Whole genome and exome sequencing of monozygotic twins with trisomy 21, discordant for a congenital heart defect and epilepsy

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 20;9(6):e100191. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100191. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Congenital heart defects (CHD) occur in 40% of patients with trisomy 21, while the other 60% have a structurally normal heart. This suggests that the increased dosage of genes on chromosome 21 is a risk factor for abnormal heart development. Interaction of genes on chromosome 21 or their gene products with certain alleles of genes on other chromosomes could contribute to CHD. Here, we identified a pair of monozygotic twins with trisomy 21 but discordant for a ventricular septal defect and epilepsy. Twin-zygosity was confirmed by microsatellite genotyping. We hypothesized that some genetic differences from post-twinning mutations caused the discordant phenotypes. Thus, next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies were applied to sequence both whole genome and exome of their leukocytes. The post-analyses of the sequencing data revealed 21 putative discordant exonic variants between the twins from either genome or exome data. However, of the 15 variants chosen for validation with conventional Sanger sequencing, these candidate variants showed no differences in both twins. The fact that no discordant DNA variants were found suggests that sequence differences of DNA from leukocytes of monozygotic twins might be extremely rare. It also emphasizes the limitation of the current NGS technology in identifying causative genes for discordant phenotypes in monozygotic twins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • Down Syndrome / complications*
  • Down Syndrome / genetics*
  • Epilepsy / complications*
  • Exome / genetics*
  • Genomics*
  • Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular / complications*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans
  • INDEL Mutation
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA*

Grants and funding

This study was funded through Ratchadapiseksomphot Endowment Fund of Chulalongkorn University (RES560530177-HR) awarded to CS, VS and KS and through the Thailand Research Fund (RTA5680003, RSA5480022). PC is a recipient of Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program (Grant No. PHD/0071/2552). ST and SK were supported in part by the 2011 Research Chair Grants issued by the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the Thailand Research Fund (RSA5480026). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.