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- Willems, S. M., et al.
(author)
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Large-scale GWAS identifies multiple loci for hand grip strength providing biological insights into muscular fitness
- 2017
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hand grip strength is a widely used proxy of muscular fitness, a marker of frailty, and predictor of a range of morbidities and all-cause mortality. To investigate the genetic determinants of variation in grip strength, we perform a large-scale genetic discovery analysis in a combined sample of 195,180 individuals and identify 16 loci associated with grip strength (P<5 × 10-8) in combined analyses. A number of these loci contain genes implicated in structure and function of skeletal muscle fibres (ACTG1), neuronal maintenance and signal transduction (PEX14, TGFA, SYT1), or monogenic syndromes with involvement of psychomotor impairment (PEX14, LRPPRC and KANSL1). Mendelian randomization analyses are consistent with a causal effect of higher genetically predicted grip strength on lower fracture risk. In conclusion, our findings provide new biological insight into the mechanistic underpinnings of grip strength and the causal role of muscular strength in age-related morbidities and mortality. © The Author(s) 2017.
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- Brownstein, Catherine A., et al.
(author)
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An international effort towards developing standards for best practices in analysis, interpretation and reporting of clinical genome sequencing results in the CLARITY Challenge
- 2014
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In: Genome Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1465-6906 .- 1474-760X. ; 15:3, s. R53-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: There is tremendous potential for genome sequencing to improve clinical diagnosis and care once it becomes routinely accessible, but this will require formalizing research methods into clinical best practices in the areas of sequence data generation, analysis, interpretation and reporting. The CLARITY Challenge was designed to spur convergence in methods for diagnosing genetic disease starting from clinical case history and genome sequencing data. DNA samples were obtained from three families with heritable genetic disorders and genomic sequence data were donated by sequencing platform vendors. The challenge was to analyze and interpret these data with the goals of identifying disease-causing variants and reporting the findings in a clinically useful format. Participating contestant groups were solicited broadly, and an independent panel of judges evaluated their performance. Results: A total of 30 international groups were engaged. The entries reveal a general convergence of practices on most elements of the analysis and interpretation process. However, even given this commonality of approach, only two groups identified the consensus candidate variants in all disease cases, demonstrating a need for consistent fine-tuning of the generally accepted methods. There was greater diversity of the final clinical report content and in the patient consenting process, demonstrating that these areas require additional exploration and standardization. Conclusions: The CLARITY Challenge provides a comprehensive assessment of current practices for using genome sequencing to diagnose and report genetic diseases. There is remarkable convergence in bioinformatic techniques, but medical interpretation and reporting are areas that require further development by many groups.
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- Minikel, EV, et al.
(author)
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Quantifying prion disease penetrance using large population control cohorts
- 2016
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In: Science translational medicine. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1946-6242 .- 1946-6234. ; 8:322, s. 322ra9-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Large genomic reference data sets reveal a spectrum of pathogenicity in the prion protein gene and provide genetic validation for a therapeutic strategy in prion disease.
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- Lelièvre, E.C., et al.
(author)
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Ptf1a/Rbpj complex inhibits ganglion cell fate and drives the specification of all horizontal cell subtypes in the chick retina
- 2011
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In: Developmental Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-1606 .- 1095-564X. ; 358:2, s. 296-308
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- During development, progenitor cells of the retina give rise to six principal classes of neurons and the Müller glial cells found within the adult retina. The pancreas transcription factor 1 subunit a (Ptf1a) encodes a basic-helix–loop–helix transcription factor necessary for the specification of horizontal cells and the majority of amacrine cell subtypes in the mouse retina. The Ptf1a-regulated genes and the regulation of Ptf1a activity by transcription cofactors during retinogenesis have been poorly investigated. Using a retrovirus-mediated gene transfer approach, we reported that Ptf1a was sufficient to promote the fates of amacrine and horizontal cells from retinal progenitors and inhibit retinal ganglion cell and photoreceptor differentiation in the chick retina. Both GABAergic H1 and non-GABAergic H3 horizontal cells were induced following the forced expression of Ptf1a. We describe Ptf1a as a strong, negative regulator of Atoh7 expression. Furthermore, the Rbpj-interacting domains of Ptf1a protein were required for its effects on cell fate specification. Together, these data provide a novel insight into the molecular basis of Ptf1a activity on early cell specification in the chick retina.
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12. |
- Lim, Elaine T, et al.
(author)
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Distribution and Medical Impact of Loss-of-Function Variants in the Finnish Founder Population.
- 2014
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In: PLoS Genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404. ; 10:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Exome sequencing studies in complex diseases are challenged by the allelic heterogeneity, large number and modest effect sizes of associated variants on disease risk and the presence of large numbers of neutral variants, even in phenotypically relevant genes. Isolated populations with recent bottlenecks offer advantages for studying rare variants in complex diseases as they have deleterious variants that are present at higher frequencies as well as a substantial reduction in rare neutral variation. To explore the potential of the Finnish founder population for studying low-frequency (0.5-5%) variants in complex diseases, we compared exome sequence data on 3,000 Finns to the same number of non-Finnish Europeans and discovered that, despite having fewer variable sites overall, the average Finn has more low-frequency loss-of-function variants and complete gene knockouts. We then used several well-characterized Finnish population cohorts to study the phenotypic effects of 83 enriched loss-of-function variants across 60 phenotypes in 36,262 Finns. Using a deep set of quantitative traits collected on these cohorts, we show 5 associations (p<5×10-8) including splice variants in LPA that lowered plasma lipoprotein(a) levels (P = 1.5×10-117). Through accessing the national medical records of these participants, we evaluate the LPA finding via Mendelian randomization and confirm that these splice variants confer protection from cardiovascular disease (OR = 0.84, P = 3×10-4), demonstrating for the first time the correlation between very low levels of LPA in humans with potential therapeutic implications for cardiovascular diseases. More generally, this study articulates substantial advantages for studying the role of rare variation in complex phenotypes in founder populations like the Finns and by combining a unique population genetic history with data from large population cohorts and centralized research access to National Health Registers.
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13. |
- Rivas, Manuel A., et al.
(author)
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A protein-truncating R179X variant in RNF186 confers protection against ulcerative colitis
- 2016
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In: Nature Communications. - London, United Kingdom : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Protein-truncating variants protective against human disease provide in vivo validation of therapeutic targets. Here we used targeted sequencing to conduct a search for protein-truncating variants conferring protection against inflammatory bowel disease exploiting knowledge of common variants associated with the same disease. Through replication genotyping and imputation we found that a predicted protein-truncating variant (rs36095412, p.R179X, genotyped in 11,148 ulcerative colitis patients and 295,446 controls, MAF=up to 0.78%) in RNF186, a single-exon ring finger E3 ligase with strong colonic expression, protects against ulcerative colitis (overall P=6.89 × 10(-7), odds ratio=0.30). We further demonstrate that the truncated protein exhibits reduced expression and altered subcellular localization, suggesting the protective mechanism may reside in the loss of an interaction or function via mislocalization and/or loss of an essential transmembrane domain.
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- Edqvist, Per-Henrik D, et al.
(author)
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Axon-bearing and axon-less horizontal cell subtypes are generated consecutively during chick retinal development from progenitors that are sensitive to follistatin
- 2008
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In: BMC Developmental Biology. - 1471-213X. ; 8, s. 46-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND:Horizontal cells are retinal interneurons that modulate the output from photoreceptors. A rich literature on the morphological classification and functional properties of HCs in different animals exists, however, the understanding of the events underlying their development is still limited. In most vertebrates including chicken, two main horizontal cell (HC) subtypes are identified based on the presence or absence of an axon.RESULTS:In this work we have molecularly characterized three HC subtypes based on Lim1, Isl1, GABA and TrkA, a classification that is consistent with three chick HC subtypes previously defined by morphology. The axon-bearing and axon-less HC subpopulations molecularly defined by Lim1 and Isl1, are born consecutively on embryonic day (E) 3-4 and E4-5, respectively, and exhibit temporally distinguishable periods of migration. Their relative numbers are not adjusted by apoptosis. A sharp decrease of high endogenous levels of the activin-inhibitor follistatin at E3 coincides with the appearance of the Lim1 positive cells. Extending the follistatin exposure of the HC retinal progenitor cells by injection of follistatin at E3 increased the number of both Lim1- and Isl1 positive HCs when analysed at E9.CONCLUSION:The results imply that the axon-bearing and axon-less HC subgroups are defined early and are generated consecutively from a retinal progenitor cell population that is sensitive to the inhibitory action of follistatin. The results are consistent with a model wherein added follistatin causes HC-generating progenitors to proliferate beyond the normal period of HC generation, thus producing extra HCs of both types that migrate to the HC layer.
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17. |
- Gao, Hong, et al.
(author)
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The landscape of tolerated genetic variation in humans and primates
- 2023
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 380:6648
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Personalized genome sequencing has revealed millions of genetic differences between individuals, but our understanding of their clinical relevance remains largely incomplete. To systematically decipher the effects of human genetic variants, we obtained whole-genome sequencing data for 809 individuals from 233 primate species and identified 4.3 million common protein-altering variants with orthologs in humans. We show that these variants can be inferred to have nondeleterious effects in humans based on their presence at high allele frequencies in other primate populations. We use this resource to classify 6% of all possible human protein-altering variants as likely benign and impute the pathogenicity of the remaining 94% of variants with deep learning, achieving state-of-the-art accuracy for diagnosing pathogenic variants in patients with genetic diseases.
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18. |
- Lappalainen, Tuuli, et al.
(author)
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Transcriptome and genome sequencing uncovers functional variation in humans
- 2013
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 501:7468, s. 506-511
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genome sequencing projects are discovering millions of genetic variants in humans, and interpretation of their functional effects is essential for understanding the genetic basis of variation in human traits. Here we report sequencing and deep analysis of messenger RNA and microRNA from lymphoblastoid cell lines of 462 individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project-the first uniformly processed high-throughput RNA-sequencing data from multiple human populations with high-quality genome sequences. We discover extremely widespread genetic variation affecting the regulation of most genes, with transcript structure and expression level variation being equally common but genetically largely independent. Our characterization of causal regulatory variation sheds light on the cellular mechanisms of regulatory and loss-of-function variation, and allows us to infer putative causal variants for dozens of disease-associated loci. Altogether, this study provides a deep understanding of the cellular mechanisms of transcriptome variation and of the landscape of functional variants in the human genome.
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19. |
- Lek, M, et al.
(author)
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A homeodomain feedback circuit underlies step-function interpretation of a Shh morphogen gradient during ventral neural patterning
- 2010
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In: Development (Cambridge, England). - : The Company of Biologists. - 1477-9129 .- 0950-1991. ; 137:23, s. 4051-4060
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The deployment of morphogen gradients is a core strategy to establish cell diversity in developing tissues, but little is known about how small differences in the concentration of extracellular signals are translated into robust patterning output in responding cells. We have examined the activity of homeodomain proteins, which are presumed to operate downstream of graded Shh signaling in neural patterning, and describe a feedback circuit between the Shh pathway and homeodomain transcription factors that establishes non-graded regulation of Shh signaling activity. Nkx2 proteins intrinsically strengthen Shh responses in a feed-forward amplification and are required for ventral floor plate and p3 progenitor fates. Conversely, Pax6 has an opposing function to antagonize Shh signaling, which provides intrinsic resistance to Shh responses and is important to constrain the inductive capacity of the Shh gradient over time. Our data further suggest that patterning of floor plate cells and p3 progenitors is gated by a temporal switch in neuronal potential, rather than by different Shh concentrations. These data establish that dynamic, non-graded changes in responding cells are essential for Shh morphogen interpretation, and provide a rationale to explain mechanistically the phenomenon of cellular memory of morphogen exposure.
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- Lundstedt-Enkel, Katrin, et al.
(author)
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Different multivariate approaches to material discovery, process development, PAT and environmental process monitoring
- 2006
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In: Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-7439 .- 1873-3239. ; 84:1-2, s. 201-207
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim with the present paper is to illustrate the use of multivariate strategies (i.e. integration of different multivariate methods) with five examples, four from the pharmaceutical industry and one from environmental research. In the first part, two examples wherein hierarchical models are applied to quality control (QC) and process control are discussed. In the second part a more complex problem and a strategy for material discovery/development are presented wherein a combination of multivariate calibration, multivariate analysis and multivariate design is needed. In the third part, a process analytical/optimization problem is illustrated with a two-step process, demanding that different multivariate tools are combined in a sequential way so that a useful model can be established and the process can be understood. In the final part the usefulness of principal component analysis followed by soft independent modelling of class analogy is illustrated with an example from environmental process monitoring. The five examples from quite different areas show that the chemometric tools are even more powerful if used integrated. However, different strategies and combinations of the tools have to be applied, depending on the problem and the aim.
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23. |
- Lundstedt-Enkel, Katrin, et al.
(author)
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QSBMR - Quantitative Structure Biomagnification Relationships : Physicochemical and Structural Descriptors Important for the Biomagnification of Organochlorines and Brominated Flame Retardants
- 2006
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In: Journal of Chemometrics. - : Wiley. - 0886-9383 .- 1099-128X. ; 20:8-10, s. 392-401
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this project is to establish models to predict the biomagnification of contaminants present in Baltic Sea biota. In this paper a quantitative model that we term QSBMR-Quantitative Structure Biomagnification Relationships is presented. This model describes the relationship between the biomagnification factors (BMFs) for several organochlorines (OCs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), for example, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and their descriptors, for example, physico-chemical properties and structural descriptors. The concentrations of contaminants in herring (Clupea harengus) muscle and guillemot (Uria aalge) egg from the Baltic Sea were used. The BMFs were calculated with the randomly sampled ratios (RSR) method that denotes the BMFs with a measure of the variation. In order to describe the physico-chemical properties and chemical structures, approximately 100 descriptors for the contaminants were generated: (a), by using the software (TSAR); (b) finding log Kow values from the literature, and (c) creating binary fingerprint variables that described the position of the chlorine and bromine for the respective PCB and PBDE molecules. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to model the relationship between the contaminants' BMF and the descriptors and the resulting QSBMR revealed that more than 20 descriptors in combination were important for the biomagnification of OCs and BFRs between herring and guillemot. The model including all contaminants (R2X=0.73, R2Y=0.87 and Q2=0.63, three components) explained approximately as much of the variation as the model with the PCBs alone (R2X=0.83, R2Y=0.87 and Q2=0.58, two components). The model with the BFRs alone (R2X=0.68, R2Y=0.88 and Q2 = 0.41, two components) had a slightly lower Q2 than the model including all contaminants. For validation, a training set of seven contaminants was selected by multivariate design (MVD) and a model was established. This model was then used to predict the BMFs of the test set (seven contaminants not included in the model). The resulting R2 for the regression Observed BMF versus Predicted BMF was high (0.65). The good models showed that descriptors important for the biomagnification of OCs and BFRs had been used. These types of models will be useful for in silico predictions of the biomagnification of new, not yet investigated, compounds as an aid in risk assessments.
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- Muthas, Daniel, et al.
(author)
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Focused hierarchical design of peptide libraries - follow the lead
- 2007
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In: Journal of Chemometrics. - : Wiley. - 0886-9383 .- 1099-128X. ; 21:10-11, s. 486-495
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A novel design strategy based on the hierarchical design of experiments (HDoE) method named focused hierarchical design of experiments (FHDoE) is presented. FHDoE combine two design layers and use focused substitutions to increase the probability of obtaining active peptides when designing libraries through a selection of compounds biased towards a lead structure. Increasing the number of peptides with measurable activity will increase the information gained and the likelihood of constructing good quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models. The utility of the novel design method is verified using two different approaches. First, a library designed with the novel FHDoE method was compared with libraries generated from classical positional scanning techniques (e.g., alanine scan) as well as with general and centered minimum analog peptide sets (MAPS) libraries by using an example found in the literature. Secondly, the same design strategies were applied to a dataset of 58 angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) dipeptide inhibitors. QSAR models were generated from designed sublibraries and the activities of the remaining compounds were predicted. These two examples show that the use of FHDoE renders peptide libraries close in physicochemical space to the native ligand, yielding a more thorough screening of the area of interest as compared to the classical positional scans and fractional factorial design (FFD). It is also shown that an FHDoE library of six dipeptides could produce a QSAR model that better described the requisites of high activity ACE inhibitors than could QSAR models built from either a nine-dipeptide library designed with MAPS or a 58-dipeptide library.
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