Volume 43 Issue 12, December 2011

An efficient way to design genotyping arrays for fine mapping is to group phenotypes with common biology. The first application of the Immunochip to celiac disease provides an insightful view of what this strategy can achieve.

The combination of genomic, epidemiological and evolutionary analyses provides a powerful toolbox for understanding how pathogens adapt to their human hosts. By sequencing 112 Burkholderia dolosa genomes from an outbreak among patients with cystic fibrosis, a new study documents evolution in action and identifies a set of genes that contributed to the pathogen's adaptation.

A careful analysis of risk haplotypes in relation to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) susceptibility has led to the identification of a rare, high-penetrance variant in the complement factor H (CFH) gene that is also causally associated with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and related glomerulopathies. This finding provides a convincing causal mechanism linking the two diseases and develops a paradigm for the genetic architecture of a common and complex disease.

Brian Oliver, Jason Lieb, Christine Disteche and colleagues present an analysis of expression data in mammals, C. elegans and Drosophila. They conclude that dosage compensation corrects the imbalance in the number of X chromosomes relative to autosomes by upregulating X-linked genes in both males and females.

Fowzan Alkuraya and colleagues report the identification of a truncating mutation in DNASE1L3 in six families with an autosomal recessive Mendelian form of systemic lupus erythematosus, a complex autoimmune disease.

Markus Schuelke, Colin Johnson and colleagues report the identification of mutations in MEGF10 that cause infantile myopathy with diaphragmatic weakness, areflexia, respiratory distress and dysphagia.

David van Heel, Cisca Wijmenga and colleagues used a custom, high-density genotyping chip to examine 183 immune-related loci for their role in celiac disease. They report 13 new regions associated with celiac disease risk, identify multiple independent signals at several loci and refine the localization of many previously reported risk signals.

Douglas Winton and colleagues report the results of a large insertional mutagenesis screen to identify drivers of intestinal tumorigenesis in mice. The study identifies a large number of potential cancer drivers, including new modifiers of canonical Wnt signaling and components of the FGF pathway.

Christopher Haiman and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer in women of African and European ancestry. They identify a variant at the TERT-CLPTM1L locus on 5p15 as associated with ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer. This locus also harbors multiple variants associated with a range of other cancers.

Hongbing Shen, Dongxin Lin, Yongyong Shi and colleagues identify two new susceptibility loci for non-cardia gastric cancer. They also confirm three previously reported risk loci for this gastric cancer subtype.

Suet Leung, Jiangchun Xu and colleagues report exome sequencing of 22 gastric cancers. They found that genes involved in chromatin modification were commonly mutated, including ARID1A encoding an SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex component that had a high rate of mutation.

Yongyong Shi, Lin He and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population. They identify two new susceptibility loci on 8p12 and 1q24.2.

Dai Zhang and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population. They identify a new susceptibility locus at 11p11.2 and also identify a locus at 6p21-22.1 in the extended MHC region, which has previously been reported to be associated with schizophrenia in individuals of European descent.

Soumya Raychaudhuri and Johanna Seddon and colleagues report the identification of a rare penetrant mutation in CFH that associates with increased risk of age-related macular degeneration.

Shiro Ikegawa and colleagues identify common variants near LBX1 associated with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. LBX1 encodes a homeobox protein expressed in the dorsal spinal cord and skeletal muscle that may contribute to scoliosis risk by altering somatosensory function.

The Hong Kong–Shanghai, Korean, Taiwan, US and International Kawasaki Disease Genetics Consortia report a genome-wide association study in Kawasaki disease. They identify a novel locus in the FCGR2A gene that confers elevated risk of disease.

Furen Zhang and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for susceptibility to leprosy. They identify two new risk loci at IL23R and RAB32.

Zhi-Ying Wu and colleagues report the identification of truncating mutations in the PRRT2 gene in families with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia. PRRT2 encodes the proline-rich transmembrane protein 2.

Judith Bovée and colleagues report the identification of somatic mosaic mutations in IDH1 and IDH2 in tumors from individuals with Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome, which are non-hereditary skeletal disorders characterized by multiple enchondromas.

Adrienne Flanagan and colleagues report the identification of somatic mosaic mutations in the IDH1 and IDH2 genes in tumors from individuals with Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome, diseases that are characterized by the presence of multiple central cartilaginous tumors that are accompanied by soft tissue hemangiomas in Maffucci syndrome.

Qifa Zhang and colleagues report the map-based cloning of the quantitative trait locus GS5, which regulates grain size and yield in rice. GS5 encodes a putative serine carboxypeptidase and increased expression is associated with larger grain.

Ben Lehner and colleagues report an analysis of the published genome sequences of 19 S. cerevisiae strains together with the results of growth experiments using 15 strains across 20 environmental conditions. They define sets of genes influencing growth under these different conditions and use their data to make predictions about the phenotypes of individual strains.

Roy Kishony and colleagues sequenced the genomes of 112 Burkholderia dolosa isolates recovered from 14 individuals with cystic fibrosis as part of a retrospective study from a hospital epidemic monitored over the course of 16 years. They tracked recurrent mutations occurring in the bacterial isolates and found that 17 genes showed evidence of parallel adaptive evolution.