scholarly journals Whole-genome analysis reveals the contribution of non-coding de novo transposon insertions to autism spectrum disorder

Mobile DNA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebeca Borges-Monroy ◽  
Chong Chu ◽  
Caroline Dias ◽  
Jaejoon Choi ◽  
Soohyun Lee ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Retrotransposons have been implicated as causes of Mendelian disease, but their role in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has not been systematically defined, because they are only called with adequate sensitivity from whole genome sequencing (WGS) data and a large enough cohort for this analysis has only recently become available. Results We analyzed WGS data from a cohort of 2288 ASD families from the Simons Simplex Collection by establishing a scalable computational pipeline for retrotransposon insertion detection. We report 86,154 polymorphic retrotransposon insertions—including > 60% not previously reported—and 158 de novo retrotransposition events. The overall burden of de novo events was similar between ASD individuals and unaffected siblings, with 1 de novo insertion per 29, 117, and 206 births for Alu, L1, and SVA respectively, and 1 de novo insertion per 21 births total. However, ASD cases showed more de novo L1 insertions than expected in ASD genes. Additionally, we observed exonic insertions in loss-of-function intolerant genes, including a likely pathogenic exonic insertion in CSDE1, only in ASD individuals. Conclusions These findings suggest a modest, but important, impact of intronic and exonic retrotransposon insertions in ASD, show the importance of WGS for their analysis, and highlight the utility of specific bioinformatic tools for high-throughput detection of retrotransposon insertions.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebeca Borges-Monroy ◽  
Chong Chu ◽  
Caroline Dias ◽  
Jaejoon Choi ◽  
Soohyun Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractRetrotransposons are dynamic forces in evolutionary genomics and have been implicated as causes of Mendelian disease and hereditary cancer, but their role in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has never been systematically defined. Here, we report 86,154 polymorphic retrotransposon insertions including >60% not previously reported and 158 de novo retrotransposition events identified in whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of 2,288 families with ASD from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC). As expected, the overall burden of de novo events was similar between ASD individuals and unaffected siblings, with 1 de novo insertion per 29, 104, and 192 births for Alu, L1, and SVA respectively, and 1 de novo insertion per 20 births total, while the location of transposon insertions differed between ASD and unaffected individuals. ASD cases showed more de novo L1 insertions than expected in ASD genes, and we also found de novo intronic retrotransposition events in known syndromic ASD genes in affected individuals but not in controls. Additionally, we observed exonic insertions in genes with a high probability of being loss-of-function intolerant, including a likely causative exonic insertion in CSDE1, only in ASD individuals. Although de novo retrotransposition occurs less frequently than single nucleotide and copy number variants, these findings suggest a modest, but important, impact of intronic and exonic retrotransposition mutations in ASD and highlight the utility of developing specific bioinformatic tools for high-throughput detection of transposable element insertions.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. e0116358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio I. Nemirovsky ◽  
Marta Córdoba ◽  
Jonathan J. Zaiat ◽  
Sabrina P. Completa ◽  
Patricia A. Vega ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Harripaul ◽  
Ansa Rabia ◽  
Nasim Vasli ◽  
Anna Mikhailov ◽  
Ashlyn Rodrigues ◽  
...  

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that affects about 1 in 55 children worldwide and imposes enormous economic and socioemotional burden on families and communities. Genetic studies of ASD have identified de novo copy number variants (CNVs) and point mutations that contribute significantly to the genetic architecture of ASD, but the majority of these studies were conducted in outbred populations, which are not ideal for detecting autosomal recessive (AR) inheritance. However, several studies have investigated ASD genetics in consanguineous populations and point towards AR as an under-appreciated source of ASD variants. Here, we used trio whole exome sequencing (WES) to look for rare variants for ASD in 115 proband-mother-father trios from populations with high rates of consanguinity, namely Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. In total, we report 87 candidate sequence variants, with 57% biallelic, 21% autosomal dominant/de novo, and the rest X-linked. 52% of the variants were loss of function (LoF) or putative LoF (splice site, stop loss) and 47% non-synonymous. Our analysis indicates an enrichment of previously identified and candidate AR genes. These include variants in genes previously reported for AR ASD and/or intellectual disability (ID), such as AGA, ASL, ASPA, BTN3A2, CC2D1A, DEAF1, HTRA2, KIF16B, LINS1, MADD, MED25, MTHFR, RSRC1, TECPR2, VPS13B, ZNF335, and 32 previously unreported candidates, including 15 LoF or splice variants, in genes such as DAGLA, EFCAB8, ENPP6, FAXDC2, ILDR2, PKD1L1, SCN10A, and SLC36A1. We also identified candidate biallelic exonic loss CNVs a number of trios, implicating genes including DNAH7, and DHRS4/DHRS4L2.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna M. Werling ◽  
Harrison Brand ◽  
Joon-Yong An ◽  
Matthew R. Stone ◽  
Joseph T. Glessner ◽  
...  

SummaryGenomic studies to date in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have largely focused on newly arising mutations that disrupt protein coding sequence and strongly influence risk. We evaluate the contribution of noncoding regulatory variation across the size and frequency spectrum through whole genome sequencing of 519 ASD cases, their unaffected sibling controls, and parents. Cases carry a small excess of de novo (1.02-fold) noncoding variants, which is not significant after correcting for paternal age. Assessing 51,801 regulatory classes, no category is significantly associated with ASD after correction for multiple testing. The strongest signals are observed in coding regions, including structural variation not detected by previous technologies and missense variation. While rare noncoding variation likely contributes to risk in neurodevelopmental disorders, no category of variation has impact equivalent to loss-of-function mutations. Average effect sizes are likely to be smaller than that for coding variation, requiring substantially larger samples to quantify this risk.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohei Kitagawa ◽  
Kensuke Matsumura ◽  
Masayuki Baba ◽  
Momoka Kondo ◽  
Tomoya Takemoto ◽  
...  

AbstractAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by core symptoms of impaired social behavior and communication. Recent studies have suggested that the oxytocin system, which regulates social behavior in mammals, is potentially involved in ASD. Mouse models of ASD provide a useful system for understanding the associations between an impaired oxytocin system and social behavior deficits. However, limited studies have shown the involvement of the oxytocin system in the behavioral phenotypes in mouse models of ASD. We have previously demonstrated that a mouse model that carries the ASD patient-derived de novo mutation in the pogo transposable element derived with zinc finger domain (POGZWT/Q1038R mice), showed ASD-like social behavioral deficits. Here, we have explored whether oxytocin (OXT) administration improves impaired social behavior in POGZWT/Q1038R mice and found that intranasal oxytocin administration effectively restored the impaired social behavior in POGZWT/Q1038R mice. We also found that the expression level of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) was low in POGZWT/Q1038R mice. However, we did not detect significant changes in the number of OXT-expressing neurons between the paraventricular nucleus of POGZWT/Q1038R mice and that of WT mice. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that POGZ binds to the promoter region of OXTR and is involved in the transcriptional regulation of OXTR. In summary, our study demonstrate that the pathogenic mutation in the POGZ, a high-confidence ASD gene, impairs the oxytocin system and social behavior in mice, providing insights into the development of oxytocin-based therapeutics for ASD.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (52) ◽  
pp. 15054-15059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Ji ◽  
Rachel L. Kember ◽  
Christopher D. Brown ◽  
Maja Bućan

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous, highly heritable neurodevelopmental syndrome characterized by impaired social interaction, communication, and repetitive behavior. It is estimated that hundreds of genes contribute to ASD. We asked if genes with a strong effect on survival and fitness contribute to ASD risk. Human orthologs of genes with an essential role in pre- and postnatal development in the mouse [essential genes (EGs)] are enriched for disease genes and under strong purifying selection relative to human orthologs of mouse genes with a known nonlethal phenotype [nonessential genes (NEGs)]. This intolerance to deleterious mutations, commonly observed haploinsufficiency, and the importance of EGs in development suggest a possible cumulative effect of deleterious variants in EGs on complex neurodevelopmental disorders. With a comprehensive catalog of 3,915 mammalian EGs, we provide compelling evidence for a stronger contribution of EGs to ASD risk compared with NEGs. By examining the exonic de novo and inherited variants from 1,781 ASD quartet families, we show a significantly higher burden of damaging mutations in EGs in ASD probands compared with their non-ASD siblings. The analysis of EGs in the developing brain identified clusters of coexpressed EGs implicated in ASD. Finally, we suggest a high-priority list of 29 EGs with potential ASD risk as targets for future functional and behavioral studies. Overall, we show that large-scale studies of gene function in model organisms provide a powerful approach for prioritization of genes and pathogenic variants identified by sequencing studies of human disease.


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