DNA sequence-level analyses reveal potential phenotypic modifiers in a large family with psychiatric disorders

Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Dec;23(12):2254-2265. doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0087-4. Epub 2018 Jun 7.

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders are a group of genetically related diseases with highly polygenic architectures. Genome-wide association analyses have made substantial progress towards understanding the genetic architecture of these disorders. More recently, exome- and whole-genome sequencing of cases and families have identified rare, high penetrant variants that provide direct functional insight. There remains, however, a gap in the heritability explained by these complementary approaches. To understand how multiple genetic variants combine to modify both severity and penetrance of a highly penetrant variant, we sequenced 48 whole genomes from a family with a high loading of psychiatric disorder linked to a balanced chromosomal translocation. The (1;11)(q42;q14.3) translocation directly disrupts three genes: DISC1, DISC2, DISC1FP and has been linked to multiple brain imaging and neurocognitive outcomes in the family. Using DNA sequence-level linkage analysis, functional annotation and population-based association, we identified common and rare variants in GRM5 (minor allele frequency (MAF) > 0.05), PDE4D (MAF > 0.2) and CNTN5 (MAF < 0.01) that may help explain the individual differences in phenotypic expression in the family. We suggest that whole-genome sequencing in large families will improve the understanding of the combined effects of the rare and common sequence variation underlying psychiatric phenotypes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Alleles
  • Contactins / genetics
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4 / genetics
  • Family / psychology
  • Female
  • Gene Frequency / genetics
  • Genetic Linkage / genetics
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease / genetics
  • Genetic Testing
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Genomics
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Lod Score
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / genetics*
  • Mental Disorders / physiopathology
  • Middle Aged
  • Mood Disorders / genetics
  • Multifactorial Inheritance
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics
  • Pedigree
  • Phenotype
  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5 / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods*
  • Translocation, Genetic

Substances

  • CNTN5 protein, human
  • Contactins
  • DISC1 protein, human
  • DISC1FP1 non-coding RNA, human
  • DISC2 gene product, human
  • GRM5 protein, human
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4
  • PDE4D protein, human