%0 Journal Article %J Eur J Hum Genet %D 2019 %T Next-generation sequencing identified SPATC1L as a possible candidate gene for both early-onset and age-related hearing loss. %A Morgan, Anna %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Krishnamoorthy, Navaneethakrishnan %A Rubinato, Elisa %A Ambrosetti, Umberto %A Castorina, Pierangela %A Franzè, Annamaria %A Vozzi, Diego %A La Bianca, Martina %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Di Stazio, Mariateresa %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Girotto, Giorgia %X

Hereditary hearing loss (HHL) and age-related hearing loss (ARHL) are two major sensory diseases affecting millions of people worldwide. Despite many efforts, additional HHL-genes and ARHL genetic risk factors still need to be identified. To fill this gap a large genomic screening based on next-generation sequencing technologies was performed. Whole exome sequencing in a 3-generation Italian HHL family and targeted re-sequencing in 464 ARHL patients were performed. We detected three variants in SPATC1L: a nonsense allele in an HHL family and a frameshift insertion and a missense variation in two unrelated ARHL patients. In silico molecular modelling of all variants suggested a significant impact on the structural stability of the protein itself, likely leading to deleterious effects and resulting in truncated isoforms. After demonstrating Spatc1l expression in mice inner ear, in vitro functional experiments were performed confirming the results of the molecular modelling studies. Finally, a candidate-gene population-based statistical study in cohorts from Caucasus and Central Asia revealed a statistically significant association of SPATC1L with normal hearing function at low and medium hearing frequencies. Overall, the amount of different genetic data presented here (variants with early-onset and late-onset hearing loss in addition to genetic association with normal hearing function), together with relevant functional evidence, likely suggest a role of SPATC1L in hearing function and loss.

%B Eur J Hum Genet %V 27 %P 70-79 %8 2019 01 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30177775?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/s41431-018-0229-9 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2018 %T Genome Analyses of >200,000 Individuals Identify 58 Loci for Chronic Inflammation and Highlight Pathways that Link Inflammation and Complex Disorders. %A Ligthart, Symen %A Vaez, Ahmad %A Võsa, Urmo %A Stathopoulou, Maria G %A de Vries, Paul S %A Prins, Bram P %A van der Most, Peter J %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Naderi, Elnaz %A Rose, Lynda M %A Wu, Ying %A Karlsson, Robert %A Barbalic, Maja %A Lin, Honghuang %A Pool, René %A Zhu, Gu %A Macé, Aurélien %A Sidore, Carlo %A Trompet, Stella %A Mangino, Massimo %A Sabater-Lleal, Maria %A Kemp, John P %A Abbasi, Ali %A Kacprowski, Tim %A Verweij, Niek %A Smith, Albert V %A Huang, Tao %A Marzi, Carola %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Lohman, Kurt K %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Mueller, Christian %A Huq, Mahmudul %A Vlachopoulou, Efthymia %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Deelen, Joris %A Perola, Markus %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Amini, Marzyeh %A Lahti, Jari %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Fornage, Myriam %A Suktitipat, Bhoom %A Chen, Wei-Min %A Li, Xiaohui %A Nutile, Teresa %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Luan, Jian'an %A Bak, Tom %A Schork, Nicholas %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Thiering, Elisabeth %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Eriksson, Joel %A Ozel, Ayse Bilge %A Zhang, Weihua %A Nethander, Maria %A Cheng, Yu-Ching %A Aslibekyan, Stella %A Ang, Wei %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Yengo, Loic %A Portas, Laura %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Hofer, Edith %A Rajan, Kumar B %A Schurmann, Claudia %A den Hollander, Wouter %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Zhao, Jing %A Draisma, Harmen H M %A Ford, Ian %A Timpson, Nicholas %A Teumer, Alexander %A Huang, Hongyan %A Wahl, Simone %A Liu, Yongmei %A Huang, Jie %A Uh, Hae-Won %A Geller, Frank %A Joshi, Peter K %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Trabetti, Elisabetta %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Vozzi, Diego %A Verbanck, Marie %A Biino, Ginevra %A Saba, Yasaman %A Meulenbelt, Ingrid %A O'Connell, Jeff R %A Laakso, Markku %A Giulianini, Franco %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Ballantyne, Christie M %A Hottenga, Jouke Jan %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Rivadineira, Fernando %A Rueedi, Rico %A Steri, Maristella %A Herzig, Karl-Heinz %A Stott, David J %A Menni, Cristina %A Frånberg, Mattias %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Felix, Stephan B %A Pers, Tune H %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Kraft, Peter %A Peters, Annette %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Delgado, Graciela %A Smit, Johannes H %A Großmann, Vera %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Seppälä, Ilkka %A Williams, Stephen R %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Moed, Matthijs %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Campbell, Harry %A Sale, Michele M %A Chen, Yii-Der I %A James, Alan L %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Smith, Erin N %A Berenson, Gerald S %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Hernandez, Dena %A Tiesler, Carla M T %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Liewald, David %A Fischer, Krista %A Mellström, Dan %A Larsson, Anders %A Wang, Yunmei %A Scott, William R %A Lorentzon, Matthias %A Beilby, John %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Pennell, Craig E %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Balkau, Beverly %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Mendes de Leon, Carlos F %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Kloppenburg, Margreet %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Boehnke, Michael %A Musk, A W %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Evans, David M %A Madden, Pamela A F %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Karhunen, Ville %A Kritchevsky, Stephen B %A Sattar, Naveed %A LaChance, Genevieve %A Clarke, Robert %A Harris, Tamara B %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Attia, John R %A van Heemst, Diana %A Kajantie, Eero %A Sorice, Rossella %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Scott, Robert A %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Standl, Marie %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Starr, John M %A Karlsson, Magnus %A Lind, Lars %A Li, Jun Z %A Chambers, John C %A Mori, Trevor A %A de Geus, Eco J C N %A Heath, Andrew C %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Auvinen, Juha %A Buckley, Brendan M %A de Craen, Anton J M %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Scott, Rodney J %A McEvoy, Mark %A Beekman, Marian %A Bombieri, Cristina %A Ridker, Paul M %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Whitfield, John B %A Strachan, David P %A Hofman, Albert %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Cucca, Francesco %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Spector, Tim D %A Hamsten, Anders %A Zeller, Tanja %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Nauck, Matthias %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Qi, Lu %A Grallert, Harald %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Rotter, Jerome I %A März, Winfried %A Wild, Philipp S %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa %A Boyle, Michael %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Melbye, Mads %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Wilson, James F %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Becker, Diane M %A Worrall, Bradford B %A Gibson, Greg %A Krauss, Ronald M %A Ciullo, Marina %A Zaza, Gianluigi %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Palmer, Lyle J %A Murray, Sarah S %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Heinrich, Joachim %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Deary, Ian J %A Mägi, Reedik %A Vandenput, Liesbeth %A van der Harst, Pim %A Desch, Karl C %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Ohlsson, Claes %A Hayward, Caroline %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Arnett, Donna K %A Beilin, Lawrence J %A Robino, Antonietta %A Froguel, Philippe %A Pirastu, Mario %A Jess, Tine %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Evans, Denis A %A Schmidt, Helena %A Smith, George Davey %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Morris, Andrew P %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tracy, Russell P %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Visvikis-Siest, Sophie %A Reiner, Alex P %A Gross, Myron %A Bis, Joshua C %A Franke, Lude %A Franco, Oscar H %A Benjamin, Emelia J %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Dupuis, Josée %A Snieder, Harold %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %X

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive biomarker of chronic low-grade inflammation and is associated with multiple complex diseases. The genetic determinants of chronic inflammation remain largely unknown, and the causal role of CRP in several clinical outcomes is debated. We performed two genome-wide association studies (GWASs), on HapMap and 1000 Genomes imputed data, of circulating amounts of CRP by using data from 88 studies comprising 204,402 European individuals. Additionally, we performed in silico functional analyses and Mendelian randomization analyses with several clinical outcomes. The GWAS meta-analyses of CRP revealed 58 distinct genetic loci (p < 5 × 10). After adjustment for body mass index in the regression analysis, the associations at all except three loci remained. The lead variants at the distinct loci explained up to 7.0% of the variance in circulating amounts of CRP. We identified 66 gene sets that were organized in two substantially correlated clusters, one mainly composed of immune pathways and the other characterized by metabolic pathways in the liver. Mendelian randomization analyses revealed a causal protective effect of CRP on schizophrenia and a risk-increasing effect on bipolar disorder. Our findings provide further insights into the biology of inflammation and could lead to interventions for treating inflammation and its clinical consequences.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 103 %P 691-706 %8 2018 Nov 01 %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30388399?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.09.009 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2017 %T Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height. %A Marouli, Eirini %A Graff, Mariaelisa %A Medina-Gomez, Carolina %A Lo, Ken Sin %A Wood, Andrew R %A Kjaer, Troels R %A Fine, Rebecca S %A Lu, Yingchang %A Schurmann, Claudia %A Highland, Heather M %A Rüeger, Sina %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Justice, Anne E %A Lamparter, David %A Stirrups, Kathleen E %A Turcot, Valérie %A Young, Kristin L %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Esko, Tõnu %A Karaderi, Tugce %A Locke, Adam E %A Masca, Nicholas G D %A Ng, Maggie C Y %A Mudgal, Poorva %A Rivas, Manuel A %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Aben, Katja K %A Adair, Linda S %A Alam, Dewan S %A Albrecht, Eva %A Allin, Kristine H %A Allison, Matthew %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Appel, Emil V %A Arveiler, Dominique %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Auer, Paul L %A Balkau, Beverley %A Banas, Bernhard %A Bang, Lia E %A Benn, Marianne %A Bergmann, Sven %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Blüher, Matthias %A Boeing, Heiner %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Böger, Carsten A %A Bonnycastle, Lori L %A Bork-Jensen, Jette %A Bots, Michiel L %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Bowden, Donald W %A Brandslund, Ivan %A Breen, Gerome %A Brilliant, Murray H %A Broer, Linda %A Burt, Amber A %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Carey, David J %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Chambers, John C %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Chowdhury, Rajiv %A Christensen, Cramer %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis S %A Cook, James P %A Corley, Janie %A Galbany, Jordi Corominas %A Cox, Amanda J %A Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel %A Danesh, John %A Davies, Gail %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A de Borst, Gert J %A de Denus, Simon %A de Groot, Mark C H %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Deary, Ian J %A Dedoussis, George %A Demerath, Ellen W %A den Hollander, Anneke I %A Dennis, Joe G %A Di Angelantonio, Emanuele %A Drenos, Fotios %A Du, Mengmeng %A Dunning, Alison M %A Easton, Douglas F %A Ebeling, Tapani %A Edwards, Todd L %A Ellinor, Patrick T %A Elliott, Paul %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Faul, Jessica D %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Feng, Shuang %A Ferrannini, Ele %A Ferrario, Marco M %A Ferrières, Jean %A Florez, Jose C %A Ford, Ian %A Fornage, Myriam %A Franks, Paul W %A Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Gan, Wei %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Giri, Ayush %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gordon, Scott D %A Gordon-Larsen, Penny %A Gorski, Mathias %A Grarup, Niels %A Grove, Megan L %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Gustafsson, Stefan %A Hansen, Torben %A Harris, Kathleen Mullan %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hattersley, Andrew T %A Hayward, Caroline %A He, Liang %A Heid, Iris M %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Helgeland, Øyvind %A Hernesniemi, Jussi %A Hewitt, Alex W %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Hollensted, Mette %A Holmen, Oddgeir L %A Hovingh, G Kees %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Hoyng, Carel B %A Huang, Paul L %A Hveem, Kristian %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Jackson, Anne U %A Jansson, Jan-Håkan %A Jarvik, Gail P %A Jensen, Gorm B %A Jhun, Min A %A Jia, Yucheng %A Jiang, Xuejuan %A Johansson, Stefan %A Jørgensen, Marit E %A Jørgensen, Torben %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kahali, Bratati %A Kahn, René S %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamstrup, Pia R %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Karaleftheri, Maria %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Karpe, Fredrik %A Kee, Frank %A Keeman, Renske %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A %A Kitajima, Hidetoshi %A Kluivers, Kirsten B %A Kocher, Thomas %A Komulainen, Pirjo %A Kontto, Jukka %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kovacs, Peter %A Kriebel, Jennifer %A Kuivaniemi, Helena %A Küry, Sébastien %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A La Bianca, Martina %A Laakso, Markku %A Lakka, Timo A %A Lange, Ethan M %A Lange, Leslie A %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Larson, Eric B %A Lee, I-Te %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lewis, Cora E %A Li, Huaixing %A Li, Jin %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lin, Honghuang %A Lin, Li-An %A Lin, Xu %A Lind, Lars %A Lindström, Jaana %A Linneberg, Allan %A Liu, Yeheng %A Liu, Yongmei %A Lophatananon, Artitaya %A Luan, Jian'an %A Lubitz, Steven A %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mackey, David A %A Madden, Pamela A F %A Manning, Alisa K %A Männistö, Satu %A Marenne, Gaëlle %A Marten, Jonathan %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Mazul, Angela L %A Meidtner, Karina %A Metspalu, Andres %A Mitchell, Paul %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew D %A Morris, Andrew P %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Neville, Matt %A Nielsen, Sune F %A Nikus, Kjell %A Njølstad, Pål R %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Ntalla, Ioanna %A O'Connel, Jeffrey R %A Oksa, Heikki %A Loohuis, Loes M Olde %A Ophoff, Roel A %A Owen, Katharine R %A Packard, Chris J %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Patel, Aniruddh P %A Pattie, Alison %A Pedersen, Oluf %A Peissig, Peggy L %A Peloso, Gina M %A Pennell, Craig E %A Perola, Markus %A Perry, James A %A Perry, John R B %A Person, Thomas N %A Pirie, Ailith %A Polasek, Ozren %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rasheed, Asif %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Reilly, Dermot F %A Reiner, Alex P %A Renstrom, Frida %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rioux, John D %A Robertson, Neil %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rolandsson, Olov %A Rudan, Igor %A Ruth, Katherine S %A Saleheen, Danish %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sandow, Kevin %A Sapkota, Yadav %A Sattar, Naveed %A Schmidt, Marjanka K %A Schreiner, Pamela J %A Schulze, Matthias B %A Scott, Robert A %A Segura-Lepe, Marcelo P %A Shah, Svati %A Sim, Xueling %A Sivapalaratnam, Suthesh %A Small, Kerrin S %A Smith, Albert Vernon %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Southam, Lorraine %A Spector, Timothy D %A Speliotes, Elizabeth K %A Starr, John M %A Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur %A Stringham, Heather M %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Surendran, Praveen %A 't Hart, Leen M %A Tansey, Katherine E %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thompson, Deborah J %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Thuesen, Betina H %A Tönjes, Anke %A Tromp, Gerard %A Trompet, Stella %A Tsafantakis, Emmanouil %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne %A Tyrer, Jonathan P %A Uher, Rudolf %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Van Der Leij, Andries R %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A van Schoor, Natasja M %A van Setten, Jessica %A Varbo, Anette %A Varga, Tibor V %A Varma, Rohit %A Edwards, Digna R Velez %A Vermeulen, Sita H %A Vestergaard, Henrik %A Vitart, Veronique %A Vogt, Thomas F %A Vozzi, Diego %A Walker, Mark %A Wang, Feijie %A Wang, Carol A %A Wang, Shuai %A Wang, Yiqin %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Warren, Helen R %A Wessel, Jennifer %A Willems, Sara M %A Wilson, James G %A Witte, Daniel R %A Woods, Michael O %A Wu, Ying %A Yaghootkar, Hanieh %A Yao, Jie %A Yao, Pang %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Young, Robin %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Zhan, Xiaowei %A Zhang, Weihua %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Zhao, Wei %A Zhao, Wei %A Zheng, He %A Zhou, Wei %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Boehnke, Michael %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Willer, Cristen J %A Stefansson, Kari %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Liu, Dajiang J %A North, Kari E %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Pers, Tune H %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Oxvig, Claus %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Deloukas, Panos %A Lettre, Guillaume %K ADAMTS Proteins %K Adult %K Alleles %K Body Height %K Cell Adhesion Molecules %K Female %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Variation %K Genome, Human %K Glycoproteins %K Glycosaminoglycans %K Hedgehog Proteins %K Humans %K Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins %K Interferon Regulatory Factors %K Interleukin-11 Receptor alpha Subunit %K Male %K Multifactorial Inheritance %K NADPH Oxidase 4 %K NADPH Oxidases %K Phenotype %K Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A %K Procollagen N-Endopeptidase %K Proteoglycans %K Proteolysis %K Receptors, Androgen %K Somatomedins %X

Height is a highly heritable, classic polygenic trait with approximately 700 common associated variants identified through genome-wide association studies so far. Here, we report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies (in the range of 0.1-4.8%) and effects of up to 2 centimetres per allele (such as those in IHH, STC2, AR and CRISPLD2), greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. In functional follow-up studies, rare height-increasing alleles of STC2 (giving an increase of 1-2 centimetres per allele) compromised proteolytic inhibition of PAPP-A and increased cleavage of IGFBP-4 in vitro, resulting in higher bioavailability of insulin-like growth factors. These 83 height-associated variants overlap genes that are mutated in monogenic growth disorders and highlight new biological candidates (such as ADAMTS3, IL11RA and NOX4) and pathways (such as proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan synthesis) involved in growth. Our results demonstrate that sufficiently large sample sizes can uncover rare and low-frequency variants of moderate-to-large effect associated with polygenic human phenotypes, and that these variants implicate relevant genes and pathways.

%B Nature %V 542 %P 186-190 %8 2017 02 09 %G eng %N 7640 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28146470?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature21039 %0 Journal Article %J Mutat Res %D 2017 %T Targeted sequencing identifies novel variants involved in autosomal recessive hereditary hearing loss in Qatari families. %A Alkowari, Moza K %A Vozzi, Diego %A Bhagat, Shruti %A Krishnamoorthy, Navaneethakrishnan %A Morgan, Anna %A Hayder, Yousra %A Logendra, Barathy %A Najjar, Nehal %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Badii, Ramin %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Abdulhadi, Khalid %K Adolescent %K Alleles %K Cadherins %K Child %K Child, Preschool %K Connexins %K Female %K GPI-Linked Proteins %K Hearing Loss, Sensorineural %K Humans %K Infant %K Male %K Membrane Proteins %K Models, Molecular %K Mutation %K Myosin Heavy Chains %K Pedigree %K Protein Conformation %K Qatar %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %X

Hereditary hearing loss is characterized by a very high genetic heterogeneity. In the Qatari population the role of GJB2, the worldwide HHL major player, seems to be quite limited compared to Caucasian populations. In this study we analysed 18 Qatari families affected by non-syndromic hearing loss using a targeted sequencing approach that allowed us to analyse 81 genes simultaneously. Thanks to this approach, 50% of these families (9 out of 18) resulted positive for the presence of likely causative alleles in 6 different genes: CDH23, MYO6, GJB6, OTOF, TMC1 and OTOA. In particular, 4 novel alleles were detected while the remaining ones were already described to be associated to HHL in other ethnic groups. Molecular modelling has been used to further investigate the role of novel alleles identified in CDH23 and TMC1 genes demonstrating their crucial role in Ca2+ binding and therefore possible functional role in proteins. Present study showed that an accurate molecular diagnosis based on next generation sequencing technologies might largely improve molecular diagnostics outcome leading to benefits for both genetic counseling and definition of recurrence risk.

%B Mutat Res %V 800-802 %P 29-36 %8 2017 08 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28501645?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2017.05.001 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2016 %T Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. %A Okbay, Aysu %A Beauchamp, Jonathan P %A Fontana, Mark Alan %A Lee, James J %A Pers, Tune H %A Rietveld, Cornelius A %A Turley, Patrick %A Chen, Guo-Bo %A Emilsson, Valur %A Meddens, S Fleur W %A Oskarsson, Sven %A Pickrell, Joseph K %A Thom, Kevin %A Timshel, Pascal %A de Vlaming, Ronald %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Bacelis, Jonas %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Bjornsdottir, Gyda %A Brandsma, Johannes H %A Pina Concas, Maria %A Derringer, Jaime %A Furlotte, Nicholas A %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gupta, Richa %A Hall, Leanne M %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hofer, Edith %A Horikoshi, Momoko %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Kaasik, Kadri %A Kalafati, Ioanna P %A Karlsson, Robert %A Kong, Augustine %A Lahti, Jari %A van der Lee, Sven J %A deLeeuw, Christiaan %A Lind, Penelope A %A Lindgren, Karl-Oskar %A Liu, Tian %A Mangino, Massimo %A Marten, Jonathan %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Miller, Michael B %A van der Most, Peter J %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Payton, Antony %A Pervjakova, Natalia %A Peyrot, Wouter J %A Qian, Yong %A Raitakari, Olli %A Rueedi, Rico %A Salvi, Erika %A Schmidt, Börge %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Shi, Jianxin %A Smith, Albert V %A Poot, Raymond A %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Verweij, Niek %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Wellmann, Juergen %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Yang, Jingyun %A Zhao, Wei %A Zhu, Zhihong %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Amin, Najaf %A Bakshi, Andrew %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Biino, Ginevra %A Bønnelykke, Klaus %A Boyle, Patricia A %A Campbell, Harry %A Cappuccio, Francesco P %A Davies, Gail %A De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel %A Deloukas, Panos %A Demuth, Ilja %A Ding, Jun %A Eibich, Peter %A Eisele, Lewin %A Eklund, Niina %A Evans, David M %A Faul, Jessica D %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Forstner, Andreas J %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gunnarsson, Bjarni %A Halldórsson, Bjarni V %A Harris, Tamara B %A Heath, Andrew C %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Homuth, Georg %A Horan, Michael A %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A de Jager, Philip L %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jugessur, Astanand %A Kaakinen, Marika A %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Keltigangas-Järvinen, Liisa %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Kroh, Martin %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Latvala, Antti %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lebreton, Maël P %A Levinson, Douglas F %A Lichtenstein, Paul %A Lichtner, Peter %A Liewald, David C M %A Loukola, Anu %A Madden, Pamela A %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mäki-Opas, Tomi %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Meddens, Gerardus A %A McMahon, George %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Milaneschi, Yusplitri %A Milani, Lili %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Myhre, Ronny %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Nyholt, Dale R %A Ollier, William E R %A Palotie, Aarno %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Petrovic, Katja E %A Porteous, David J %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Ring, Susan M %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rostapshova, Olga %A Rudan, Igor %A Rustichini, Aldo %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Sanders, Alan R %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Helena %A Scott, Rodney J %A Smith, Blair H %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Staessen, Jan A %A Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Terracciano, Antonio %A Tobin, Martin D %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A Quaye, Lydia %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Venturini, Cristina %A Vinkhuyzen, Anna A E %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Vonk, Judith M %A Vozzi, Diego %A Waage, Johannes %A Ware, Erin B %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Attia, John R %A Bennett, David A %A Berger, Klaus %A Bertram, Lars %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Bültmann, Ute %A Chabris, Christopher F %A Cucca, Francesco %A Cusi, Daniele %A Deary, Ian J %A Dedoussis, George V %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Franke, Barbara %A Franke, Lude %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Gejman, Pablo V %A Gieger, Christian %A Grabe, Hans-Jörgen %A Gratten, Jacob %A Groenen, Patrick J F %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hinds, David A %A Hoffmann, Wolfgang %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Iacono, William G %A Jacobsson, Bo %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jöckel, Karl-Heinz %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lehrer, Steven F %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Martin, Nicholas G %A McGue, Matt %A Metspalu, Andres %A Pendleton, Neil %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perola, Markus %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Pirastu, Mario %A Polasek, Ozren %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Power, Christine %A Province, Michael A %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Sørensen, Thorkild I A %A Spector, Tim D %A Stefansson, Kari %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Thurik, A Roy %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Tiemeier, Henning %A Tung, Joyce Y %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vitart, Veronique %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Weir, David R %A Wilson, James F %A Wright, Alan F %A Conley, Dalton C %A Krueger, Robert F %A Davey Smith, George %A Hofman, Albert %A Laibson, David I %A Medland, Sarah E %A Meyer, Michelle N %A Yang, Jian %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Visscher, Peter M %A Esko, Tõnu %A Koellinger, Philipp D %A Cesarini, David %A Benjamin, Daniel J %K Alzheimer Disease %K Bipolar Disorder %K Brain %K Cognition %K Computational Biology %K Educational Status %K Fetus %K Gene Expression Regulation %K Gene-Environment Interaction %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Great Britain %K Humans %K Molecular Sequence Annotation %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Schizophrenia %X

Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.

%B Nature %V 533 %P 539-42 %8 2016 May 26 %G eng %N 7604 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27225129?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature17671 %0 Journal Article %J Mol Med Rep %D 2016 %T Putative modifier genes in mevalonate kinase deficiency. %A Marcuzzi, Annalisa %A Vozzi, Diego %A Girardelli, Martina %A Tricarico, Paola Maura %A Knowles, Alessandra %A Crovella, Sergio %A Vuch, Josef %A Tommasini, Alberto %A Piscianz, Elisa %A Bianco, Anna Monica %X

Mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD) is an autosomal recessive auto‑inflammatory disease, caused by impairment of the mevalonate pathway. Although the molecular mechanism remains to be elucidated, there is clinical evidence suggesting that other regulatory genes may be involved in determining the phenotype. The identification of novel target genes may explain non‑homogeneous genotype‑phenotype correlations, and provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that novel regulatory genes predispose or amplify deregulation of the mevalonate pathway in this orphan disease. In the present study, DNA samples were obtained from five patients with MKD, which were then analyzed using whole exome sequencing. A missense variation in the PEX11γ gene was observed in homozygosis in P2, possibly correlating with visual blurring. The UNG rare gene variant was detected in homozygosis in P5, without correlating with a specific clinical phenotype. A number of other variants were found in the five analyzed DNA samples from the MKD patients, however no correlation with the phenotype was established. The results of the presents study suggested that further analysis, using next generation sequencing approaches, is required on a larger sample size of patients with MKD, who share the same MVK mutations and exhibit 'extreme' clinical phenotypes. As MVK mutations may be associated with MKD, the identification of specific modifier genes may assist in providing an earlier diagnosis.

%B Mol Med Rep %V 13 %P 3181-9 %8 2016 Apr %G eng %N 4 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26935981?dopt=Abstract %R 10.3892/mmr.2016.4918 %0 Journal Article %J Clin Immunol %D 2015 %T Altered germinal center reaction and abnormal B cell peripheral maturation in PI3KR1-mutated patients presenting with HIGM-like phenotype. %A Lougaris, Vassilios %A Faletra, Flavio %A Lanzi, Gaetana %A Vozzi, Diego %A Marcuzzi, Annalisa %A Valencic, Erica %A Piscianz, Elisa %A Bianco, AnnaMonica %A Girardelli, Martina %A Baronio, Manuela %A Loganes, Claudia %A Fasth, Anders %A Salvini, Filippo %A Trizzino, Antonino %A Moratto, Daniele %A Facchetti, Fabio %A Giliani, Silvia %A Plebani, Alessandro %A Tommasini, Alberto %K B-Lymphocytes %K Child, Preschool %K Female %K Germinal Center %K Humans %K Hyper-IgM Immunodeficiency Syndrome %K Infant %K Male %K Mutation %K Phenotype %K Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases %K RNA Splice Sites %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %B Clin Immunol %V 159 %P 33-6 %8 2015 Jul %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25939554?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.clim.2015.04.014 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2015 %T Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations. %A Joshi, Peter K %A Esko, Tõnu %A Mattsson, Hannele %A Eklund, Niina %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Nutile, Teresa %A Jackson, Anne U %A Schurmann, Claudia %A Smith, Albert V %A Zhang, Weihua %A Okada, Yukinori %A Stančáková, Alena %A Faul, Jessica D %A Zhao, Wei %A Bartz, Traci M %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Franceschini, Nora %A Enroth, Stefan %A Vitart, Veronique %A Trompet, Stella %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Chasman, Daniel I %A O'Connel, Jeffrey R %A Corre, Tanguy %A Nongmaithem, Suraj S %A Chen, Yuning %A Mangino, Massimo %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Kacprowski, Tim %A Bjonnes, Andrew %A van der Spek, Ashley %A Wu, Ying %A Giri, Anil K %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Wang, Lihua %A Hofer, Edith %A Rietveld, Cornelius A %A McLeod, Olga %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Verweij, Niek %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Warren, Helen R %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Mei, Hao %A Bouchard, Claude %A Perry, John R B %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Mirza, Saira S %A Benton, Miles C %A Broeckel, Ulrich %A Medland, Sarah E %A Lind, Penelope A %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Drong, Alexander %A Yengo, Loic %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Zhi, Degui %A van der Most, Peter J %A Shriner, Daniel %A Mägi, Reedik %A Hemani, Gibran %A Karaderi, Tugce %A Wang, Zhaoming %A Liu, Tian %A Demuth, Ilja %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Meng, Weihua %A Lataniotis, Lazaros %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Bradfield, Jonathan P %A Wood, Andrew R %A Bonnefond, Amelie %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Hall, Leanne M %A Salvi, Erika %A Yazar, Seyhan %A Carstensen, Lisbeth %A de Haan, Hugoline G %A Abney, Mark %A Afzal, Uzma %A Allison, Matthew A %A Amin, Najaf %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Barr, R Graham %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Benjamin, Daniel J %A Bergmann, Sven %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Campbell, Archie %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chan, Yingleong %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chen, Constance %A Chen, Y-D Ida %A Collins, Francis S %A Connell, John %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Smith, George Davey %A Davies, Gail %A Dörr, Marcus %A Ehret, Georg %A Ellis, Stephen B %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Ford, Ian %A Fox, Caroline S %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Friedrich, Nele %A Geller, Frank %A Scotland, Generation %A Gillham-Nasenya, Irina %A Gottesman, Omri %A Graff, Misa %A Grodstein, Francine %A Gu, Charles %A Haley, Chris %A Hammond, Christopher J %A Harris, Sarah E %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hastie, Nicholas D %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Homuth, Georg %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huang, Jinyan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Joensuu, Anni %A Johansson, Åsa %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kerr, Shona M %A Khan, Nazir M %A Koellinger, Philipp %A Koistinen, Heikki A %A Kooner, Manraj K %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Lahti, Jari %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lea, Rodney A %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liewald, David C M %A Lind, Lars %A Loh, Marie %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa %A London, Stephanie J %A Loomis, Stephanie J %A Loukola, Anu %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lumley, Thomas %A Lundqvist, Annamari %A Männistö, Satu %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Matchan, Angela %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Meigs, James B %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Menni, Cristina %A Mentch, Frank D %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Montasser, May E %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Morrison, Alanna %A Myers, Richard H %A Nadukuru, Rajiv %A Navarro, Pau %A Nelis, Mari %A Nieminen, Markku S %A Nolte, Ilja M %A O'Connor, George T %A Ogunniyi, Adesola %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter R %A Pankow, James S %A Patarcic, Inga %A Pavani, Francesca %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Pietilainen, Kirsi %A Poulter, Neil %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Ralhan, Sarju %A Redmond, Paul %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rissanen, Harri %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rose, Richard %A Sala, Cinzia %A Salako, Babatunde %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Saxena, Richa %A Schmidt, Helena %A Scott, Laura J %A Scott, William R %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Sever, Peter %A Shrestha, Smeeta %A Smith, Blair H %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Southam, Lorraine %A Stanton, Alice V %A Stathopoulou, Maria G %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Suderman, Matthew J %A Tandon, Nikhil %A Tang, Sian-Tsun %A Taylor, Kent D %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Töglhofer, Anna Maria %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Tšernikova, Natalia %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid %A van Setten, Jessica %A Vasankari, Tuula %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Vlachopoulou, Efthymia %A Vozzi, Diego %A Vuoksimaa, Eero %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Ware, Erin B %A Wentworth-Shields, William %A Whitfield, John B %A Wild, Sarah %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Yajnik, Chittaranjan S %A Yao, Jie %A Zaza, Gianluigi %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Salem, Rany M %A Melbye, Mads %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Cusi, Daniele %A Mackey, David A %A Cooper, Richard S %A Froguel, Philippe %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Grant, Struan F A %A Hakonarson, Hakon %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Scott, Robert A %A Morris, Andrew D %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Dedoussis, George %A Deloukas, Panos %A Bertram, Lars %A Lindenberger, Ulman %A Berndt, Sonja I %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Tönjes, Anke %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Sørensen, Thorkild I A %A Rotimi, Charles N %A Arnett, Donna K %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Balkau, Beverley %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Morris, Andrew P %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Wright, Margie J %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Hunt, Steven C %A Starr, John M %A Deary, Ian J %A Griffiths, Lyn R %A Tiemeier, Henning %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Pérusse, Louis %A Wilson, James G %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Raitakari, Olli %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Gieger, Christian %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Kraft, Peter %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Knekt, Paul %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Hamsten, Anders %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Vartiainen, Erkki %A Becker, Diane M %A Bharadwaj, Dwaipayan %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Boehnke, Michael %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Sanghera, Dharambir K %A Teumer, Alexander %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Metspalu, Andres %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Ober, Carole %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Rudan, Igor %A Porteous, David J %A Ciullo, Marina %A Spector, Tim D %A Hayward, Caroline %A Dupuis, Josée %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Wright, Alan F %A Chandak, Giriraj R %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sattar, Naveed %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A North, Kari E %A Pirastu, Mario %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Weir, David R %A Laakso, Markku %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Takahashi, Atsushi %A Chambers, John C %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Strachan, David P %A Campbell, Harry %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Perola, Markus %A Polasek, Ozren %A Wilson, James F %K Biological Evolution %K Blood Pressure %K Body Height %K Cholesterol, LDL %K Cognition %K Cohort Studies %K Educational Status %K Female %K Forced Expiratory Volume %K Genome, Human %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Lung Volume Measurements %K Male %K Phenotype %X

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10(-300), 2.1 × 10(-6), 2.5 × 10(-10) and 1.8 × 10(-10), respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.

%B Nature %V 523 %P 459-62 %8 2015 Jul 23 %G eng %N 7561 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26131930?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature14618 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2015 %T Genome-wide association analysis on normal hearing function identifies PCDH20 and SLC28A3 as candidates for hearing function and loss. %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Dawson, Sally %A Scheffer, Deborah I %A Rantanen, Taina %A Morgan, Anna %A Di Stazio, Mariateresa %A Vozzi, Diego %A Nutile, Teresa %A Concas, Maria P %A Biino, Ginevra %A Nolan, Lisa %A Bahl, Aileen %A Loukola, Anu %A Viljanen, Anne %A Davis, Adrian %A Ciullo, Marina %A Corey, David P %A Pirastu, Mario %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Girotto, Giorgia %X

Hearing loss and individual differences in normal hearing both have a substantial genetic basis. Although many new genes contributing to deafness have been identified, very little is known about genes/variants modulating the normal range of hearing ability. To fill this gap, we performed a two-stage meta-analysis on hearing thresholds (tested at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 kHz) and on pure-tone averages (low-, medium- and high-frequency thresholds grouped) in several isolated populations from Italy and Central Asia (total N = 2636). Here, we detected two genome-wide significant loci close to PCDH20 and SLC28A3 (top hits: rs78043697, P = 4.71E-10 and rs7032430, P = 2.39E-09, respectively). For both loci, we sought replication in two independent cohorts: B58C from the UK (N = 5892) and FITSA from Finland (N = 270). Both loci were successfully replicated at a nominal level of significance (P < 0.05). In order to confirm our quantitative findings, we carried out RT-PCR and reported RNA-Seq data, which showed that both genes are expressed in mouse inner ear, especially in hair cells, further suggesting them as good candidates for modulatory genes in the auditory system. Sequencing data revealed no functional variants in the coding region of PCDH20 or SLC28A3, suggesting that variation in regulatory sequences may affect expression. Overall, these results contribute to a better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying human hearing function.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 24 %P 5655-64 %8 2015 Oct 1 %G eng %N 19 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26188009?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddv279 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Hered %D 2015 %T Increased rate of deleterious variants in long runs of homozygosity of an inbred population from Qatar. %A Mezzavilla, Massimo %A Vozzi, Diego %A Badii, Ramin %A Alkowari, Moza Khalifa %A Abdulhadi, Khalid %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gasparini, Paolo %K Cohort Studies %K Consanguinity %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Mutation %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Qatar %X

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the fraction of putatively deleterious variants within genomic runs of homozygosity (ROH) regions in an inbred and selected cohort of Qatari individuals.

METHODS: High-density SNP array analysis was performed in 36 individuals, and for 14 of them whole-exome sequencing (WES) was also carried out.

RESULTS: In all individuals, regions characterized by a high (hotspot) or low (coldspot) degree of homozygosity in all the analysed individuals were mapped, and the most frequent hotspot regions were selected. WES data were exploited to identify the single nucleotide variations (SNVs) harboured by genes located within both regions in each individual. Evolutionary conservation-based algorithms were employed to predict the potential deleteriousness of SNVs. The amount of in silico predicted deleterious SNVs was significantly different (p < 0.05) between homozygosity hotspot and coldspot regions.

CONCLUSION: Genes located within ROH hotspot regions contain a significant burden of predicted putatively deleterious variants compared to genes located outside these regions, suggesting inbreeding as a possible mechanism allowing an enrichment of putatively deleterious variants at the homozygous state.

%B Hum Hered %V 79 %P 14-9 %8 2015 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25720536?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1159/000371387 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2015 %T Large-scale genomic analyses link reproductive aging to hypothalamic signaling, breast cancer susceptibility and BRCA1-mediated DNA repair. %A Day, Felix R %A Ruth, Katherine S %A Thompson, Deborah J %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %A Pervjakova, Natalia %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Stolk, Lisette %A Finucane, Hilary K %A Sulem, Patrick %A Bulik-Sullivan, Brendan %A Esko, Tõnu %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Elks, Cathy E %A Franceschini, Nora %A He, Chunyan %A Altmaier, Elisabeth %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Franke, Lude L %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Keller, Margaux F %A McArdle, Patrick F %A Nutile, Teresa %A Porcu, Eleonora %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Schick, Ursula M %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Teumer, Alexander %A Traglia, Michela %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Yao, Jie %A Zhao, Wei %A Albrecht, Eva %A Amin, Najaf %A Corre, Tanguy %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Mangino, Massimo %A Smith, Albert V %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Andrulis, Irene L %A Anton-Culver, Hoda %A Antoniou, Antonis C %A Arndt, Volker %A Arnold, Alice M %A Barbieri, Caterina %A Beckmann, Matthias W %A Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia %A Benitez, Javier %A Bernstein, Leslie %A Bielinski, Suzette J %A Blomqvist, Carl %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bogdanova, Natalia V %A Bojesen, Stig E %A Bolla, Manjeet K %A Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise %A Boutin, Thibaud S %A Brauch, Hiltrud %A Brenner, Hermann %A Brüning, Thomas %A Burwinkel, Barbara %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chapman, J Ross %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Chenevix-Trench, Georgia %A Couch, Fergus J %A Coviello, Andrea D %A Cox, Angela %A Czene, Kamila %A Darabi, Hatef %A De Vivo, Immaculata %A Demerath, Ellen W %A Dennis, Joe %A Devilee, Peter %A Dörk, Thilo %A Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel %A Dunning, Alison M %A Eicher, John D %A Fasching, Peter A %A Faul, Jessica D %A Figueroa, Jonine %A Flesch-Janys, Dieter %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Garcia, Melissa E %A García-Closas, Montserrat %A Giles, Graham G %A Girotto, Giorgia G %A Goldberg, Mark S %A González-Neira, Anna %A Goodarzi, Mark O %A Grove, Megan L %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Guenel, Pascal %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Haiman, Christopher A %A Hall, Per %A Hamann, Ute %A Henderson, Brian E %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Hofman, Albert %A Homuth, Georg %A Hooning, Maartje J %A Hopper, John L %A Hu, Frank B %A Huang, Jinyan %A Humphreys, Keith %A Hunter, David J %A Jakubowska, Anna %A Jones, Samuel E %A Kabisch, Maria %A Karasik, David %A Knight, Julia A %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kosma, Veli-Matti %A Kriebel, Jennifer %A Kristensen, Vessela %A Lambrechts, Diether %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Li, Jingmei %A Li, Xin %A Lindström, Sara %A Liu, Yongmei %A Luan, Jian'an %A Lubinski, Jan %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mannermaa, Arto %A Manz, Judith %A Margolin, Sara %A Marten, Jonathan %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Meindl, Alfons %A Michailidou, Kyriaki %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Milne, Roger L %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Nalls, Michael %A Neale, Benjamin M %A Nevanlinna, Heli %A Neven, Patrick %A Newman, Anne B %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Olson, Janet E %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Peterlongo, Paolo %A Peters, Ulrike %A Petersmann, Astrid %A Peto, Julian %A Pharoah, Paul D P %A Pirastu, Nicola N %A Pirie, Ailith %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Polasek, Ozren %A Porteous, David %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Pylkäs, Katri %A Radice, Paolo %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rudan, Igor %A Rudolph, Anja %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Sanna, Serena %A Sawyer, Elinor J %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Marjanka K %A Schmidt, Frank %A Schmutzler, Rita K %A Schoemaker, Minouk J %A Scott, Robert A %A Seynaeve, Caroline M %A Simard, Jacques %A Sorice, Rossella %A Southey, Melissa C %A Stöckl, Doris %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Swerdlow, Anthony %A Taylor, Kent D %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Toland, Amanda E %A Tomlinson, Ian %A Truong, Therese %A Tryggvadottir, Laufey %A Turner, Stephen T %A Vozzi, Diego %A Wang, Qin %A Wellons, Melissa %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wilson, James F %A Winqvist, Robert %A Wolffenbuttel, Bruce B H R %A Wright, Alan F %A Yannoukakos, Drakoulis %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Zheng, Wei %A Zygmunt, Marek %A Bergmann, Sven %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Buring, Julie E %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Spector, Tim D %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Ciullo, Marina %A Crisponi, Laura %A Easton, Douglas F %A Gasparini, Paolo P %A Gieger, Christian %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hayward, Caroline %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kraft, Peter %A McKnight, Barbara %A Metspalu, Andres %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Reiner, Alex P %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Völzke, Henry %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Weir, David R %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Price, Alkes L %A Stefansson, Kari %A Visser, Jenny A %A Ong, Ken K %A Chang-Claude, Jenny %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Perry, John R B %A Murray, Anna %X

Menopause timing has a substantial impact on infertility and risk of disease, including breast cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We report a dual strategy in ∼70,000 women to identify common and low-frequency protein-coding variation associated with age at natural menopause (ANM). We identified 44 regions with common variants, including two regions harboring additional rare missense alleles of large effect. We found enrichment of signals in or near genes involved in delayed puberty, highlighting the first molecular links between the onset and end of reproductive lifespan. Pathway analyses identified major association with DNA damage response (DDR) genes, including the first common coding variant in BRCA1 associated with any complex trait. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of later ANM on breast cancer risk (∼6% increase in risk per year; P = 3 × 10(-14)), likely mediated by prolonged sex hormone exposure rather than DDR mechanisms.

%B Nat Genet %V 47 %P 1294-303 %8 2015 Nov %G eng %N 11 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26414677?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.3412 %0 Journal Article %J Sci Rep %D 2015 %T PSIP1/LEDGF: a new gene likely involved in sensorineural progressive hearing loss. %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Scheffer, Deborah I %A Morgan, Anna %A Vozzi, Diego %A Rubinato, Elisa %A Di Stazio, Mariateresa %A Muzzi, Enrico %A Pensiero, Stefano %A Giersch, Anne B %A Corey, David P %A Gasparini, Paolo %X

Hereditary Hearing Loss (HHL) is an extremely heterogeneous disorder. Approximately 30 out of 80 known HHL genes are associated with autosomal dominant forms. Here, we identified PSIP1/LEDGF (isoform p75) as a novel strong candidate gene involved in dominant HHL. Using exome sequencing we found a frameshift deletion (c.1554_1555del leading to p.E518Dfs*2) in an Italian pedigree affected by sensorineural mild-to-moderate HHL but also showing a variable eye phenotype (i.e. uveitis, optic neuropathy). This deletion led to a premature stop codon (p.T519X) with truncation of the last 12 amino acids. PSIP1 was recently described as a transcriptional co-activator regulated by miR-135b in vestibular hair cells of the mouse inner ear as well as a possible protector against photoreceptor degeneration. Here, we demonstrate that it is ubiquitously expressed in the mouse inner ear. The PSIP1 mutation is associated with a peculiar audiometric slope toward the high frequencies. These findings indicate that PSIP1 likely plays an important role in HHL.

%B Sci Rep %V 5 %P 18568 %8 2015 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26689366?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/srep18568 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2015 %T Rare coding variants and X-linked loci associated with age at menarche. %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %A Day, Felix R %A Sulem, Patrick %A Ruth, Katherine S %A Tung, Joyce Y %A Hinds, David A %A Esko, Tõnu %A Elks, Cathy E %A Altmaier, Elisabeth %A He, Chunyan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Porcu, Eleonora %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Schick, Ursula M %A Stolk, Lisette %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thompson, Deborah J %A Traglia, Michela %A Wang, Carol A %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Antoniou, Antonis C %A Barbieri, Caterina %A Coviello, Andrea D %A Cucca, Francesco %A Demerath, Ellen W %A Dunning, Alison M %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Grove, Megan L %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Hofman, Albert %A Huang, Jinyan %A Jackson, Rebecca D %A Karasik, David %A Kriebel, Jennifer %A Lange, Ethan M %A Lange, Leslie A %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Li, Xin %A Luan, Jian'an %A Mägi, Reedik %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Pirie, Ailith %A Polasek, Ozren %A Porteous, David %A Reiner, Alex P %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rudan, Igor %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Schlessinger, David %A Scott, Robert A %A Stöckl, Doris %A Visser, Jenny A %A Völker, Uwe %A Vozzi, Diego %A Wilson, James G %A Zygmunt, Marek %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Buring, Julie E %A Crisponi, Laura %A Easton, Douglas F %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hu, Frank B %A Liu, Simin %A Metspalu, Andres %A Pennell, Craig E %A Ridker, Paul M %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Streeten, Elizabeth A %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Völzke, Henry %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Wellons, Melissa %A Franceschini, Nora %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Murray, Anna %A Stefansson, Kari %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Ong, Ken K %A Perry, John R B %X

More than 100 loci have been identified for age at menarche by genome-wide association studies; however, collectively these explain only ∼3% of the trait variance. Here we test two overlooked sources of variation in 192,974 European ancestry women: low-frequency protein-coding variants and X-chromosome variants. Five missense/nonsense variants (in ALMS1/LAMB2/TNRC6A/TACR3/PRKAG1) are associated with age at menarche (minor allele frequencies 0.08-4.6%; effect sizes 0.08-1.25 years per allele; P<5 × 10(-8)). In addition, we identify common X-chromosome loci at IGSF1 (rs762080, P=9.4 × 10(-13)) and FAAH2 (rs5914101, P=4.9 × 10(-10)). Highlighted genes implicate cellular energy homeostasis, post-transcriptional gene silencing and fatty-acid amide signalling. A frequently reported mutation in TACR3 for idiopathic hypogonatrophic hypogonadism (p.W275X) is associated with 1.25-year-later menarche (P=2.8 × 10(-11)), illustrating the utility of population studies to estimate the penetrance of reportedly pathogenic mutations. Collectively, these novel variants explain ∼0.5% variance, indicating that these overlooked sources of variation do not substantially explain the 'missing heritability' of this complex trait.

%B Nat Commun %V 6 %P 7756 %8 2015 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26239645?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ncomms8756 %0 Journal Article %J Mutat Res %D 2015 %T Target sequencing approach intended to discover new mutations in non-syndromic intellectual disability. %A Morgan, Anna %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Belcaro, Chiara %A Palumbo, Pietro %A Palumbo, Orazio %A Biamino, Elisa %A Dal Col, Valentina %A Laurini, Erik %A Pricl, Sabrina %A Bosco, Paolo %A Carella, Massimo %A Ferrero, Giovanni Battista %A Romano, Corrado %A d'Adamo, Adamo Pio %A Faletra, Flavio %A Vozzi, Diego %X

The technological improvements over the last years made considerable progresses in the knowledge of the etiology of intellectual Disability (ID). However, at present very little is known about the genetic heterogeneity underlying the non-syndromic form of ID (NS-ID). To investigate the genetic basis of NS-ID we analyzed 43 trios and 22 isolated NS-ID patients using a targeted sequencing (TS) approach. 71 NS-ID genes have been selected and sequenced in all subjects. We found putative pathogenic mutations in 7 out of 65 patients. The pathogenic role of mutations was evaluated through sequence comparison and structural analysis was performed to predict the effect of alterations in a 3D computational model through molecular dynamics simulations. Additionally, a deep patient clinical re-evaluation has been performed after the molecular results. This approach allowed us to find novel pathogenic mutations with a detection rate close to 11% in our cohort of patients. This result supports the hypothesis that many NS-ID related genes still remain to be discovered and that NS-ID is a more complex phenotype compared to syndromic form, likely caused by a complex and broad interaction between genes alterations and environment factors.

%B Mutat Res %V 781 %P 32-6 %8 2015 Nov %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26411299?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2015.09.002 %0 Journal Article %J Mol Med Rep %D 2015 %T Two‑gene mutation in a single patient: Biochemical and functional analysis for a correct interpretation of exome results. %A Bianco, Anna Monica %A Faletra, Flavio %A Vozzi, Diego %A Girardelli, Martina %A Knowles, Alessandra %A Tommasini, Alberto %A Zauli, Giorgio %A Marcuzzi, Annalisa %X

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has generated a large amount of sequence data with the requirement of frequent critical revisions of reported mutations. This innovative tool has proved to be effective in detecting pathogenic mutations; however, it requires a certain degree of experience to identify incidental findings. In the present study, whole exome sequencing analysis was performed for the molecular diagnosis and correct genotype/phenotype correlation between parents and a patient presenting with an atypical phenotype. In addition, mevalonic acid quantification and frequency analysis of detected variants in public databases and X‑chromosome inactivation (XCI) studies on the patient's mother were performed. V377I as well as the S135L mutations were identified on the mevalonate kinase deficiency gene and the levels of mevalonic acid in the patient were 5,496 µg/ml. A D59G variation, reported in ESP6500 in two healthy individuals, was found on the Martin Probst syndrome gene (RAB40AL). Based on XCI studies on the patient's mother, it is likely that RAB40AL escapes XCI, while still remaining balanced. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicated that the Martin Probst syndrome is an X‑linked condition, which is probably not caused by RAB40AL mutations. Although NGS is a powerful tool to identify pathogenic mutations, the analysis of genetic data requires expert critical revision of all detected variants.

%B Mol Med Rep %V 12 %P 6128-32 %8 2015 Oct %G eng %N 4 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26300074?dopt=Abstract %R 10.3892/mmr.2015.4215 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Hered %D 2014 %T Consanguinity and hereditary hearing loss in Qatar. %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Mezzavilla, Massimo %A Abdulhadi, Khalid %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Vozzi, Diego %A Khalifa Alkowari, Moza %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Badii, Ramin %K Consanguinity %K Hearing Loss %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Inheritance Patterns %K Pedigree %K Prevalence %K Principal Component Analysis %K Qatar %K Transcription Factor TFIIIB %X

Qatar is a sovereign state located on the Eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf. Its native population consists of 3 major subgroups: people of Arabian origin or Bedouins, those from an Eastern or Persian ancestry and individuals with African admixture. Historically, all types of consanguineous marriages have been and still are common in the Qatari population, particularly among first and double-first cousins. Thus, there is a higher risk for most inherited diseases including hereditary hearing loss (HHL). In particular, a hearing loss prevalence of 5.2% has been reported in Qatar, with parental consanguinity being more common among affected individuals as compared with unaffected ones. Our recent molecular results confirm a high homogeneity and level of inbreeding in Qatari HHL patients. Among all HHL genes, GJB2, the major player worldwide, accounts for a minor proportion of cases and at least 3 additional genes have been found to be mutated in Qatari patients. Interestingly, one gene, BDP1, has been described to cause HHL only in this country. These results point towards an unexpected level of genetic heterogeneity despite the high level of inbreeding. This review provides an up-to-date picture of HHL in Qatar and of the impact of consanguinity on this disease.

%B Hum Hered %V 77 %P 175-82 %8 2014 %G eng %N 1-4 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25060281?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1159/000360475 %0 Journal Article %J BMC Genet %D 2014 %T Genetic landscape of populations along the Silk Road: admixture and migration patterns. %A Mezzavilla, Massimo %A Vozzi, Diego %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Girotto, Giorgia %A d'Adamo, Pio %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Colonna, Vincenza %K Asian Continental Ancestry Group %K Commonwealth of Independent States %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Gene Flow %K Homozygote %K Human Migration %K Humans %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Principal Component Analysis %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %X

BACKGROUND: The ancient Silk Road has been a trading route between Europe and Central Asia from the 2(nd) century BCE to the 15(th) century CE. While most populations on this route have been characterized, the genetic background of others remains poorly understood, and little is known about past migration patterns. The scientific expedition "Marco Polo" has recently collected genetic and phenotypic data in six regions (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan) along the Silk Road to study the genetics of a number of phenotypes.

RESULTS: We characterized the genetic structure of these populations within a worldwide context. We observed a West-East subdivision albeit the existence of a genetic component shared within Central Asia and nearby populations from Europe and Near East. We observed a contribution of up to 50% from Europe and Asia to most of the populations that have been analyzed. The contribution from Asia dates back to ~25 generations and is limited to the Eastern Silk Road. Time and direction of this contribution are consistent with the Mongolian expansion era.

CONCLUSIONS: We clarified the genetic structure of six populations from Central Asia and suggested a complex pattern of gene flow among them. We provided a map of migration events in time and space and we quantified exchanges among populations. Altogether these novel findings will support the future studies aimed at understanding the genetics of the phenotypes that have been collected during the Marco Polo campaign, they will provide insights into the history of these populations, and they will be useful to reconstruct the developments and events that have shaped modern Eurasians genomes.

%B BMC Genet %V 15 %P 131 %8 2014 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25476266?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1186/s12863-014-0131-6 %0 Journal Article %J Gut %D 2014 %T Mevalonate kinase deficiency and IBD: shared genetic background. %A Bianco, Anna Monica %A Girardelli, Martina %A Vozzi, Diego %A Crovella, Sergio %A Kleiner, Giulio %A Marcuzzi, Annalisa %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Humans %K Inflammatory Bowel Diseases %B Gut %V 63 %P 1367-8 %8 2014 Aug %G eng %N 8 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24531851?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1136/gutjnl-2013-306555 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Med Genet A %D 2014 %T Next generation sequencing in nonsyndromic intellectual disability: from a negative molecular karyotype to a possible causative mutation detection. %A Athanasakis, Emmanouil %A Licastro, Danilo %A Faletra, Flavio %A Fabretto, Antonella %A Dipresa, Savina %A Vozzi, Diego %A Morgan, Anna %A d'Adamo, Adamo P %A Pecile, Vanna %A Biarnés, Xevi %A Gasparini, Paolo %K Computational Biology %K Exome %K Female %K Genes, Recessive %K Genes, X-Linked %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing %K Humans %K Intellectual Disability %K Karyotype %K Male %K Mutation %K Workflow %X

The identification of causes underlying intellectual disability (ID) is one of the most demanding challenges for clinical Geneticists and Researchers. Despite molecular diagnostics improvements, the vast majority of patients still remain without genetic diagnosis. Here, we report the results obtained using Whole Exome and Target Sequencing on nine patients affected by isolated ID without pathological copy number variations, which were accurately selected from an initial cohort of 236 patients. Three patterns of inheritance were used to search for: (1) de novo, (2) X-linked, and (3) autosomal recessive variants. In three of the nine proband-parent trios analyzed, we identified and validated two de novo and one X-linked potentially causative mutations located in three ID-related genes. We proposed three genes as ID candidate, carrying one de novo and three X-linked mutations. Overall, this systematic proband-parent trio approach using next generation sequencing could explain a consistent percentage of patients with isolated ID, thus increasing our knowledge on the molecular bases of this disease and opening new perspectives for a better diagnosis, counseling, and treatment.

%B Am J Med Genet A %V 164A %P 170-6 %8 2014 Jan %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24307393?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1002/ajmg.a.36274 %0 Journal Article %J Gene %D 2014 %T A novel P2RX2 mutation in an Italian family affected by autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss. %A Faletra, Flavio %A Girotto, Giorgia %A d'Adamo, Adamo Pio %A Vozzi, Diego %A Morgan, Anna %A Gasparini, Paolo %K Amino Acid Sequence %K Deafness %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Genotype %K Hearing Loss, Sensorineural %K Humans %K Italy %K Male %K Molecular Sequence Data %K Mutation, Missense %K Pedigree %K Receptors, Purinergic P2X2 %X

Hereditary hearing loss (HHL) is a common disorder accounting for at least 60% of prelingual deafness. It is characterized by a large genetic heterogeneity, and despite the presence of a major gene, still there is a need to search for new causative mutations/genes. Very recently, a mutation within ATP-gated P2X(2) receptor (ligand-gated ion channel, purinergic receptor 2) gene (P2RX2) at DNFA41 locus has been reported leading to a bilateral and symmetrical sensorineural non-syndromic autosomal dominant HHL in two Chinese families. We performed a linkage analysis in a large Italian family with a dominant pattern of inheritance showing a significant 3.31 LOD score in a 2Mb region overlapping with the DNFA41 locus. Molecular analyses of P2RX2 identified a novel missense mutation (p.Gly353Arg) affecting a residue highly conserved across species. Visual inspection of the protein structure as obtained from comparative modeling suggests that substitution of the small glycine residue with a charged bulky residue such as an arginine that is close to the 'neck' of the region responsible for ion channel gating should have a high energetic cost and should lead to a severely destabilization of the fold. The identification of a second most likely causative mutation in P2RX2 gene further supports the possible role of this gene in causing autosomal dominant HHL.

%B Gene %V 534 %P 236-9 %8 2014 Jan 25 %G eng %N 2 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24211385?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.gene.2013.10.052 %0 Journal Article %J Oncotarget %D 2014 %T The p53 transcriptional pathway is preserved in ATMmutated and NOTCH1mutated chronic lymphocytic leukemias. %A Athanasakis, Emmanouil %A Melloni, Elisabetta %A Rigolin, Gian Matteo %A Agnoletto, Chiara %A Voltan, Rebecca %A Vozzi, Diego %A Piscianz, Elisa %A Segat, Ludovica %A dal Monego, Simeone %A Cuneo, Antonio %A Secchiero, Paola %A Zauli, Giorgio %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins %K Base Sequence %K Female %K Genes, p53 %K Humans %K Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell %K Male %K Models, Molecular %K Molecular Sequence Data %K Mutation %K Receptor, Notch1 %K Signal Transduction %K Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 %X

By using next generation sequencing, we have analyzed 108 B chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) patients. Among genes involved in the TP53 pathway, we found frequent mutations in ATM (n=18), TP53 (n=10) and NOTCH1 (n=10) genes, rare mutations of NOTCH2 (n=2) and CDKN1A/p21 (n=1) and no mutations in BAX, MDM2, TNFRSF10A and TNFRSF10B genes. The in vitro treatment of primary B-CLL cells with the activator of p53 Nutlin-3 induced the transcription of p53 target genes, without significant differences between the B-CLL without mutations and those harboring either ATM or NOTCH1mutations. On the other hand, the subgroup of TP53mutated B-CLL exhibited a significantly lower induction of the p53 target genes in response to Nutlin-3 as compared to the other B-CLL samples. However, among the TP53mutated B-CLL, those showing mutations in the high hot spot region of the DNA binding domain [273-280 aa] maintained a significantly higher p53-dependent transcriptional activity as compared to the other TP53mutated B-CLL samples. Since the ability to elicit a p53-dependent transcriptional activity in vitro has a positive prognostic significance, our data suggest that ATMmutated, NOTCH1mutated and surprisingly, also a subset of TP53mutated B-CLL patients might benefit from therapeutic combinations including small molecule activator of the p53 pathway.

%B Oncotarget %V 5 %P 12635-45 %8 2014 Dec 30 %G eng %N 24 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25587027?dopt=Abstract %R 10.18632/oncotarget.2211 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS One %D 2012 %T Molecular diagnosis of Usher syndrome: application of two different next generation sequencing-based procedures. %A Licastro, Danilo %A Mutarelli, Margherita %A Peluso, Ivana %A Neveling, Kornelia %A Wieskamp, Nienke %A Rispoli, Rossella %A Vozzi, Diego %A Athanasakis, Emmanouil %A D'Eustacchio, Angela %A Pizzo, Mariateresa %A D'Amico, Francesca %A Ziviello, Carmela %A Simonelli, Francesca %A Fabretto, Antonella %A Scheffer, Hans %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Banfi, Sandro %A Nigro, Vincenzo %K Child, Preschool %K Exome %K Genome, Human %K High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing %K Humans %K Molecular Diagnostic Techniques %K Pilot Projects %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %K Usher Syndromes %X

Usher syndrome (USH) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by visual and hearing impairments. Clinically, it is subdivided into three subclasses with nine genes identified so far. In the present study, we investigated whether the currently available Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies are already suitable for molecular diagnostics of USH. We analyzed a total of 12 patients, most of which were negative for previously described mutations in known USH genes upon primer extension-based microarray genotyping. We enriched the NGS template either by whole exome capture or by Long-PCR of the known USH genes. The main NGS sequencing platforms were used: SOLiD for whole exome sequencing, Illumina (Genome Analyzer II) and Roche 454 (GS FLX) for the Long-PCR sequencing. Long-PCR targeting was more efficient with up to 94% of USH gene regions displaying an overall coverage higher than 25×, whereas whole exome sequencing yielded a similar coverage for only 50% of those regions. Overall this integrated analysis led to the identification of 11 novel sequence variations in USH genes (2 homozygous and 9 heterozygous) out of 18 detected. However, at least two cases were not genetically solved. Our result highlights the current limitations in the diagnostic use of NGS for USH patients. The limit for whole exome sequencing is linked to the need of a strong coverage and to the correct interpretation of sequence variations with a non obvious, pathogenic role, whereas the targeted approach suffers from the high genetic heterogeneity of USH that may be also caused by the presence of additional causative genes yet to be identified.

%B PLoS One %V 7 %P e43799 %8 2012 %G eng %N 8 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22952768?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0043799