Here is why CADD has become the preferred variant annotation tool

Variant annotation. In both clinical practice and within existing research projects, we’re often faced with the issue of telling whether a given variant is benign or whether it is pathogenic. In silico prediction tools are designed to help this decision making process. However, there are so many of them and it is often hard to assess which tool works best. In a 2014 publication in Nature Genetics, the CADD score was introduced as comprehensive tool that aims to take the results of many known prediction tools into account. Follow me on a journey that takes us on hyperplanes, support vector machines and every possible variant in the human genome. Continue reading

Robinsoe Crusoe, NFXL1, and speech delay

Founder variant. Specific language impairment (SLI) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder, presenting as delays in acquiring language skills in children who have no hearing loss or other developmental delays. There is a strong genetic component, but the genetic architecture of SLI is entirely unknown. In a recent publication in PLOS Genetics, exome sequencing is performed in the founder population of the Robinson Crusoe Island where SLI is common. Using a combination of exome sequencing and association study, the autors identify a variant In NFXL1 as a plausible candidate for language delay. Continue reading

GABRB3, 15q dups, and CNVs from exomes

GABAergic. Let’s start out with a provocative statement. There is a single gene that may explain more cases of Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) and Infantile Spasms (IS) than you would expect, rivalling SCN1A for the most common gene found in this group of patients. It’s a gene that you are probably aware of but that you may think to be a very rare finding. In a recent publication in Annals of Neurology, the Epi4K consortium published their recent analysis of copy number variations that were derived from exome data. Combining de novo mutations and copy number variations points to GABRB3 as a major player in LGS and IS, explaining probably more than 2% of patients. Let’s find out about the twilight zone, strategies to obtain structural variants from exomes, and the re-emergence of the 15q duplication syndrome. Continue reading

Discrepancies in interpretation – when can exomes speak from themselves?

Interpretation. There is huge promise in discovering the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders using exome sequencing, but it is often not clear how ambiguous results are communicated to families. In a recent publication in Clinical Genetics, the authors try to understand what happens to exome results as they land on the clinician’s desk – and leave us with the conclusion that diagnostic exome sequencing when reviewed in a clinical setting may have a false positive rate of up to 20% with 5% of false negatives. Continue reading

Flickering lights, endophenotypes, and EEG genetics – CHD2 in photosensitivity

Heritable. Many epilepsy syndromes have signature EEG traits, and these traits are thought to have a strong genetic component. The endophenotype concept suggests that using these epilepsy-related traits in genetic studies will facilitate gene discovery, a concept that has failed us so far in epilepsy research, unfortunately. Now, in a recent publication in Brain, we were able to demonstrate that variants in CHD2 predispose to photosensitivity, an abnormal cortical response to flickering light. Finally, after several decades of persisting difficulties, there is some progress in the field of EEG genetics. Continue reading

USP9X, Ubiquitin, and the PRICKLE interactome

PRICKLE. There are some genes implicated in human epilepsies that we have a hard time making sense of. PRICKLE1, implicated in a recessive progressive myoclonus epilepsy, is one of these genes. In a recent publication in PLoS Genetics, the interactome of the enigmatic PRICKLE proteins is explored. The authors rediscover an almost forgotten gene implicated in intellectual disability. Continue reading

The two faces of KCNA2 – a novel epileptic encephalopathy

Delayed rectifier. The discovery of de novo mutations in ion channel genes as a cause for genetic epilepsies continues. In a recent publication in Nature Genetics, we have identified de novo mutations in KCNA2 as a novel cause of epileptic encephalopathies associated with ataxia. Interestingly, even within a single gene, two different phenotypes seem to be emerging. Continue reading

Publications of the week – CNTNAP2, DEPDC5, and autism whole-genome sequencing

Issue 4/2015. Trying to keep up with the publications of the week in the field, we have selected three manuscripts this week, which challenge some of our well-established beliefs. It’s about an autism gene losing its statistical support, a familial epilepsy gene rediscovered in focal cortical dysplasia, and the surprises of whole-genome sequencing in familial autism. Continue reading

Sequencing for developmental disorders on a national level – the DDD(UK) study

DDD. It’s probably the most impressive of all exome sequencing studies of 2014 and I almost missed it. Late December last year, the Deciphering Developmental Disorders study was published in Nature, reporting the genetic findings in more than 1,000 patient-parent trios, which were collected in a systematic nation-wide approach in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The analysis of more than 1,600 de novo mutations in this cohort provides another fascinating view into the genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders, independently confirming the role of DNM1 and pointing out several genes that act through either activating or dominant-negative mutations. Let me guide you through a study that comes to the sobering conclusion that even entire nations are too small to understand the genetics of neurodevelopmental disease. Continue reading