scholarly journals The Landscape of Mutational Mosaicism in Autistic and Normal Human Cerebral Cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Rodin ◽  
Yanmei Dou ◽  
Minseok Kwon ◽  
Maxwell A. Sherman ◽  
Alissa M. D’Gama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Germline Mutations ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Human Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Enhancer Sequences

AbstractAlthough somatic mutations have well-established roles in cancer and certain focal epilepsies, the extent to which mutational mosaicism shapes the developing human brain is poorly understood. Here we characterize the landscape of somatic mutations in the human brain using ultra-deep (~250×) whole-genome sequencing of brains from 59 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases and 15 controls. We observe a mean of 26 (±10, range 10-60) somatic single nucleotide variants (sSNVs) per brain present in ≥4% of cells, with enrichment of mutations in coding and putative regulatory regions. Our analysis reveals that the first cell division after fertilization produces ~3.4 mutations, followed by 2-3 mutations in subsequent generations. This rate suggests that a typical individual possesses ~80 sSNVs present in ≥2% of cells—comparable to the number of de novo germline mutations per generation—with about half of individuals having at least one potentially function-altering somatic mutation somewhere in the cortex. Although limited by sample size, ASD brains show an excess of somatic mutations in neural enhancer sequences compared to controls, suggesting that mosaic enhancer mutations may contribute to ASD risk.

scholarly journals De novo structural mutation rates and gamete-of-origin biases revealed through genome sequencing of 2,396 families

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Belyeu ◽  
Harrison Brand ◽  
Harold Wang ◽  
Xuefang Zhao ◽  
Brent S. Pedersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
De Novo ◽  
Genome Structure ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Germline Mutations ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Multiple Testing Correction ◽  
Structural Mutations

AbstractEach human genome includes de novo mutations that arose during gametogenesis. While these germline mutations represent a fundamental source of new genetic diversity, they can also create deleterious alleles that impact fitness. The germline mutation rate for single nucleotide variants and factors that significantly influence this rate, such as parental age, are now well established. However, far less is known about the frequency, distribution, and features that impact de novo structural mutations. We report a large, family-based study of germline mutations, excluding aneuploidy, that affect genome structure among 572 genomes from 33 families in a multigenerational CEPH-Utah cohort and 2,363 cases of non-familial autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 1,938 unaffected siblings, and both parents (9,599 genomes in total). We find that de novo structural mutations detected by alignment-based, short-read WGS occurred at an overall rate of at least 0.160 events per genome in unaffected individuals and was significantly higher (0.206 per genome) in ASD cases. In both probands and unaffected samples, nearly 73% of de novo structural mutations arose in paternal gametes, and predict most de novo structural mutations to be caused by mutational mechanisms that do not require sequence homology. After multiple testing correction we did not observe a statistically significant correlation between parental age and the rate of de novo structural variation in offspring. These results highlight that a spectrum of mutational mechanisms contribute to germline structural mutations, and that these mechanisms likely have markedly different rates and selective pressures than those leading to point mutations.

scholarly journals Genome aging: somatic mutation in the brain links age-related decline with disease and nominates pathogenic mechanisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (R2) ◽  
pp. R197-R206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Lodato ◽  
Christopher A Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Somatic Mutation ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Over Time

AbstractAging is a mysterious process, not only controlled genetically but also subject to random damage that can accumulate over time. While DNA damage and subsequent mutation in somatic cells were first proposed as drivers of aging more than 60 years ago, whether and to what degree these processes shape the neuronal genome in the human brain could not be tested until recent technological breakthroughs related to single-cell whole-genome sequencing. Indeed, somatic single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) increase with age in the human brain, in a somewhat stochastic process that may nonetheless be controlled by underlying genetic programs. Evidence from the literature suggests that in addition to demonstrated increases in somatic SNVs during aging in normal brains, somatic mutation may also play a role in late-onset, sporadic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In this review, we will discuss somatic mutation in the human brain, mechanisms by which somatic mutations occur and can be controlled, and how this process can impact human health.

scholarly journals Recent Advances in Understanding the Genetic Architecture of Autism

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline M. Dias ◽  
Christopher A. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Copy Number Variants ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Insight Into

Recent advances in understanding the genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorder have allowed for unprecedented insight into its biological underpinnings. New studies have elucidated the contributions of a variety of forms of genetic variation to autism susceptibility. While the roles of de novo copy number variants and single-nucleotide variants—causing loss-of-function or missense changes—have been increasingly recognized and refined, mosaic single-nucleotide variants have been implicated more recently in some cases. Moreover, inherited variants (including common variants) and, more recently, rare recessive inherited variants have come into greater focus. Finally, noncoding variants—both inherited and de novo—have been implicated in the last few years. This work has revealed a convergence of diverse genetic drivers on common biological pathways and has highlighted the ongoing importance of increasing sample size and experimental innovation. Continuing to synthesize these genetic findings with functional and phenotypic evidence and translating these discoveries to clinical care remain considerable challenges for the field.

scholarly journals Quantification of autism recurrence risk by direct assessment of paternal sperm mosaicism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin W. Breuss ◽  
Morgan Kleiber ◽  
Renee D. George ◽  
Danny Antaki ◽  
Kiely N. James ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Molecule ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Recurrence Risk ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Causative Mutation ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Germline Mosaicism ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Low Levels

SummaryDe novo genetic mutations represent a major contributor to pediatric disease, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), congenital heart disease, and muscular dystrophies1,2, but there are currently no methods to prevent or predict them. These mutations are classically thought to occur either at low levels in progenitor cells or at the time of fertilization1,3 and are often assigned a low risk of recurrence in siblings4,5. Here, we directly assess the presence of de novo mutations in paternal sperm and discover abundant, germline-restricted mosaicism. From a cohort of ASD cases, employing single molecule genotyping, we found that four out of 14 fathers were germline mosaic for a putatively causative mutation transmitted to the affected child. Three of these were enriched or exclusively present in sperm at high allelic fractions (AF; 7-15%); and one was recurrently transmitted to two additional affected children, representing clinically actionable information. Germline mosaicism was further assessed by deep (>90x) whole genome sequencing of four paternal sperm samples, which detected 12/355 transmitted de novo single nucleotide variants that were mosaic above 2% AF, and more than two dozen additional, non-transmitted mosaic variants in paternal sperm. Our results demonstrate that germline mosaicism is an underestimated phenomenon, which has important implications for clinical practice and in understanding the basis of human disease. Genetic analysis of sperm can assess individualized recurrence risk following the birth of a child with a de novo disease, as well as the risk in any male planning to have children.

scholarly journals An integrative approach to investigate the respective roles of single-nucleotide variants and copy-number variants in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro de Araújo Lima ◽  
Ana Cecília Feio-dos-Santos ◽  
Sintia Iole Belangero ◽  
Ary Gadelha ◽  
Rodrigo Affonseca Bressan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Attention Deficit ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Copy Number Variants ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
New Genes

Abstract Many studies have attempted to investigate the genetic susceptibility of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but without much success. The present study aimed to analyze both single-nucleotide and copy-number variants contributing to the genetic architecture of ADHD. We generated exome data from 30 Brazilian trios with sporadic ADHD. We also analyzed a Brazilian sample of 503 children/adolescent controls from a High Risk Cohort Study for the Development of Childhood Psychiatric Disorders, and also previously published results of five CNV studies and one GWAS meta-analysis of ADHD involving children/adolescents. The results from the Brazilian trios showed that cases with de novo SNVs tend not to have de novo CNVs and vice-versa. Although the sample size is small, we could also see that various comorbidities are more frequent in cases with only inherited variants. Moreover, using only genes expressed in brain, we constructed two “in silico” protein-protein interaction networks, one with genes from any analysis, and other with genes with hits in two analyses. Topological and functional analyses of genes in this network uncovered genes related to synapse, cell adhesion, glutamatergic and serotoninergic pathways, both confirming findings of previous studies and capturing new genes and genetic variants in these pathways.

scholarly journals Implications of Genetic Distance to Reference and De Novo Genome Assembly for Clinical Genomics in Africans

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Shriner ◽  
Adebowale Adeyemo ◽  
Charles Rotimi
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Distance ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Reference Sequence ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
De Novo Genome Assembly ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Clinical Genomics ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
False Discovery

In clinical genomics, variant calling from short-read sequencing data typically relies on a pan-genomic, universal human reference sequence. A major limitation of this approach is that the number of reads that incorrectly map or fail to map increase as the reads diverge from the reference sequence. In the context of genome sequencing of genetically diverse Africans, we investigate the advantages and disadvantages of using a de novo assembly of the read data as the reference sequence in single sample calling. Conditional on sufficient read depth, the alignment-based and assembly-based approaches yielded comparable sensitivity and false discovery rates for single nucleotide variants when benchmarked against a gold standard call set. The alignment-based approach yielded coverage of an additional 270.8 Mb over which sensitivity was lower and the false discovery rate was higher. Although both approaches detected and missed clinically relevant variants, the assembly-based approach identified more such variants than the alignment-based approach. Of particular relevance to individuals of African descent, the assembly-based approach identified four heterozygous genotypes containing the sickle allele whereas the alignment-based approach identified no occurrences of the sickle allele. Variant annotation using dbSNP and gnomAD identified systematic biases in these databases due to underrepresentation of Africans. Using the counts of homozygous alternate genotypes from the alignment-based approach as a measure of genetic distance to the reference sequence GRCh38.p12, we found that the numbers of misassemblies, total variant sites, potentially novel single nucleotide variants (SNVs), and certain variant classes (e.g., splice acceptor variants, stop loss variants, missense variants, synonymous variants, and variants absent from gnomAD) were significantly correlated with genetic distance. In contrast, genomic coverage and other variant classes (e.g., ClinVar pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants, start loss variants, stop gain variants, splice donor variants, incomplete terminal codons, variants with CADD score ≥20) were not correlated with genetic distance. With improvement in coverage, the assembly-based approach can offer a viable alternative to the alignment-based approach, with the advantage that it can obviate the need to generate diverse human reference sequences or collections of alternate scaffolds.

scholarly journals Human brain harbors single nucleotide somatic variations in functionally relevant genes possibly mediated by oxidative stress

F1000Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anchal Sharma ◽  
Asgar Hussain Ansari ◽  
Renu Kumari ◽  
Rajesh Pandey ◽  
Rakhshinda Rehman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Oxidative Stress Marker ◽  
Somatic Variation ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Normal Human Brain ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
The Brain

Somatic variation in DNA can cause cells to deviate from the preordained genomic path in both disease and healthy conditions. Here, using exome sequencing of paired tissue samples, we show that the normal human brain harbors somatic single base variations measuring up to 0.48% of the total variations. Interestingly, about 64% of these somatic variations in the brain are expected to lead to non-synonymous changes, and as much as 87% of these represent G:C>T:A transversion events. Further, the transversion events in the brain were mostly found in the frontal cortex, whereas the corpus callosum from the same individuals harbors the reference genotype. We found a significantly higher amount of 8-OHdG (oxidative stress marker) in the frontal cortex compared to the corpus callosum of the same subjects (p<0.01), correlating with the higher G:C>T:A transversions in the cortex. We found significant enrichment for axon guidance and related pathways for genes harbouring somatic variations. This could represent either a directed selection of genetic variations in these pathways or increased susceptibility of some loci towards oxidative stress. This study highlights that oxidative stress possibly influence single nucleotide somatic variations in normal human brain.

scholarly journals Rare single-nucleotide DAB1 variants and their contribution to Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder susceptibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Nawa ◽  
Hiroki Kimura ◽  
Daisuke Mori ◽  
Hidekazu Kato ◽  
Miho Toyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rare Variants ◽  
Adaptor Protein ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Case Group ◽  
Missense Mutations ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Next Generation Sequencing Technology ◽  
A Minor

AbstractDisabled 1 (DAB1) is an intracellular adaptor protein in the Reelin signaling pathway and plays an essential role in correct neuronal migration and layer formation in the developing brain. DAB1 has been repeatedly reported to be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia (SCZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in genetic, animal, and postmortem studies. Recently, increasing attention has been given to rare single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) found by deep sequencing of candidate genes. In this study, we performed exon-targeted resequencing of DAB1 in 370 SCZ and 192 ASD patients using next-generation sequencing technology to identify rare SNVs with a minor allele frequency <1%. We detected two rare missense mutations (G382C, V129I) and then performed a genetic association study in a sample comprising 1763 SCZ, 380 ASD, and 2190 healthy control subjects. Although no statistically significant association with the detected mutations was observed for either SCZ or ASD, G382C was found only in the case group, and in silico analyses and in vitro functional assays suggested that G382C alters the function of the DAB1 protein. The rare variants of DAB1 found in the present study should be studied further to elucidate their potential functional relevance to the pathophysiology of SCZ and ASD.

scholarly journals Low rate of somatic mutations in a long-lived oak tree

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Namrata Sarkar ◽  
Emanuel Schmid-Siegert ◽  
Christian Iseli ◽  
Sandra Calderon ◽  
Caroline Gouhier-Darimont ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Cell Divisions ◽  
Gamete Formation ◽  
Oak Tree ◽  
Sequential Appearance ◽  
Low Rate ◽  
Shoot Meristems

Because plants do not possess a proper germline, deleterious somatic mutations can be passed to gametes and a large number of cell divisions separating zygote from gamete formation in long-lived plants may lead to many mutations. We sequenced the genome of two terminal branches of a 234-year-old oak tree and found few fixed somatic single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), whose sequential appearance in the tree could be traced along nested sectors of younger branches. Our data suggest that stem cells of shoot meristems are robustly protected from accumulation of mutations in trees.

scholarly journals Aging and neurodegeneration are associated with increased mutations in single human neurons

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Lodato ◽  
Rachel E. Rodin ◽  
Craig L. Bohrson ◽  
Michael E. Coulter ◽  
Alison R. Barton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Genetic Disorders ◽  
Single Nucleotide Variants ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Human Neurons ◽  
Regional Specificity ◽  
Associated Conditions

SummaryIt has long been hypothesized that aging and neurodegeneration are associated with somatic mutation in neurons; however, methodological hurdles have prevented testing this hypothesis directly. We used single-cell whole-genome sequencing to perform genome-wide somatic single-nucleotide variant (sSNV) identification on DNA from 161 single neurons from the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of fifteen normal individuals (aged 4 months to 82 years) as well as nine individuals affected by early-onset neurodegeneration due to genetic disorders of DNA repair (Cockayne syndrome and Xeroderma pigmentosum). sSNVs increased approximately linearly with age in both areas (with a higher rate in hippocampus) and were more abundant in neurodegenerative disease. The accumulation of somatic mutations with age—which we term genosenium—shows age-related, region-related, and disease-related molecular signatures, and may be important in other human age-associated conditions.One-Sentence SummarySomatic single-nucleotide variants accumulate in human neurons in aging with regional specificity and in progeroid diseases.

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