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Abstract BackgroundUncovering the functional relevance underlying verbal declarative memory (VDM) genome-wide association study (GWAS) results may facilitate the development of interventions to reduce age-related memory decline and dementia. MethodsWe performed multi-omics and pathway enrichment analyses of paragraph (PAR-dr) and word list (WL-dr) delayed recall GWAS from 29,076 older non-demented individuals of European descent. We assessed the relationship between single-variant associations and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in 44 tissues and methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) in the hippocampus. We determined the relationship between gene associations and transcript levels in 53 tissues, annotation as immune genes, and regulation by transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs. To identify significant pathways, gene set enrichment was tested in each cohort and meta-analyzed across cohorts. Analyses of differential expression in brain tissues were conducted for pathway component genes. ResultsThe single-variant associations of VDM showed significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) with eQTLs across all tissues and meQTLs within the hippocampus. Stronger WL-dr gene associations correlated with reduced expression in four brain tissues, including the hippocampus. More robust PAR-dr and/or WL-dr gene associations were intricately linked with immunity and were influenced by 31 TFs and 2 microRNAs. Six pathways, including type I diabetes, exhibited significant associations with both PAR-dr and WL-dr. These pathways included fifteen MHC genes intricately linked to VDM performance, showing diverse expression patterns based on cognitive status in brain tissues. ConclusionsVDM genetic associations influence expression regulation via eQTLs and meQTLs. The involvement of TFs, microRNAs, MHC genes, and immune-related pathways contributes to VDM performance in older individuals.
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Systematic genetic analysis of the MHC region reveals mechanistic underpinnings of HLA type associations with disease
The MHC region is highly associated with autoimmune and infectious diseases. Here we conduct an in-depth interrogation of associations between genetic variation, gene expression and disease. We create a comprehensive map of regulatory variation in the MHC region using WGS from 419 individuals to call eight-digit HLA types and RNA-seq data from matched iPSCs. Building on this regulatory map, we explored GWAS signals for 4083 traits, detecting colocalization for 180 disease loci with eQTLs. We show that eQTL analyses taking HLA type haplotypes into account have substantially greater power compared with only using single variants. We examined the association between the 8.1 ancestral haplotype and delayed colonization in Cystic Fibrosis, postulating that downregulation of RNF5 expression is the likely causal mechanism. Our study provides insights into the genetic architecture of the MHC region and pinpoints disease associations that are due to differential expression of HLA genes and non-HLA genes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1728497
- PAR ID:
- 10192281
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- eLife
- Volume:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 2050-084X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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A major goal in evolutionary biology and biomedicine is to understand the complex interactions between genetic variants, the epigenome, and gene expression. However, the causal relationships between these factors remain poorly understood. mSTARR-seq, a methylation-sensitive massively parallel reporter assay, is capable of identifying methylation-dependent regulatory activity at many thousands of genomic regions simultaneously and allows for the testing of causal relationships between DNA methylation and gene expression on a region-by-region basis. Here, we develop a multiplexed mSTARR-seq protocol to assay naturally occurring human genetic variation from 25 individuals from 10 localities in Europe and Africa. We identify 6957 regulatory elements in either the unmethylated or methylated state, and this set was enriched for enhancer and promoter chromatin annotations, as expected. The expression of 58% of these regulatory elements is modulated by methylation, which is generally associated with decreased transcription. Within our set of regulatory elements, we use allele-specific expression analyses to identify 8020 sites with genetic effects on gene regulation; further, we find that 42.3% of these genetic effects vary in direction or magnitude between methylated and unmethylated states. Sites exhibiting methylation-dependent genetic effects are enriched for GWAS and EWAS annotations, implicating them in human disease. Compared with data sets that assay DNA from a single European ancestry individual, our multiplexed assay is able to uncover more genetic effects and methylation-dependent genetic effects, highlighting the importance of including diverse genomes in assays that aim to understand gene regulatory processes.more » « less
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IntroductionAutoimmune disorders (ADs) are a group of about 80 disorders that occur when self-attacking autoantibodies are produced due to failure in the self-tolerance mechanisms. ADs are polygenic disorders and associations with genes both in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region and outside of it have been described. Previous studies have shown that they are highly comorbid with shared genetic risk factors, while epidemiological studies revealed associations between various lifestyle and health-related phenotypes and ADs. MethodsHere, for the first time, we performed a comparative polygenic risk score (PRS) - Phenome Wide Association Study (PheWAS) for 11 different ADs (Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, Celiac Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, Myasthenia Gravis, Type 1 Diabetes, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Vitiligo Late Onset, Vitiligo Early Onset) and 3,254 phenotypes available in the UK Biobank that include a wide range of socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related outcomes. Additionally, we investigated the genetic relationships of the studied ADs, calculating their genetic correlation and conducting cross-disorder GWAS meta-analyses for the observed AD clusters. ResultsIn total, we identified 508 phenotypes significantly associated with at least one AD PRS. 272 phenotypes were significantly associated after excluding variants in the HLA region from the PRS estimation. Through genetic correlation and genetic factor analyses, we identified four genetic factors that run across studied ADs. Cross-trait meta-analyses within each factor revealed pleiotropic genome-wide significant loci. DiscussionOverall, our study confirms the association of different factors with genetic susceptibility for ADs and reveals novel observations that need to be further explored.more » « less
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Abstract Behavioral variation abounds in nature. This variation is important for adaptation and speciation, but its molecular basis remains elusive. Here, we use a hybrid zone between two subspecies of songbirds that differ in migration – an ecologically important and taxonomically widespread behavior---to gain insight into this topic. We measure gene expression in five brain regions. Differential expression between migratory states was dominated by circadian genes in all brain regions. The remaining patterns were largely brain-region specific. For example, expression differences between the subspecies that interact with migratory state likely help maintain reproductive isolation in this system and were documented in only three brain regions. Contrary to existing work on regulatory mechanisms underlying species-specific traits, two lines of evidence suggest that trans- (vs. cis) regulatory changes underlie these patterns – no evidence for allele-specific expression in hybrids and minimal associations between genomic differentiation and expression differences. Additional work with hybrids shows expression levels were often distinct (transgressive) from parental forms. Behavioral contrasts and functional enrichment analyses allowed us to connect these patterns to mitonuclear incompatibilities and compensatory responses to stress that could exacerbate selection on hybrids and contribute to speciation.more » « less
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Lasky, Jesse R. (Ed.)Gene expression can be influenced by genetic variants that are closely linked to the expressed gene (cis eQTLs) and variants in other parts of the genome (trans eQTLs). We created a multiparental mapping population by sampling genotypes from a single natural population ofMimulus guttatusand scored gene expression in the leaves of 1,588 plants. We find that nearly every measured gene exhibits cis regulatory variation (91% have FDR < 0.05). cis eQTLs are usually allelic series with three or more functionally distinct alleles. The cis locus explains about two thirds of the standing genetic variance (on average) but varies among genes and tends to be greatest when there is high indel variation in the upstream regulatory region and high nucleotide diversity in the coding sequence. Despite mapping over 10,000 trans eQTL / affected gene pairs, most of the genetic variance generated by trans acting loci remains unexplained. This implies a large reservoir of trans acting genes with subtle or diffuse effects. Mapped trans eQTLs show lower allelic diversity but much higher genetic dominance than cis eQTLs. Several analyses also indicate that trans eQTLs make a substantial contribution to the genetic correlations in expression among different genes. They may thus be essential determinants of “gene expression modules,” which has important implications for the evolution of gene expression and how it is studied by geneticists.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.48476
