Naturally occurring splice variants dissect the functional domains of BHC80 and emphasize the need for RNA analysis.

Pathogenic PHF21A variation causes PHF21A-related neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Although amorphic alleles, including haploinsufficiency, have been established as a disease mechanism, increasing evidence suggests that missense variants as well as frameshift variants extending the BHC80 carboxyl terminus also cause disease. Expanding on these, we report a proposita with intellectual disability and overgrowth and a novel de novo heterozygous PHF21A splice variant (NM_001352027.

Generation of tandem alternative splice acceptor sites and CLTC haploinsufficiency: A cause of CLTC-related disorder.

Tandem splice acceptors (NAGN AG) are a common mechanism of alternative splicing, but variants that are likely to generate or to disrupt tandem splice sites have rarely been reported as disease causing. We identify a pathogenic intron 23 CLTC variant (NM_004859.4:c.

REViewer: haplotype-resolved visualization of read alignments in and around tandem repeats.

Background: Expansions of short tandem repeats are the cause of many neurogenetic disorders including familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington disease, and many others. Multiple methods have been recently developed that can identify repeat expansions in whole genome or exome sequencing data. Despite the widely recognized need for visual assessment of variant calls in clinical settings, current computational tools lack the ability to produce such visualizations for repeat expansions.

Can tandem alternative splicing and evasion of premature termination codon surveillance contribute to attenuated Peutz-Jeghers syndrome?

Alternative use of short distance tandem sites such as NAGN AG are a common mechanism of alternative splicing; however, single nucleotide variants are rarely reported as likely to generate or to disrupt tandem splice sites. We identify a pathogenic intron 5 STK11 variant (NM_000455.4:c.

Adult GAMT deficiency: A literature review and report of two siblings.

Guanidinoacetate methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency is a creatine deficiency disorder and an inborn error of metabolism presenting with progressive intellectual and neurological deterioration. As most cases are identified and treated in early childhood, adult phenotypes that can help in understanding the natural history of the disorder are rare. We describe two adult cases of GAMT deficiency from a consanguineous family in Pakistan that presented with a history of global developmental delay, cognitive impairments, excessive drooling, behavioral abnormalities, contractures and apparent bone deformities initially presumed to be the reason for abnormal gait.

Demonstrating the utility of flexible sequence queries against indexed short reads with FlexTyper.

Across the life sciences, processing next generation sequencing data commonly relies upon a computationally expensive process where reads are mapped onto a reference sequence. Prior to such processing, however, there is a vast amount of information that can be ascertained from the reads, potentially obviating the need for processing, or allowing optimized mapping approaches to be deployed. Here, we present a method termed FlexTyper which facilitates a "reverse mapping" approach in which high throughput sequence queries, in the form of k-mer searches, are run against indexed short-read datasets in order to extract useful information.

Exome sequencing enables diagnosis of X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia in patient with eosinophilic esophagitis and severe atopy.

X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) is the most common form of ectodermal dysplasia. Clinical and genetic heterogeneity between different ectodermal dysplasia types and evidence of incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity increase the potential for misdiagnosis. We describe a family with X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) presenting with variable expressivity of symptoms between affected siblings.

GeneBreaker: Variant simulation to improve the diagnosis of Mendelian rare genetic diseases.

Mendelian rare genetic diseases affect 5%-10% of the population, and with over 5300 genes responsible for ∼7000 different diseases, they are challenging to diagnose. The use of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has bolstered the diagnosis rate significantly. The effective use of WGS relies on the ability to identify the disrupted gene responsible for disease phenotypes.

Systems genetics analysis of the LXS recombinant inbred mouse strains:Genetic and molecular insights into acute ethanol tolerance.

We have been using the Inbred Long- and Short-Sleep mouse strains (ILS, ISS) and a recombinant inbred panel derived from them, the LXS, to investigate the genetic underpinnings of acute ethanol tolerance which is considered to be a risk factor for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Here, we have used RNA-seq to examine the transcriptome of whole brain in 40 of the LXS strains 8 hours after a saline or ethanol "pretreatment" as in previous behavioral studies. Approximately 1/3 of the 14,184 expressed genes were significantly heritable and many were unique to the pretreatment.

Multi-Omic Approach to Identify Phenotypic Modifiers Underlying Cerebral Demyelination in X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy.

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a peroxisomal metabolic disorder with a highly complex clinical presentation. ALD is caused by mutations in the gene, and is characterized by the accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids in plasma and tissues. Disease-causing mutations are 'loss of function' mutations, with no prognostic value with respect to the clinical outcome of an individual.

metPropagate: network-guided propagation of metabolomic information for prioritization of metabolic disease genes.

Many inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) are amenable to treatment, therefore early diagnosis is imperative. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) variant prioritization coupled with phenotype-guided clinical and bioinformatics expertise is typically used to identify disease-causing variants; however, it can be challenging to identify the causal candidate gene when a large number of rare and potentially pathogenic variants are detected. Here, we present a network-based approach, metPropagate, that uses untargeted metabolomics (UM) data from a single patient and a group of controls to prioritize candidate genes in patients with suspected IEMs.

ExpansionHunter Denovo: a computational method for locating known and novel repeat expansions in short-read sequencing data.

Repeat expansions are responsible for over 40 monogenic disorders, and undoubtedly more pathogenic repeat expansions remain to be discovered. Existing methods for detecting repeat expansions in short-read sequencing data require predefined repeat catalogs. Recent discoveries emphasize the need for methods that do not require pre-specified candidate repeats.

JASPAR 2020: update of the open-access database of transcription factor binding profiles.

JASPAR (http://jaspar.genereg.net) is an open-access database of curated, non-redundant transcription factor (TF)-binding profiles stored as position frequency matrices (PFMs) for TFs across multiple species in six taxonomic groups.

Introduction to Genomic Analysis Workshop: A catalyst for engaging life-science researchers in high throughput analysis.

Researchers in the life sciences are increasingly faced with the task of obtaining compute resources and training to analyze large, high-throughput technology generated datasets. As demand for compute resources has grown, high performance computing (HPC) systems have been implemented by research organizations and international consortiums to support academic researchers. However, life science researchers lack effective time-of-need training resources for utilization of these systems.

Identifying, understanding, and correcting technical artifacts on the sex chromosomes in next-generation sequencing data.

Background: Mammalian X and Y chromosomes share a common evolutionary origin and retain regions of high sequence similarity. Similar sequence content can confound the mapping of short next-generation sequencing reads to a reference genome. It is therefore possible that the presence of both sex chromosomes in a reference genome can cause technical artifacts in genomic data and affect downstream analyses and applications.

Glutaminase Deficiency Caused by Short Tandem Repeat Expansion in .

We report an inborn error of metabolism caused by an expansion of a GCA-repeat tract in the 5' untranslated region of the gene encoding glutaminase () that was identified through detailed clinical and biochemical phenotyping, combined with whole-genome sequencing. The expansion was observed in three unrelated patients who presented with an early-onset delay in overall development, progressive ataxia, and elevated levels of glutamine. In addition to ataxia, one patient also showed cerebellar atrophy.

MANTA2, update of the Mongo database for the analysis of transcription factor binding site alterations.

Interpreting the functional impact of noncoding variants is an ongoing challenge in the field of genome analysis. With most noncoding variants associated with complex traits and disease residing in regulatory regions, altered transcription factor (TF) binding has been proposed as a mechanism of action. It is therefore imperative to develop methods that predict the impact of noncoding variants at TF binding sites (TFBSs).

Genome-wide dose-dependent inhibition of histone deacetylases studies reveal their roles in enhancer remodeling and suppression of oncogenic super-enhancers.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) are known to alter gene expression by both up- and down-regulation of protein-coding genes in normal and cancer cells. However, the exact regulatory mechanisms of action remain uncharacterized. Here we investigated genome wide dose-dependent epigenetic and transcriptome changes in response to HDACI largazole in a transformed and a non-transformed cell line.

The Influence of Polyploidy on the Evolution of Yeast Grown in a Sub-Optimal Carbon Source.

Polyploidization events have occurred during the evolution of many fungi, plant, and animal species and are thought to contribute to speciation and tumorigenesis, however little is known about how ploidy level contributes to adaptation at the molecular level. Here we integrate whole genome sequencing, RNA expression analysis, and relative fitness of ∼100 evolved clones at three ploidy levels. Independent haploid, diploid, and tetraploid populations were grown in a low carbon environment for 250 generations.