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Christopher Gordon, Cecilia Lo, Patrice Bouvagnet and colleagues report loss-of-function mutations in the MMP21 gene (encoding matrix metallopeptidase 21) that cause human heterotaxy with associated complex congenital heart defects. The authors confirm the role of MMP21 in heterotaxy and left-right patterning in zebrafish and mouse models.
Eunjung Lee, Peter Park, Dongwan Hong and colleagues report an analysis of cancer RNA sequencing data identifying approximately 900 somatic coding variants that cause disrupted splicing in cancer, leading to intron retention or exon skipping in many cases. Variants causing intron retention are enriched for loss-of-function mutations in tumor-suppressor genes.
Bin Tean Teh and colleagues report the genomic characterization of 100 breast fibroepithelial tumors, including benign fibroadenomas and benign, borderline and malignant phyllodes tumors. They identify mutations specific to phyllodes tumors and find somatic mutation patterns that distinguish borderline and malignant phyllodes tumors from the other tumor types.
Pancreatic cancers consist of a heterogeneous amalgam of assorted cell types, making it challenging to develop a classification system that groups these tumors according to common molecular features. A new study tackles this important issue using bioinformatics approaches to decipher gene expression signatures derived specifically from either tumor cells or nonmalignant stromal cells that predict patient outcome and may inform personalized treatments.
Journal requirements for data deposition and encouragement of deposition of preprints in a community preprint server are stated policy. Because many authors put data in a public repository only upon publication and many still ask about the status of preprints, here is a further statement of our position.
Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have been widely adopted for use in gene therapy. A new study raises concerns regarding this approach, reporting that chromosomal insertions of AAV serotype 2 seem to activate proto-oncogenes in human hepatocellular carcinoma.
The three-dimensional organization of the genome has an important role in orchestrating gene expression, but its regulation is poorly understood. Now, a new study uncovers a major role for Polycomb components of the PRC1 complex in organizing physical networks of genes that are co-repressed to maintain pluripotency.
Hilary Finucane, Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, Benjamin Neale, Alkes Price and colleagues introduce a new method, called stratified LD score regression, for partitioning heritability by functional category using genome-wide association study summary statistics. They observe a substantial enrichment of heritability in conserved regions and illustrate how this approach can provide insights into the biological basis of disease and direction for functional follow-up.
Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, Benjamin Neale, Hilary Finucane, Alkes Price and colleagues introduce a new technique for estimating genetic correlation that requires only genome-wide association summary statistics and that is not biased by sample overlap. Using this method, they find genetic correlations between anorexia nervosa and schizophrenia, and between educational attainment and autism spectrum disorder.
John Perry and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association study meta-analysis to identify variants influencing age at natural menopause. They identify 54 independent signals and find enrichment near genes involved in delayed puberty and DNA damage response.
Christina Leslie and colleagues report an integrative analysis of the enhancer landscape and gene expression dynamics during hematopoietic differentiation. They also develop a quantitative model to predict gene expression changes from DNA sequence content and the lineage history of active enhancers and suggest a new mechanistic role for PU.1 at transition peaks during B cell specification.
John Chambers, Jaspal Kooner, Pim van der Harst, Shyong Tai, Paul Elliott, Jiang He, Norihiro Kato and colleagues performed a genome-wide association study of blood pressure phenotypes in individuals of European, East Asian and South Asian ancestry. They find trait-associated SNPs at 12 loci, some of which are associated with methylation at nearby CpG sites.
Francesco Cucca, Serena Sanna, David Schlessinger, Gonçalo Abecasis and colleagues report genome-wide association analysis results for the levels of A1, A2 and fetal hemoglobin in a large Sardinian cohort. By integrating high-density array genotyping and whole-genome sequencing, they detect 23 associations at 10 loci and observe a wide range of pleiotropic effects of variants across the 3 hemoglobin types.
Gonçalo Abecasis, Francesco Cucca, David Schlessinger, Serena Sanna and colleagues report ~17.6 million genetic variants from whole-genome sequencing of 2,120 Sardinians. They assess the impact of these variants on circulating lipid levels and five inflammatory biomarkers.
Matthew Robinson and colleagues report an analysis of population genetic differences in human height and body mass index (BMI) across 14 European populations. They estimate the proportion of additive genetic variance attributable to population genetic differences and find evidence for selection increasing height while reducing BMI in European nations.
Francesco Cucca, David Schlessinger, John Novembre, Gonçalo Abecasis and colleagues present sequencing-based whole-genome association analyses for stature in Sardinia and identify two variants that lead to reduced height. Their findings suggest that shorter stature was selected for in Sardinia.
Gil McVean and colleagues report a meta-analysis of Immunochip studies including over 17,000 multiple sclerosis cases and 30,000 controls, with imputation of classical HLA alleles. They find two interactions involving class II HLA alleles but no evidence for significant epistatic interactions or interactions between HLA and non-HLA risk variants.
Francois Le Loarer, Franck Tirode and colleagues identify a new class of undifferentiated thoracic sarcomas characterized by inactivation of SMARCA4, which encodes an ATPase subunit of BAF chromatin-remodeling complexes. They further show that these tumors exhibit transcriptional profiles similar to those of other BAF-deficient malignancies.
Boris Bastian and colleagues report the results of exome sequencing of desmoplastic melanoma. They identify recurrent NFKBIE promoter mutations and diverse mutations leading to activation of the MAPK pathway.
Hugh Watkins, Sekar Kathiresan, Ruth McPherson, Martin Farrall and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association meta-analysis of coronary artery disease based on 1000 Genomes imputation. They identify ten new risk loci and show that susceptibility to this disease is largely determined by common SNPs with small effect sizes.
