lacked primary cilia (n=5). DCDC2 and ACALT were expressed in NSC patients without DCDC2 mutations (n=22). Of the patients carrying DCDC2 mutations, one died awaiting LT; five came to LT, of whom one died 2years later. The other 4 are well.

CONCLUSION: Among 24 NSC patients with available DNA, 7 had mutations in DCDC2 (6 of 19 families). NSC patients in substantial proportion harbour mutations in DCDC2. Their disease represents a novel liver-based ciliopathy.

LAY SUMMARY: Neonatal sclerosing cholangitis (NSC) is a rare genetic form of liver disease presenting in infancy. Through next generation sequencing we identified mutations in the gene encoding for doublecortin domain containing 2 (DCDC2) protein in a group of NSC children. DCDC2 is a signalling and structural protein found in primary cilia of cholangiocytes. Cholangiocytes are the cells forming the biliary system which is the draining system of the liver.

}, keywords = {Cholangitis, Sclerosing, Female, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Mutation}, issn = {1600-0641}, doi = {10.1016/j.jhep.2016.07.017}, author = {Grammatikopoulos, Tassos and Sambrotta, Melissa and Strautnieks, Sandra and Foskett, Pierre and Knisely, A S and Wagner, Bart and Deheragoda, Maesha and Starling, Chris and Mieli-Vergani, Giorgina and Smith, Joshua and Bull, Laura and Thompson, Richard J} } @article {67, title = {Pathogenetics of alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {135}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 May}, pages = {569-586}, abstract = {

Alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins (ACDMPV) is a lethal lung developmental disorder caused by heterozygous point mutations or genomic deletion copy-number variants (CNVs) of FOXF1 or its upstream enhancer involving fetal lung-expressed long noncoding RNA genes LINC01081 and LINC01082. Using custom-designed array comparative genomic hybridization, Sanger sequencing, whole exome sequencing (WES), and bioinformatic analyses, we studied 22 new unrelated families (20 postnatal and two prenatal) with clinically diagnosed ACDMPV. We describe novel deletion CNVs at the FOXF1 locus in 13 unrelated ACDMPV patients. Together with the previously reported cases, all 31 genomic deletions in 16q24.1, pathogenic for ACDMPV, for which parental origin was determined, arose de novo with 30 of them occurring on the maternally inherited chromosome 16, strongly implicating genomic imprinting of the FOXF1 locus in human lungs. Surprisingly, we have also identified four ACDMPV families with the pathogenic variants in the FOXF1 locus that arose on paternal chromosome 16. Interestingly, a combination of the severe cardiac defects, including hypoplastic left heart, and single umbilical artery were observed only in children with deletion CNVs involving FOXF1 and its upstream enhancer. Our data demonstrate that genomic imprinting at 16q24.1 plays an important role in variable ACDMPV manifestation likely through long-range regulation of FOXF1 expression, and may be also responsible for key phenotypic features of maternal uniparental disomy 16. Moreover, in one family, WES revealed a de novo missense variant in ESRP1, potentially implicating FGF signaling in the etiology of ACDMPV.

}, keywords = {Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, Female, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Genes, Lethal, Genome, Human, Genomic Imprinting, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Pedigree, Persistent Fetal Circulation Syndrome, Pulmonary Alveoli, Pulmonary Veins, Sequence Deletion}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-016-1655-9}, author = {Szafranski, Przemyslaw and Gambin, Tomasz and Dharmadhikari, Avinash V and Akdemir, Kadir Caner and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Schuette, Jennifer and Godiwala, Nihal and Yatsenko, Svetlana A and Sebastian, Jessica and Madan-Khetarpal, Suneeta and Surti, Urvashi and Abellar, Rosanna G and Bateman, David A and Wilson, Ashley L and Markham, Melinda H and Slamon, Jill and Santos-Simarro, Fernando and Palomares, Mar{\'\i}a and Nevado, Juli{\'a}n and Lapunzina, Pablo and Chung, Brian Hon-Yin and Wong, Wai-Lap and Chu, Yoyo Wing Yiu and Mok, Gary Tsz Kin and Kerem, Eitan and Reiter, Joel and Ambalavanan, Namasivayam and Anderson, Scott A and Kelly, David R and Shieh, Joseph and Rosenthal, Taryn C and Scheible, Kristin and Steiner, Laurie and Iqbal, M Anwar and McKinnon, Margaret L and Hamilton, Sara Jane and Schlade-Bartusiak, Kamilla and English, Dawn and Hendson, Glenda and Roeder, Elizabeth R and DeNapoli, Thomas S and Littlejohn, Rebecca Okashah and Wolff, Daynna J and Wagner, Carol L and Yeung, Alison and Francis, David and Fiorino, Elizabeth K and Edelman, Morris and Fox, Joyce and Hayes, Denise A and Janssens, Sandra and De Baere, Elfride and Menten, Bj{\"o}rn and Loccufier, Anne and Vanwalleghem, Lieve and Moerman, Philippe and Sznajer, Yves and Lay, Amy S and Kussmann, Jennifer L and Chawla, Jasneek and Payton, Diane J and Phillips, Gael E and Brosens, Erwin and Tibboel, Dick and de Klein, Annelies and Maystadt, Isabelle and Fisher, Richard and Sebire, Neil and Male, Alison and Chopra, Maya and Pinner, Jason and Malcolm, Girvan and Peters, Gregory and Arbuckle, Susan and Lees, Melissa and Mead, Zoe and Quarrell, Oliver and Sayers, Richard and Owens, Martina and Shaw-Smith, Charles and Lioy, Janet and McKay, Eileen and de Leeuw, Nicole and Feenstra, Ilse and Spruijt, Liesbeth and Elmslie, Frances and Thiruchelvam, Timothy and Bacino, Carlos A and Langston, Claire and Lupski, James R and Sen, Partha and Popek, Edwina and Stankiewicz, Pawe{\l}} } @article {96, title = {A patient with a novel homozygous missense mutation in FTO and concomitant nonsense mutation in CETP.}, journal = {J Hum Genet}, volume = {61}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 May}, pages = {395-403}, abstract = {

The fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene has previously been associated with a variety of diseases and conditions, notably obesity, acute coronary syndrome and metabolic syndrome. Reports describing mutations in FTO as well as in FTO animal models have further demonstrated a role for FTO in the development of the brain and other organs. Here, we describe a patient born of consanguineous union who presented with microcephaly, developmental delay, behavioral abnormalities, dysmorphic facial features, hypotonia and other various phenotypic abnormalities. Whole-exome sequencing revealed a novel homozygous missense mutation in FTO and a nonsense mutation in the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP). Exome copy number variation analysis revealed no disease-causing large duplications or deletions within coding regions. Patient{\textquoteright}s, her parents{\textquoteright} and non-related control{\textquoteright} fibroblasts were analyzed for morphologic defects, abnormal proliferation, apoptosis and transcriptome profile. We have shown that FTO is located in the nucleus of cells from each tested sample. Western blot analysis demonstrated no changes in patient FTO. Quantitative (qPCR) analysis revealed slightly decreased levels of FTO expression in patient cells compared with controls. No morphological or proliferation differences between the patient and control fibroblasts were observed. There is still much to be learned about the molecular mechanisms by which mutations in FTO contribute to such severe phenotypes.

}, keywords = {Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO, Apoptosis, Biopsy, Child, Preschool, Cholesterol Ester Transfer Proteins, Computational Biology, Consanguinity, DNA Copy Number Variations, DNA Mutational Analysis, Exome, Female, Gene Expression, Gene Expression Profiling, Genetic Association Studies, Genotype, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Mutation, Missense, Phenotype, Transcriptome}, issn = {1435-232X}, doi = {10.1038/jhg.2015.160}, author = {{\c C}a{\u g}layan, Ahmet O and Tuysuz, Beyhan and Co{\c s}kun, S{\"u}leyman and Quon, Jennifer and Harmanc{\i}, Akdes S and Baranoski, Jacob F and Baran, Bur{\c c}in and Erson-Omay, E Zeynep and Henegariu, Octavian and Mane, Shrikant M and Bilguvar, Kaya and Yasuno, Katsuhito and G{\"u}nel, Murat} } @article {345, title = {The role of combined SNV and CNV burden in patients with distal symmetric polyneuropathy.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {18}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 05}, pages = {443-51}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a heterogeneous group of genetic disorders of the peripheral nervous system. Copy-number variants (CNVs) contribute significantly to CMT, as duplication of PMP22 underlies the majority of CMT1 cases. We hypothesized that CNVs and/or single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) might exist in patients with CMT with an unknown molecular genetic etiology.

METHODS: Two hundred patients with CMT, negative for both SNV mutations in several CMT genes and for CNVs involving PMP22, were screened for CNVs by high-resolution oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization. Whole-exome sequencing was conducted on individuals with rare, potentially pathogenic CNVs.

RESULTS: Putatively causative CNVs were identified in five subjects (~2.5\%); four of the five map to known neuropathy genes. Breakpoint sequencing revealed Alu-Alu-mediated junctions as a predominant contributor. Exome sequencing identified MFN2 SNVs in two of the individuals.

CONCLUSION: Neuropathy-associated CNV outside of the PMP22 locus is rare in CMT. Nevertheless, there is potential clinical utility in testing for CNVs and exome sequencing in CMT cases negative for the CMT1A duplication. These findings suggest that complex phenotypes including neuropathy can potentially be caused by a combination of SNVs and CNVs affecting more than one disease-associated locus and contributing to a mutational burden.Genet Med 18 5, 443-451.

}, keywords = {Adult, Age of Onset, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Child, Preschool, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, DNA Copy Number Variations, Exome, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, GTP Phosphohydrolases, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Mitochondrial Proteins, Motor Neurons, Myelin P0 Protein, Myelin Proteins, Neural Conduction, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Polyneuropathies}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/gim.2015.124}, author = {Pehlivan, Davut and Beck, Christine R and Okamoto, Yuji and Harel, Tamar and Akdemir, Zeynep H C and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Withers, Marjorie A and Goksungur, Meryem Tuba and Carvalho, Claudia M B and Czesnik, Dirk and Gonzaga-Jauregui, Claudia and Wiszniewski, Wojciech and Muzny, Donna M and Gibbs, Richard A and Rautenstrauss, Bernd and Sereda, Michael W and Lupski, James R} } @article {61, title = {Somatic Mutations in NEK9 Cause Nevus Comedonicus.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {98}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 May 05}, pages = {1030-1037}, abstract = {

Acne vulgaris (AV) affects most adolescents, and of those affected, moderate to severe disease occurs in 20\%. Comedones, follicular plugs consisting of desquamated keratinocytes and sebum, are central to its pathogenesis. Despite high heritability in first-degree relatives, AV genetic determinants remain incompletely understood. We therefore employed whole-exome sequencing (WES) in nevus comedonicus (NC), a rare disorder that features comedones and inflammatory acne cysts in localized, linear configurations. WES identified somatic NEK9 mutations, each affecting highly conserved residues within its kinase or RCC1 domains, in affected tissue of three out of three NC-affected subjects. All mutations are gain of function, resulting in increased phosphorylation at Thr210, a hallmark of NEK9 kinase activation. We found that comedo formation in NC is marked by loss of follicular differentiation markers, expansion of keratin-15-positive cells from localization within the bulge to the entire sub-bulge follicle and cyst, and ectopic expression of keratin 10, a marker of interfollicular differentiation not present in normal follicles. These findings suggest that NEK9 mutations in NC disrupt normal follicular differentiation and identify NEK9 as a potential regulator of follicular homeostasis.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Child, Female, Fluorescent Antibody Technique, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Mutation, Nevus, NIMA-Related Kinases, Prognosis, Skin Neoplasms, Young Adult}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.03.019}, author = {Levinsohn, Jonathan L and Sugarman, Jeffrey L and McNiff, Jennifer M and Antaya, Richard J and Choate, Keith A} } @article {53, title = {Using Whole Exome Sequencing to Identify Candidate Genes With Rare Variants In Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and Palate.}, journal = {Genet Epidemiol}, volume = {40}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 07}, pages = {432-41}, abstract = {

Studies suggest that nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate (NSCLP) is polygenic with variable penetrance, presenting a challenge in identifying all causal genetic variants. Despite relatively high prevalence of NSCLP among Amerindian populations, no large whole exome sequencing (WES) studies have been completed in this population. Our goal was to identify candidate genes with rare genetic variants for NSCLP in a Honduran population using WES. WES was performed on two to four members of 27 multiplex Honduran families. Genetic variants with a minor allele frequency > 1\% in reference databases were removed. Heterozygous variants consistent with dominant disease with incomplete penetrance were ascertained, and variants with predicted functional consequence were prioritized for analysis. Pedigree-specific P-values were calculated as the probability of all affected members in the pedigree being carriers, given that at least one is a carrier. Preliminary results identified 3,727 heterozygous rare variants; 1,282 were predicted to be functionally consequential. Twenty-three genes had variants of interest in >=3 families, where some genes had different variants in each family, giving a total of 50 variants. Variant validation via Sanger sequencing of the families and unrelated unaffected controls excluded variants that were sequencing errors or common variants not in databases, leaving four genes with candidate variants in >=3 families. Of these, candidate variants in two genes consistently segregate with NSCLP as a dominant variant with incomplete penetrance: ACSS2 and PHYH. Rare variants found at the same gene in all affected individuals in several families are likely to be directly related to NSCLP.

}, keywords = {Acetate-CoA Ligase, Alleles, Cleft Lip, Cleft Palate, Female, Gene Frequency, Genotype, Heterozygote, Hexokinase, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Mixed Function Oxygenases, Pedigree, Penetrance, Sequence Analysis, DNA, von Willebrand Factor}, issn = {1098-2272}, doi = {10.1002/gepi.21972}, author = {Aylward, Alana and Cai, Yi and Lee, Andrew and Blue, Elizabeth and Rabinowitz, Daniel and Haddad, Joseph} } @article {430, title = {Variants in SKP1, PROB1, and IL17B genes at keratoconus 5q31.1-q35.3 susceptibility locus identified by whole-exome sequencing.}, journal = {Eur J Hum Genet}, volume = {25}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 01}, pages = {73-78}, abstract = {

Keratoconus (KTCN) is a protrusion and thinning of the cornea, resulting in impairment of visual function. The extreme genetic heterogeneity makes it difficult to discover factors unambiguously influencing the KTCN phenotype. In this study, we used whole-exome sequencing (WES) and Sanger sequencing to reduce the number of candidate genes at the 5q31.1-q35.3 locus and to prioritize other potentially relevant variants in an Ecuadorian family with KTCN. We applied WES in two affected KTCN individuals from the Ecuadorian family that showed a suggestive linkage between the KTCN phenotype and the 5q31.1-q35.3 locus. Putative variants identified by WES were further evaluated in this family using Sanger sequencing. Exome capture discovered a total of 173 rare (minor allele frequency <0.001 in control population) nonsynonymous variants in both affected individuals. Among them, 16 SNVs were selected for further evaluation. Segregation analysis revealed that variants c.475T>G in SKP1, c.671G>A in PROB1, and c.527G>A in IL17B in the 5q31.1-q35.3 linkage region, and c.850G>A in HKDC1 in the 10q22 locus completely segregated with the phenotype in the studied KTCN family. We demonstrate that a combination of various techniques significantly narrowed the studied genomic region and reduced the list of the putative exonic variants. Moreover, since this locus overlapped two other chromosomal regions previously recognized in distinct KTCN studies, our findings suggest that this 5q31.1-q35.3 locus might be linked with KTCN.

}, keywords = {Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5, Exome, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Linkage, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome, Human, Hexokinase, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Interleukin-17, Keratoconus, Male, Pedigree, Phenotype, Proteins, S-Phase Kinase-Associated Proteins}, issn = {1476-5438}, doi = {10.1038/ejhg.2016.130}, author = {Karolak, Justyna A and Gambin, Tomasz and Pitarque, Jose A and Molinari, Andrea and Jhangiani, Shalini and Stankiewicz, Pawel and Lupski, James R and Gajecka, Marzena} } @article {413, title = {Whole-exome sequencing identifies novel variants in PNPT1 causing oxidative phosphorylation defects and severe multisystem disease.}, journal = {Eur J Hum Genet}, volume = {25}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 01}, pages = {79-84}, abstract = {

Recent advances in next-generation sequencing strategies have led to the discovery of many novel disease genes. We describe here a non-consanguineous family with two affected boys presenting with early onset of severe axonal neuropathy, optic atrophy, intellectual disability, auditory neuropathy and chronic respiratory and gut disturbances. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed on all family members and we identified compound heterozygous variants (c.[760C>A];[1528G>C];p.[(Gln254Lys);(Ala510Pro)] in the polyribonucleotide nucleotidyltransferase 1 (PNPT1) gene in both affected individuals. PNPT1 encodes the polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) protein, which is involved in the transport of small RNAs into the mitochondria. These RNAs are involved in the mitochondrial translation machinery, responsible for the synthesis of mitochondrially encoded subunits of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes. Both PNPT1 variants are within highly conserved regions and predicted to be damaging. These variants resulted in quaternary defects in the PNPase protein and a clear reduction in protein and mRNA expression of PNPT1 in patient fibroblasts compared with control cells. Protein analysis of the OXPHOS complexes showed a significant reduction in complex I (CI), complex III (CIII) and complex IV (CIV). Enzyme activity of CI and CIV was clearly reduced in patient fibroblasts compared with controls along with a 33\% reduction in total mitochondrial protein synthesis. In vitro rescue experiments, using exogenous expression of wild-type PNPT1 in patient fibroblasts, ameliorated the deficiencies in the OXPHOS complex protein expression, supporting the likely pathogenicity of these variants and the importance of WES in efficiently identifying rare genetic disease genes.

}, keywords = {Axons, Exome, Exoribonucleases, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Male, Mitochondria, Mutation, Optic Atrophy, Oxidative Phosphorylation, Pedigree, Protein Structure, Quaternary}, issn = {1476-5438}, doi = {10.1038/ejhg.2016.128}, author = {Alodaib, Ahmad and Sobreira, Nara and Gold, Wendy A and Riley, Lisa G and Van Bergen, Nicole J and Wilson, Meredith J and Bennetts, Bruce and Thorburn, David R and Boehm, Corinne and Christodoulou, John} } @article {199, title = {Assessment of incidental findings in 232 whole-exome sequences from the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {17}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Oct}, pages = {782-8}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: In March 2013 the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics published a list of 56 genes with the recommendation that pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants detected incidentally by clinical sequencing be reported to patients. As an initial step in determining the practical consequences of this recommendation in the research setting, we searched for variants in these genes in 232 whole-exome sequences from the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics.

METHODS: We identified rare, nonsynonymous, and splicing single-nucleotide variants and insertions/deletions and assessed variant classification using the Human Gene Mutation, Emory, and ClinVar databases. We analyzed the burden of mutation in each of the 56 genes and determined which variants should be reported to patients.

RESULTS: Our filtering resulted in 249 distinct variants, with a mean of 1.69 variants per individual. Half of these were novel missense mutations not classified by any of the three reference databases. Of 101 variants listed in the Human Gene Mutation Database, 48 were also in ClinVar and 3 were also in Emory; half of these shared variants were classified discordantly between databases. Some genes consistently had greater variation than others. In total, 0.86\% of individuals had a reportable incidental variant.

CONCLUSION: These observations demonstrate some current challenges of assessing phenotypic consequences of incidental variants for counseling patients.

}, keywords = {Databases, Nucleic Acid, Exome, Female, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Incidental Findings, Male, Mutation, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/gim.2014.196}, author = {Jurgens, Julie and Ling, Hua and Hetrick, Kurt and Pugh, Elizabeth and Schiettecatte, Fran{\c c}ois and Doheny, Kimberly and Hamosh, Ada and Avramopoulos, Dimitri and Valle, David and Sobreira, Nara} } @article {164, title = {Autosomal-Dominant Multiple Pterygium Syndrome Is Caused by Mutations in MYH3.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {96}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 May 07}, pages = {841-9}, abstract = {

Multiple pterygium syndrome (MPS) is a phenotypically and genetically heterogeneous group of rare Mendelian conditions characterized by multiple pterygia, scoliosis, and congenital contractures of the limbs. MPS typically segregates as an autosomal-recessive disorder, but rare instances of autosomal-dominant transmission have been reported. Whereas several mutations causing recessive MPS have been identified, the genetic basis of dominant MPS remains unknown. We identified four families affected by dominantly transmitted MPS characterized by pterygia, camptodactyly of the hands, vertebral fusions, and scoliosis. Exome sequencing identified predicted protein-altering mutations in embryonic myosin heavy chain (MYH3) in three families. MYH3 mutations underlie distal arthrogryposis types 1, 2A, and 2B, but all mutations reported to date occur in the head and neck domains. In contrast, two of the mutations found to cause MPS in this study occurred in the tail domain. The phenotypic overlap among persons with MPS, coupled with physical findings distinct from other conditions caused by mutations in MYH3, suggests that the developmental mechanism underlying MPS differs from that of other conditions and/or that certain functions of embryonic myosin might be perturbed by disruption of specific residues and/or domains. Moreover, the vertebral fusions in persons with MPS, coupled with evidence of MYH3 expression in bone, suggest that embryonic myosin plays a role in skeletal development.

}, keywords = {Arthrogryposis, Cytoskeletal Proteins, Exome, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Mutation, Myosins, Osteogenesis}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.04.004}, author = {Chong, Jessica X and Burrage, Lindsay C and Beck, Anita E and Marvin, Colby T and McMillin, Margaret J and Shively, Kathryn M and Harrell, Tanya M and Buckingham, Kati J and Bacino, Carlos A and Jain, Mahim and Alanay, Yasemin and Berry, Susan A and Carey, John C and Gibbs, Richard A and Lee, Brendan H and Krakow, Deborah and Shendure, Jay and Nickerson, Deborah A and Bamshad, Michael J} } @article {204, title = {Challenges and solutions for gene identification in the presence of familial locus heterogeneity.}, journal = {Eur J Hum Genet}, volume = {23}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Sep}, pages = {1207-15}, abstract = {

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of exomes and genomes has accelerated the identification of genes involved in Mendelian phenotypes. However, many NGS studies fall short of identifying causal variants, with estimates for success rates as low as 25\% for uncovering the pathological variant underlying disease etiology. An important reason for such failures is familial locus heterogeneity, where within a single pedigree causal variants in two or more genes underlie Mendelian trait etiology. As examples of intra- and inter-sibship familial locus heterogeneity, we present 10 consanguineous Pakistani families segregating hearing impairment due to homozygous variants in two different hearing impairment genes and a European-American pedigree in which hearing impairment is caused by four variants in three different genes. We have identified 41 additional pedigrees with syndromic and nonsyndromic hearing impairment for which a single previously reported hearing impairment gene has been identified but only segregates with the phenotype in a subset of affected pedigree members. We estimate that locus heterogeneity occurs in 15.3\% (95\% confidence interval: 11.9\%, 19.9\%) of the families in our collection. We demonstrate novel approaches to apply linkage analysis and homozygosity mapping (for autosomal recessive consanguineous pedigrees), which can be used to detect locus heterogeneity using either NGS or SNP array data. Results from linkage analysis and homozygosity mapping can also be used to group sibships or individuals most likely to be segregating the same causal variants and thereby increase the success rate of gene identification.

}, keywords = {Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Calcium-Binding Proteins, Chromosome Mapping, Connexin 26, Connexins, Consanguinity, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genes, Recessive, Genetic Heterogeneity, Genetic Linkage, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome, Human, Genotype, Hearing Loss, Hepatocyte Growth Factor, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Male, Membrane Transport Proteins, Mutation, Pedigree, Phenotype, Sulfate Transporters}, issn = {1476-5438}, doi = {10.1038/ejhg.2014.266}, author = {Rehman, Atteeq U and Santos-Cortez, Regie Lyn P and Drummond, Meghan C and Shahzad, Mohsin and Lee, Kwanghyuk and Morell, Robert J and Ansar, Muhammad and Jan, Abid and Wang, Xin and Aziz, Abdul and Riazuddin, Saima and Smith, Joshua D and Wang, Gao T and Ahmed, Zubair M and Gul, Khitab and Shearer, A Eliot and Smith, Richard J H and Shendure, Jay and Bamshad, Michael J and Nickerson, Deborah A and Hinnant, John and Khan, Shaheen N and Fisher, Rachel A and Ahmad, Wasim and Friderici, Karen H and Riazuddin, Sheikh and Friedman, Thomas B and Wilch, Ellen S and Leal, Suzanne M} } @article {178, title = {Collapsed haplotype pattern method for linkage analysis of next-generation sequence data.}, journal = {Eur J Hum Genet}, volume = {23}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec}, pages = {1739-43}, abstract = {

Recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) make it possible to directly sequence genomes and exomes of individuals with Mendelian diseases and screen sequence data for causal variants. With the reduction in cost of NGS, DNA samples from entire families can be sequenced and linkage analysis can be performed directly using NGS data. Inspired by {\textquoteright}burden{\textquoteright} tests, which are used for complex trait rare variant association studies, we developed the collapsed haplotype pattern (CHP) method for linkage analysis. Using data from several deafness genes we demonstrate that the CHP method is substantially more powerful than analyzing individual variants. Unlike applying NGS data filtering approaches, the CHP method provides statistical evidence of a gene{\textquoteright}s involvement in disease etiology and is also less likely to exclude causal variants in the presence of phenocopies and/or reduced penetrance. The CHP method was implemented in the SEQLinkage software package, which can perform linkage analysis on NGS data or can generate data compatible with many linkage analysis programs, reviving them for use in NGS era.

}, keywords = {Chromosome Mapping, Genetic Linkage, Haplotypes, Hearing Loss, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Software}, issn = {1476-5438}, doi = {10.1038/ejhg.2015.64}, author = {Wang, Gao T and Zhang, Di and Li, Biao and Dai, Hang and Leal, Suzanne M} } @article {108, title = {De Novo GMNN Mutations Cause Autosomal-Dominant Primordial Dwarfism Associated with Meier-Gorlin Syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {97}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec 03}, pages = {904-13}, abstract = {

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a genetically heterogeneous primordial dwarfism syndrome known to be caused by biallelic loss-of-function mutations in one of five genes encoding pre-replication complex proteins: ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6. Mutations in these genes cause disruption of the origin of DNA replication initiation. To date, only an autosomal-recessive inheritance pattern has been described in individuals with this disorder, with a molecular etiology established in about three-fourths of cases. Here, we report three subjects with MGS and de novo heterozygous mutations in the 5{\textquoteright} end of GMNN, encoding the DNA replication inhibitor geminin. We identified two truncating mutations in exon 2 (the 1(st) coding exon), c.16A>T (p.Lys6(*)) and c.35_38delTCAA (p.Ile12Lysfs(*)4), and one missense mutation, c.50A>G (p.Lys17Arg), affecting the second-to-last nucleotide of exon 2 and possibly RNA splicing. Geminin is present during the S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle and is degraded during the metaphase-anaphase transition by the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), which recognizes the destruction box sequence near the 5{\textquoteright} end of the geminin protein. All three GMNN mutations identified alter sites 5{\textquoteright} to residue Met28 of the protein, which is located within the destruction box. We present data supporting a gain-of-function mechanism, in which the GMNN mutations result in proteins lacking the destruction box and hence increased protein stability and prolonged inhibition of replication leading to autosomal-dominant MGS.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, Cell Cycle, Child, Preschool, Congenital Microtia, Dwarfism, Exons, Female, Geminin, Gene Expression, Genes, Dominant, Growth Disorders, Heterozygote, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Inheritance Patterns, Male, Micrognathism, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Patella, Pedigree, Protein Stability, Proteolysis, RNA Splicing, Sequence Alignment}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.11.006}, author = {Burrage, Lindsay C and Charng, Wu-Lin and Eldomery, Mohammad K and Willer, Jason R and Davis, Erica E and Lugtenberg, Dorien and Zhu, Wenmiao and Leduc, Magalie S and Akdemir, Zeynep C and Azamian, Mahshid and Zapata, Gladys and Hernandez, Patricia P and Schoots, Jeroen and de Munnik, Sonja A and Roepman, Ronald and Pearring, Jillian N and Jhangiani, Shalini and Katsanis, Nicholas and Vissers, Lisenka E L M and Brunner, Han G and Beaudet, Arthur L and Rosenfeld, Jill A and Muzny, Donna M and Gibbs, Richard A and Eng, Christine M and Xia, Fan and Lalani, Seema R and Lupski, James R and Bongers, Ernie M H F and Yang, Yaping} } @article {194, title = {De novo mutations in NALCN cause a syndrome characterized by congenital contractures of the limbs and face, hypotonia, and developmental delay.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {96}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Mar 05}, pages = {462-73}, abstract = {

Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, or distal arthrogryposis type 2A (DA2A), is an autosomal-dominant condition caused by mutations in MYH3 and characterized by multiple congenital contractures of the face and limbs and normal cognitive development. We identified a subset of five individuals who had been putatively diagnosed with "DA2A with severe neurological abnormalities" and for whom congenital contractures of the limbs and face, hypotonia, and global developmental delay had resulted in early death in three cases; this is a unique condition that we now refer to as CLIFAHDD syndrome. Exome sequencing identified missense mutations in the sodium leak channel, non-selective (NALCN) in four families affected by CLIFAHDD syndrome. We used molecular-inversion probes to screen for NALCN in a cohort of 202 distal arthrogryposis (DA)-affected individuals as well as concurrent exome sequencing of six other DA-affected individuals, thus revealing NALCN mutations in ten additional families with "atypical" forms of DA. All 14 mutations were missense variants predicted to alter amino acid residues in or near the S5 and S6 pore-forming segments of NALCN, highlighting the functional importance of these segments. In vitro functional studies demonstrated that NALCN alterations nearly abolished the expression of wild-type NALCN, suggesting that alterations that cause CLIFAHDD syndrome have a dominant-negative effect. In contrast, homozygosity for mutations in other regions of NALCN has been reported in three families affected by an autosomal-recessive condition characterized mainly by hypotonia and severe intellectual disability. Accordingly, mutations in NALCN can cause either a recessive or dominant condition characterized by varied though overlapping phenotypic features, perhaps based on the type of mutation and affected protein domain(s).

}, keywords = {Arthrogryposis, Contracture, Craniofacial Dysostosis, Cytoskeletal Proteins, Exome, Extremities, Face, Female, Gene Frequency, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Infant, Male, Muscle Hypotonia, Mutation, Missense, Sodium Channels}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.01.003}, author = {Chong, Jessica X and McMillin, Margaret J and Shively, Kathryn M and Beck, Anita E and Marvin, Colby T and Armenteros, Jose R and Buckingham, Kati J and Nkinsi, Naomi T and Boyle, Evan A and Berry, Margaret N and Bocian, Maureen and Foulds, Nicola and Uzielli, Maria Luisa Giovannucci and Haldeman-Englert, Chad and Hennekam, Raoul C M and Kaplan, Paige and Kline, Antonie D and Mercer, Catherine L and Nowaczyk, Malgorzata J M and Klein Wassink-Ruiter, Jolien S and McPherson, Elizabeth W and Moreno, Regina A and Scheuerle, Angela E and Shashi, Vandana and Stevens, Cathy A and Carey, John C and Monteil, Arnaud and Lory, Philippe and Tabor, Holly K and Smith, Joshua D and Shendure, Jay and Nickerson, Deborah A and Bamshad, Michael J} } @article {174, title = {Exome sequencing reveals homozygous TRIM2 mutation in a patient with early onset CMT and bilateral vocal cord paralysis.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {134}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jun}, pages = {671-3}, abstract = {

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a heterogeneous group of inherited distal symmetric polyneuropathies associated with mutations in genes encoding components essential for normal functioning of the Schwann cell and axon. TRIM2, encoding a ligase that ubiquitinates the neurofilament light chain, was recently associated with early-onset neuropathy in a single patient. We report a TRIM2 homozygous missense mutation (c.2000A>C; p.D667A) in a patient with peripheral neuropathy and bilateral vocal cord paralysis, allowing for further delineation of the associated phenotypic spectrum.

}, keywords = {Adult, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Exome, Female, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Mutation, Missense, Nuclear Proteins, Vocal Cord Paralysis}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-015-1548-3}, author = {Pehlivan, Davut and Coban Akdemir, Zeynep and Karaca, Ender and Bayram, Yavuz and Jhangiani, Shalini and Yildiz, Edibe Pembegul and Muzny, Donna and Uluc, Kayihan and Gibbs, Richard A and Elcioglu, Nursel and Lupski, James R and Harel, Tamar} } @article {168, title = {Exome sequencing reveals pathogenic mutations in 91 strains of mice with Mendelian disorders.}, journal = {Genome Res}, volume = {25}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jul}, pages = {948-57}, abstract = {

Spontaneously arising mouse mutations have served as the foundation for understanding gene function for more than 100 years. We have used exome sequencing in an effort to identify the causative mutations for 172 distinct, spontaneously arising mouse models of Mendelian disorders, including a broad range of clinically relevant phenotypes. To analyze the resulting data, we developed an analytics pipeline that is optimized for mouse exome data and a variation database that allows for reproducible, user-defined data mining as well as nomination of mutation candidates through knowledge-based integration of sample and variant data. Using these new tools, putative pathogenic mutations were identified for 91 (53\%) of the strains in our study. Despite the increased power offered by potentially unlimited pedigrees and controlled breeding, about half of our exome cases remained unsolved. Using a combination of manual analyses of exome alignments and whole-genome sequencing, we provide evidence that a large fraction of unsolved exome cases have underlying structural mutations. This result directly informs efforts to investigate the similar proportion of apparently Mendelian human phenotypes that are recalcitrant to exome sequencing.

}, keywords = {Animals, Exome, Female, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genetic Linkage, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Male, Mice, Mutation, Phenotype, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1549-5469}, doi = {10.1101/gr.186882.114}, author = {Fairfield, Heather and Srivastava, Anuj and Ananda, Guruprasad and Liu, Rangjiao and Kircher, Martin and Lakshminarayana, Anuradha and Harris, Belinda S and Karst, Son Yong and Dionne, Louise A and Kane, Coleen C and Curtain, Michelle and Berry, Melissa L and Ward-Bailey, Patricia F and Greenstein, Ian and Byers, Candice and Czechanski, Anne and Sharp, Jocelyn and Palmer, Kristina and Gudis, Polyxeni and Martin, Whitney and Tadenev, Abby and Bogdanik, Laurent and Pratt, C Herbert and Chang, Bo and Schroeder, David G and Cox, Gregory A and Cliften, Paul and Milbrandt, Jeffrey and Murray, Stephen and Burgess, Robert and Bergstrom, David E and Donahue, Leah Rae and Hamamy, Hanan and Masri, Amira and Santoni, Federico A and Makrythanasis, Periklis and Antonarakis, Stylianos E and Shendure, Jay and Reinholdt, Laura G} } @article {176, title = {PacBio-LITS: a large-insert targeted sequencing method for characterization of human disease-associated chromosomal structural variations.}, journal = {BMC Genomics}, volume = {16}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Mar 19}, pages = {214}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Generation of long (>5 Kb) DNA sequencing reads provides an approach for interrogation of complex regions in the human genome. Currently, large-insert whole genome sequencing (WGS) technologies from Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) enable analysis of chromosomal structural variations (SVs), but the cost to achieve the required sequence coverage across the entire human genome is high.

RESULTS: We developed a method (termed PacBio-LITS) that combines oligonucleotide-based DNA target-capture enrichment technologies with PacBio large-insert library preparation to facilitate SV studies at specific chromosomal regions. PacBio-LITS provides deep sequence coverage at the specified sites at substantially reduced cost compared with PacBio WGS. The efficacy of PacBio-LITS is illustrated by delineating the breakpoint junctions of low copy repeat (LCR)-associated complex structural rearrangements on chr17p11.2 in patients diagnosed with Potocki-Lupski syndrome (PTLS; MIM$\#$610883). We successfully identified previously determined breakpoint junctions in three PTLS cases, and also were able to discover novel junctions in repetitive sequences, including LCR-mediated breakpoints. The new information has enabled us to propose mechanisms for formation of these structural variants.

CONCLUSIONS: The new method leverages the cost efficiency of targeted capture-sequencing as well as the mappability and scaffolding capabilities of long sequencing reads generated by the PacBio platform. It is therefore suitable for studying complex SVs, especially those involving LCRs, inversions, and the generation of chimeric Alu elements at the breakpoints. Other genomic research applications, such as haplotype phasing and small insertion and deletion validation could also benefit from this technology.

}, keywords = {Chromosome Aberrations, Gene Library, Gene Rearrangement, Genetic Association Studies, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Workflow}, issn = {1471-2164}, doi = {10.1186/s12864-015-1370-2}, author = {Wang, Min and Beck, Christine R and English, Adam C and Meng, Qingchang and Buhay, Christian and Han, Yi and Doddapaneni, Harsha V and Yu, Fuli and Boerwinkle, Eric and Lupski, James R and Muzny, Donna M and Gibbs, Richard A} } @article {104, title = {Reads meet rotamers: structural biology in the age of deep sequencing.}, journal = {Curr Opin Struct Biol}, volume = {35}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec}, pages = {125-34}, abstract = {

Structure has traditionally been interrelated with sequence, usually in the framework of comparing sequences across species sharing a common fold. However, the nature of information within the sequence and structure databases is evolving, changing the type of comparisons possible. In particular, we now have a vast amount of personal genome sequences from human populations and a greater fraction of new structures contain interacting proteins within large complexes. Consequently, we have to recast our conception of sequence conservation and its relation to structure-for example, focusing more on selection within the human population. Moreover, within structural biology there is less emphasis on the discovery of novel folds and more on relating structures to networks of protein interactions. We cover this changing mindset here.

}, keywords = {High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Isomerism, Mutation, Proteins}, issn = {1879-033X}, doi = {10.1016/j.sbi.2015.11.003}, author = {Sethi, Anurag and Clarke, Declan and Chen, Jieming and Kumar, Sushant and Galeev, Timur R and Regan, Lynne and Gerstein, Mark} } @article {148, title = {An siRNA-based functional genomics screen for the~identification of regulators of ciliogenesis and ciliopathy~genes.}, journal = {Nat Cell Biol}, volume = {17}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Aug}, pages = {1074-1087}, abstract = {

Defects in primary cilium biogenesis underlie the ciliopathies, a growing group of genetic disorders. We describe a whole-genome siRNA-based reverse genetics screen for defects in biogenesis and/or maintenance of the primary cilium, obtaining a global resource. We identify 112 candidate ciliogenesis and ciliopathy genes, including 44 components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, 12 G-protein-coupled receptors, and 3 pre-mRNA processing factors (PRPF6, PRPF8 and PRPF31) mutated in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. The PRPFs localize to the connecting cilium, and PRPF8- and PRPF31-mutated cells have ciliary defects. Combining the screen with exome sequencing data identified recessive mutations in PIBF1, also known as CEP90, and C21orf2, also known as LRRC76, as causes of the ciliopathies Joubert and Jeune syndromes. Biochemical approaches place C21orf2 within key ciliopathy-associated protein modules, offering an explanation for the skeletal and retinal involvement observed in individuals with C21orf2 variants. Our global, unbiased approaches provide insights into ciliogenesis complexity and identify roles for unanticipated pathways in human genetic disease.

}, keywords = {Abnormalities, Multiple, Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Cerebellar Diseases, Cerebellum, Cilia, Ciliary Motility Disorders, Databases, Genetic, Ellis-Van Creveld Syndrome, Eye Abnormalities, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, HEK293 Cells, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Kidney Diseases, Cystic, Membrane Proteins, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Knockout, Mutation, Phenotype, Photoreceptor Cells, Pregnancy Proteins, Proteins, Reproducibility of Results, Retina, RNA Interference, Suppressor Factors, Immunologic, Transfection, Zebrafish}, issn = {1476-4679}, doi = {10.1038/ncb3201}, author = {Wheway, Gabrielle and Schmidts, Miriam and Mans, Dorus A and Szymanska, Katarzyna and Nguyen, Thanh-Minh T and Racher, Hilary and Phelps, Ian G and Toedt, Grischa and Kennedy, Julie and Wunderlich, Kirsten A and Sorusch, Nasrin and Abdelhamed, Zakia A and Natarajan, Subaashini and Herridge, Warren and van Reeuwijk, Jeroen and Horn, Nicola and Boldt, Karsten and Parry, David A and Letteboer, Stef J F and Roosing, Susanne and Adams, Matthew and Bell, Sandra M and Bond, Jacquelyn and Higgins, Julie and Morrison, Ewan E and Tomlinson, Darren C and Slaats, Gisela G and van Dam, Teunis J P and Huang, Lijia and Kessler, Kristin and Giessl, Andreas and Logan, Clare V and Boyle, Evan A and Shendure, Jay and Anazi, Shamsa and Aldahmesh, Mohammed and Al Hazzaa, Selwa and Hegele, Robert A and Ober, Carole and Frosk, Patrick and Mhanni, Aizeddin A and Chodirker, Bernard N and Chudley, Albert E and Lamont, Ryan and Bernier, Francois P and Beaulieu, Chandree L and Gordon, Paul and Pon, Richard T and Donahue, Clem and Barkovich, A James and Wolf, Louis and Toomes, Carmel and Thiel, Christian T and Boycott, Kym M and McKibbin, Martin and Inglehearn, Chris F and Stewart, Fiona and Omran, Heymut and Huynen, Martijn A and Sergouniotis, Panagiotis I and Alkuraya, Fowzan S and Parboosingh, Jillian S and Innes, A Micheil and Willoughby, Colin E and Giles, Rachel H and Webster, Andrew R and Ueffing, Marius and Blacque, Oliver and Gleeson, Joseph G and Wolfrum, Uwe and Beales, Philip L and Gibson, Toby and Doherty, Dan and Mitchison, Hannah M and Roepman, Ronald and Johnson, Colin A} } @article {214, title = {Truncating mutations in the last exon of NOTCH3 cause lateral meningocele syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Med Genet A}, volume = {167A}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb}, pages = {271-81}, abstract = {

Lateral meningocele syndrome (LMS, OMIM\%130720), also known as Lehman syndrome, is a very rare skeletal disorder with facial anomalies, hypotonia and meningocele-related neurologic dysfunction. The characteristic lateral meningoceles represent the severe end of the dural ectasia spectrum and are typically most severe in the lower spine. Facial features of LMS include hypertelorism and telecanthus, high arched eyebrows, ptosis, midfacial hypoplasia, micrognathia, high and narrow palate, low-set ears and a hypotonic appearance. Hyperextensibility, hernias and scoliosis reflect a connective tissue abnormality, and aortic dilation, a high-pitched nasal voice, wormian bones and osteolysis may be present. Lateral meningocele syndrome has phenotypic overlap with Hajdu-Cheney syndrome. We performed exome resequencing in five unrelated individuals with LMS and identified heterozygous truncating NOTCH3 mutations. In an additional unrelated individual Sanger sequencing revealed a deleterious variant in the same exon 33. In total, five novel de novo NOTCH3 mutations were identified in six unrelated patients. One had a 26 bp deletion (c.6461_6486del, p.G2154fsTer78), two carried the same single base pair insertion (c.6692_93insC, p.P2231fsTer11), and three individuals had a nonsense point mutation at c.6247A > T (pK2083*), c.6663C > G (p.Y2221*) or c.6732C > A, (p.Y2244*). All mutations cluster into the last coding exon, resulting in premature termination of the protein and truncation of the negative regulatory proline-glutamate-serine-threonine rich PEST domain. Our results suggest that mutant mRNA products escape nonsense mediated decay. The truncated NOTCH3 may cause gain-of-function through decreased clearance of the active intracellular product, resembling NOTCH2 mutations in the clinically related Hajdu-Cheney syndrome and contrasting the NOTCH3 missense mutations causing CADASIL.

}, keywords = {Abnormalities, Multiple, Child, Child, Preschool, DNA Mutational Analysis, Exome, Exons, Facies, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Meningocele, Mutation, Phenotype, Receptor, Notch3, Receptors, Notch, Young Adult}, issn = {1552-4833}, doi = {10.1002/ajmg.a.36863}, author = {Gripp, Karen W and Robbins, Katherine M and Sobreira, Nara L and Witmer, P Dane and Bird, Lynne M and Avela, Kristiina and M{\"a}kitie, Outi and Alves, Daniela and Hogue, Jacob S and Zackai, Elaine H and Doheny, Kimberly F and Stabley, Deborah L and Sol-Church, Katia} } @article {205, title = {Biallelic truncating mutations in FMN2, encoding the actin-regulatory protein Formin 2, cause nonsyndromic autosomal-recessive intellectual disability.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {95}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Dec 04}, pages = {721-8}, abstract = {

Dendritic spines represent the major site of neuronal activity in the brain; they serve as the receiving point for neurotransmitters and undergo rapid activity-dependent morphological changes that correlate with learning and memory. Using a combination of homozygosity mapping and next-generation sequencing in two consanguineous families affected by nonsyndromic autosomal-recessive intellectual disability, we identified truncating mutations in formin 2 (FMN2), encoding a protein that belongs to the formin family of actin cytoskeleton nucleation factors and is highly expressed in the maturing brain. We found that FMN2 localizes to punctae along dendrites and that germline inactivation of mouse Fmn2 resulted in animals with decreased spine density; such mice were previously demonstrated to have a conditioned fear-learning defect. Furthermore, patient neural cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells showed correlated decreased synaptic density. Thus, FMN2 mutations link intellectual disability either directly or indirectly to the regulation of actin-mediated synaptic spine density.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Base Sequence, Chromosome Disorders, Cohort Studies, Consanguinity, Egypt, Exome, Female, Genes, Recessive, Genetic Linkage, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Male, Microfilament Proteins, Molecular Sequence Data, Nuclear Proteins, Pakistan, Pedigree, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Deletion}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.10.016}, author = {Law, Rosalind and Dixon-Salazar, Tracy and Jerber, Julie and Cai, Na and Abbasi, Ansar A and Zaki, Maha S and Mittal, Kirti and Gabriel, Stacey B and Rafiq, Muhammad Arshad and Khan, Valeed and Nguyen, Maria and Ali, Ghazanfar and Copeland, Brett and Scott, Eric and Vasli, Nasim and Mikhailov, Anna and Khan, Muhammad Nasim and Andrade, Danielle M and Ayaz, Muhammad and Ansar, Muhammad and Ayub, Muhammad and Vincent, John B and Gleeson, Joseph G} } @article {221, title = {Informed consent for exome sequencing research in families with genetic disease: the emerging issue of incidental findings.}, journal = {Am J Med Genet A}, volume = {164A}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Nov}, pages = {2745-52}, abstract = {

Genomic sequencing technology is increasingly used in genetic research. Studies of informed consent for exome and genome sequencing (ES/GS) research have largely involved hypothetical scenarios or healthy individuals enrolling in population-based studies. Studies have yet to explore the consent experiences of adults with inherited disease. We conducted a qualitative interview study of 15 adults recently enrolled in a large-scale ES/GS study (11 affected adults, four parents of affected children). Our study had two goals: (1) to explore three theoretical barriers to consent for ES/GS research (interpretive/technical complexity, possibility of incidental findings, and risks of loss of privacy); and (2) to explore how interviewees experienced the consent process. Interviewees could articulate study goals and processes, describe incidental findings, discuss risks of privacy loss, and reflect on their consent experience. Few expected the study would identify the genetic cause of their condition. All elected to receive incidental findings. Interviewees acknowledged paying little attention to potential implications of incidental findings in light of more pressing goals of supporting research regarding their own medical conditions. Interviewees suggested that experience living with a genetic condition prepared them to adjust to incidental findings. Interviewees also expressed little concern about loss of confidentiality of study data. Some experienced the consent process as very long. None desired reconsent prior to return of study results. Families with inherited disease likely would benefit from a consent process in which study risks and benefits were discussed in the context of prior experiences with genetic research and genetic disease.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Confidentiality, Ethics, Medical, Exome, Family, Female, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genetic Research, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Incidental Findings, Informed Consent, Male, Middle Aged, Young Adult}, issn = {1552-4833}, doi = {10.1002/ajmg.a.36706}, author = {Bergner, Amanda L and Bollinger, Juli and Raraigh, Karen S and Tichnell, Crystal and Murray, Brittney and Blout, Carrie Lynn and Telegrafi, Aida Bytyci and James, Cynthia A} } @article {270, title = {Launching genomics into the cloud: deployment of Mercury, a next generation sequence analysis pipeline.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {15}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jan 29}, pages = {30}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Massively parallel DNA sequencing generates staggering amounts of data. Decreasing cost, increasing throughput, and improved annotation have expanded the diversity of genomics applications in research and clinical practice. This expanding scale creates analytical challenges: accommodating peak compute demand, coordinating secure access for multiple analysts, and sharing validated tools and results.

RESULTS: To address these challenges, we have developed the Mercury analysis pipeline and deployed it in local hardware and the Amazon Web Services cloud via the DNAnexus platform. Mercury is an automated, flexible, and extensible analysis workflow that provides accurate and reproducible genomic results at scales ranging from individuals to large cohorts.

CONCLUSIONS: By taking advantage of cloud computing and with Mercury implemented on the DNAnexus platform, we have demonstrated a powerful combination of a robust and fully validated software pipeline and a scalable computational resource that, to date, we have applied to more than 10,000 whole genome and whole exome samples.

}, keywords = {Genome, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Internet, Software}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/1471-2105-15-30}, author = {Reid, Jeffrey G and Carroll, Andrew and Veeraraghavan, Narayanan and Dahdouli, Mahmoud and Sundquist, Andreas and English, Adam and Bainbridge, Matthew and White, Simon and Salerno, William and Buhay, Christian and Yu, Fuli and Muzny, Donna and Daly, Richard and Duyk, Geoff and Gibbs, Richard A and Boerwinkle, Eric} } @article {260, title = {Mutations in TJP2 cause progressive cholestatic liver disease.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {46}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr}, pages = {326-8}, abstract = {

Elucidating genetic causes of cholestasis has proved to be important in understanding the physiology and pathophysiology of the liver. Here we show that protein-truncating mutations in the tight junction protein 2 gene (TJP2) cause failure of protein localization and disruption of tight-junction structure, leading to severe cholestatic liver disease. These findings contrast with those in the embryonic-lethal knockout mouse, highlighting differences in redundancy in junctional complexes between organs and species.

}, keywords = {Animals, Base Sequence, Cholestasis, Intrahepatic, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Immunoblotting, Immunohistochemistry, Mice, Mice, Knockout, Microscopy, Electron, Transmission, Models, Biological, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Pedigree, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sequence Alignment, Species Specificity, Tight Junctions, Zonula Occludens-2 Protein}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2918}, author = {Sambrotta, Melissa and Strautnieks, Sandra and Papouli, Efterpi and Rushton, Peter and Clark, Barnaby E and Parry, David A and Logan, Clare V and Newbury, Lucy J and Kamath, Binita M and Ling, Simon and Grammatikopoulos, Tassos and Wagner, Bart E and Magee, John C and Sokol, Ronald J and Mieli-Vergani, Giorgina and Smith, Joshua D and Johnson, Colin A and McClean, Patricia and Simpson, Michael A and Knisely, A S and Bull, Laura N and Thompson, Richard J} } @article {249, title = {Variant association tools for quality control and analysis of large-scale sequence and genotyping array data.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {94}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 May 01}, pages = {770-83}, abstract = {

Currently there is great interest in detecting associations between complex traits and rare variants. In this report, we describe Variant Association Tools (VAT) and the VAT pipeline, which implements best practices for rare-variant association studies. Highlights of VAT include variant-site and call-level quality control (QC), summary statistics, phenotype- and genotype-based sample selection, variant annotation, selection of variants for association analysis, and a collection of rare-variant association methods for analyzing qualitative and quantitative traits. The association testing framework for VAT is regression based, which readily allows for flexible construction of association models with multiple covariates and weighting themes based on allele frequencies or predicted functionality. Additionally, pathway analyses, conditional analyses, and analyses of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions can be performed. VAT is capable of rapidly scanning through data by using multi-process computation, adaptive permutation, and simultaneously conducting association analysis via multiple methods. Results are available in text or graphic file formats and additionally can be output to relational databases for further annotation and filtering. An interface to R language also facilitates user implementation of novel association methods. The VAT{\textquoteright}s data QC and association-analysis pipeline can be applied to sequence, imputed, and genotyping array, e.g., "exome chip," data, providing a reliable and reproducible computational environment in which to analyze small- to large-scale studies with data from the latest genotyping and sequencing technologies. Application of the VAT pipeline is demonstrated through analysis of data from the 1000 Genomes project.

}, keywords = {Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Variation, Genotyping Techniques, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Multifactorial Inheritance, Quality Control, Software}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.04.004}, author = {Wang, Gao T and Peng, Bo and Leal, Suzanne M} } @article {294, title = {Recurrent gain-of-function mutation in PRKG1 causes thoracic aortic aneurysms and acute aortic dissections.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {93}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Aug 08}, pages = {398-404}, abstract = {

Gene mutations that lead to decreased contraction of vascular smooth-muscle cells (SMCs) can cause inherited thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. Exome sequencing of distant relatives affected by thoracic aortic disease and subsequent Sanger sequencing of additional probands with familial thoracic aortic disease identified the same rare variant, PRKG1 c.530G>A (p.Arg177Gln), in four families. This mutation segregated with aortic disease in these families with a combined two-point LOD score of 7.88. The majority of affected individuals presented with acute aortic dissections (63\%) at relatively young ages (mean 31 years, range 17-51 years). PRKG1 encodes type I cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG-1), which is activated upon binding of cGMP and controls SMC relaxation. Although the p.Arg177Gln alteration disrupts binding to the high-affinity cGMP binding site within the regulatory domain, the altered PKG-1 is constitutively active even in the absence of cGMP. The increased PKG-1 activity leads to decreased phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain in fibroblasts and is predicted to cause decreased contraction of vascular SMCs. Thus, identification of a gain-of-function mutation in PRKG1 as a cause of thoracic aortic disease provides further evidence that proper SMC contractile function is critical for maintaining the integrity of the thoracic aorta throughout a lifetime.

}, keywords = {Acute Disease, Adolescent, Adult, Amino Acid Sequence, Aneurysm, Dissecting, Aorta, Thoracic, Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic, Cyclic GMP, Cyclic GMP-Dependent Protein Kinase Type I, Exome, Female, Fibroblasts, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Molecular Sequence Data, Muscle Contraction, Muscle, Smooth, Vascular, Mutation, Myosin Light Chains, Pedigree}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.06.019}, author = {Guo, Dong-Chuan and Regalado, Ellen and Casteel, Darren E and Santos-Cortez, Regie L and Gong, Limin and Kim, Jeong Joo and Dyack, Sarah and Horne, S Gabrielle and Chang, Guijuan and Jondeau, Guillaume and Boileau, Catherine and Coselli, Joseph S and Li, Zhenyu and Leal, Suzanne M and Shendure, Jay and Rieder, Mark J and Bamshad, Michael J and Nickerson, Deborah A and Kim, Choel and Milewicz, Dianna M} } @article {325, title = {The Centers for Mendelian Genomics: a new large-scale initiative to identify the genes underlying rare Mendelian conditions.}, journal = {Am J Med Genet A}, volume = {158A}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Jul}, pages = {1523-5}, abstract = {

Next generation exome sequencing (ES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) are new powerful tools for discovering the gene(s) that underlie Mendelian disorders. To accelerate these discoveries, the National Institutes of Health has established three Centers for Mendelian Genomics (CMGs): the Center for Mendelian Genomics at the University of Washington; the Center for Mendelian Genomics at Yale University; and the Baylor-Johns Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics at Baylor College of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University. The CMGs will provide ES/WGS and extensive analysis expertise at no cost to collaborating investigators where the causal gene(s) for a Mendelian phenotype has yet to be uncovered. Over the next few years and in collaboration with the global human genetics community, the CMGs hope to facilitate the identification of the genes underlying a very large fraction of all Mendelian disorders; see http://mendelian.org.

}, keywords = {Academies and Institutes, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Genetics, Medical, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans}, issn = {1552-4833}, doi = {10.1002/ajmg.a.35470}, author = {Bamshad, Michael J and Shendure, Jay A and Valle, David and Hamosh, Ada and Lupski, James R and Gibbs, Richard A and Boerwinkle, Eric and Lifton, Richard P and Gerstein, Mark and G{\"u}nel, Murat and Mane, Shrikant and Nickerson, Deborah A} } @article {643, title = {A fast and noise-resilient approach to detect rare-variant associations with deep sequencing data for complex disorders.}, journal = {Genet Epidemiol}, volume = {36}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Nov}, pages = {675-85}, abstract = {

Next generation sequencing technology has enabled the paradigm shift in genetic association studies from the common disease/common variant to common disease/rare-variant hypothesis. Analyzing individual rare variants is known to be underpowered; therefore association methods have been developed that aggregate variants across a genetic region, which for exome sequencing is usually a gene. The foreseeable widespread use of whole genome sequencing poses new challenges in statistical analysis. It calls for new rare-variant association methods that are statistically powerful, robust against high levels of noise due to inclusion of noncausal variants, and yet computationally efficient. We propose a simple and powerful statistic that combines the disease-associated P-values of individual variants using a weight that is the inverse of the expected standard deviation of the allele frequencies under the null. This approach, dubbed as Sigma-P method, is extremely robust to the inclusion of a high proportion of noncausal variants and is also powerful when both detrimental and protective variants are present within a genetic region. The performance of the Sigma-P method was tested using simulated data based on realistic population demographic and disease models and its power was compared to several previously published methods. The results demonstrate that this method generally outperforms other rare-variant association methods over a wide range of models. Additionally, sequence data on the ANGPTL family of genes from the Dallas Heart Study were tested for associations with nine metabolic traits and both known and novel putative associations were uncovered using the Sigma-P method.

}, keywords = {Angiopoietin-like 4 Protein, Angiopoietin-like Proteins, Angiopoietins, Case-Control Studies, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Metabolism, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Texas, Triglycerides}, issn = {1098-2272}, doi = {10.1002/gepi.21662}, author = {Cheung, Yee Him and Wang, Gao and Leal, Suzanne M and Wang, Shuang} } @article {316, title = {A unified method for detecting secondary trait associations with rare variants: application to sequence data.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {8}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {e1003075}, abstract = {

Next-generation sequencing has made possible the detection of rare variant (RV) associations with quantitative traits (QT). Due to high sequencing cost, many studies can only sequence a modest number of selected samples with extreme QT. Therefore association testing in individual studies can be underpowered. Besides the primary trait, many clinically important secondary traits are often measured. It is highly beneficial if multiple studies can be jointly analyzed for detecting associations with commonly measured traits. However, analyzing secondary traits in selected samples can be biased if sample ascertainment is not properly modeled. Some methods exist for analyzing secondary traits in selected samples, where some burden tests can be implemented. However p-values can only be evaluated analytically via asymptotic approximations, which may not be accurate. Additionally, potentially more powerful sequence kernel association tests, variable selection-based methods, and burden tests that require permutations cannot be incorporated. To overcome these limitations, we developed a unified method for analyzing secondary trait associations with RVs (STAR) in selected samples, incorporating all RV tests. Statistical significance can be evaluated either through permutations or analytically. STAR makes it possible to apply more powerful RV tests to analyze secondary trait associations. It also enables jointly analyzing multiple cohorts ascertained under different study designs, which greatly boosts power. The performance of STAR and commonly used RV association tests were comprehensively evaluated using simulation studies. STAR was also implemented to analyze a dataset from the SardiNIA project where samples with extreme low-density lipoprotein levels were sequenced. A significant association between LDLR and systolic blood pressure was identified, which is supported by pharmacogenetic studies. In summary, for sequencing studies, STAR is an important tool for detecting secondary-trait RV associations.

}, keywords = {Blood Pressure, Computer Simulation, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Italy, Lipoproteins, LDL, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Quantitative Trait Loci, Software}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1003075}, author = {Liu, Dajiang J and Leal, Suzanne M} }