scholarly journals Cell type specific genetic regulation of gene expression across human tissues

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kim-Hellmuth ◽  
François Aguet ◽  
Meritxell Oliva ◽  
Manuel Muñoz-Aguirre ◽  
Valentin Wucher ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project has identified expression and splicing quantitative trait loci (cis-QTLs) for the majority of genes across a wide range of human tissues. However, the interpretation of these QTLs has been limited by the heterogeneous cellular composition of GTEx tissue samples. Here, we map interactions between computational estimates of cell type abundance and genotype to identify cell type interaction QTLs for seven cell types and show that cell type interaction eQTLs provide finer resolution to tissue specificity than bulk tissuecis-eQTLs. Analyses of genetic associations to 87 complex traits show a contribution from cell type interaction QTLs and enables the discovery of hundreds of previously unidentified colocalized loci that are masked in bulk tissue.One Sentence SummaryEstimated cell type abundances from bulk RNA-seq across tissues reveal the cellular specificity of quantitative trait loci.

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 369 (6509) ◽  
pp. eaaz8528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kim-Hellmuth ◽  
François Aguet ◽  
Meritxell Oliva ◽  
Manuel Muñoz-Aguirre ◽  
Silva Kasela ◽  
...  

The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project has identified expression and splicing quantitative trait loci in cis (QTLs) for the majority of genes across a wide range of human tissues. However, the functional characterization of these QTLs has been limited by the heterogeneous cellular composition of GTEx tissue samples. We mapped interactions between computational estimates of cell type abundance and genotype to identify cell type–interaction QTLs for seven cell types and show that cell type–interaction expression QTLs (eQTLs) provide finer resolution to tissue specificity than bulk tissue cis-eQTLs. Analyses of genetic associations with 87 complex traits show a contribution from cell type–interaction QTLs and enables the discovery of hundreds of previously unidentified colocalized loci that are masked in bulk tissue.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Peterson ◽  
Susan Service ◽  
Anna Jasinska ◽  
Fuying Gao ◽  
Ivette Zelaya ◽  
...  

The observation that variants regulating gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci, eQTL) are at a high frequency among SNPs associated with complex traits has made the genome-wide characterization of gene expression an important tool in genetic mapping studies of such traits. As part of a study to identify genetic loci contributing to bipolar disorder and a wide range of BP-related quantitative traits in members of 26 pedigrees from Costa Rica and Colombia, we measured gene expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 786 pedigree members. The study design enabled us to comprehensively reconstruct the genetic regulatory network in these families, provide estimates of heritability, identify eQTL, evaluate missing heritability for the eQTL, and quantify the number of different alleles contributing to any given locus.


Author(s):  
Emilien Peltier ◽  
Sabrina Bibi-Triki ◽  
Fabien Dutreux ◽  
Claudia Caradec ◽  
Anne Friedrich ◽  
...  

Abstract Dissecting the genetic basis of complex trait remains a real challenge. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a model organism for studying quantitative traits, successfully increasing our knowledge in many aspects. However, the exploration of the genotype-phenotype relationship in non-model yeast species could provide a deeper insight into the genetic basis of complex traits. Here, we have studied this relationship in the Lachancea waltii species which diverged from the S. cerevisiae lineage prior to the whole-genome duplication. By performing linkage mapping analyses in this species, we identified 86 quantitative trait loci (QTL) impacting the growth in a large number of conditions. The distribution of these loci across the genome has revealed two major QTL hotspots. A first hotspot corresponds to a general growth QTL, impacting a wide range of conditions. By contrast, the second hotspot highlighted a trade-off with a disadvantageous allele for drug-free conditions which proved to be advantageous in the presence of several drugs. Finally, a comparison of the detected QTL in L. waltii with those which had been previously identified for the same trait in a closely related species, Lachancea kluyveri was performed. This analysis clearly showed the absence of shared QTL across these species. Altogether, our results represent a first step toward the exploration of the genetic architecture of quantitative trait across different yeast species.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 1489-1506
Author(s):  
Kathleen D Jermstad ◽  
Daniel L Bassoni ◽  
Keith S Jech ◽  
Gary A Ritchie ◽  
Nicholas C Wheeler ◽  
...  

Abstract Quantitative trait loci (QTL) were mapped in the woody perennial Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) for complex traits controlling the timing of growth initiation and growth cessation. QTL were estimated under controlled environmental conditions to identify QTL interactions with photoperiod, moisture stress, winter chilling, and spring temperatures. A three-generation mapping population of 460 cloned progeny was used for genetic mapping and phenotypic evaluations. An all-marker interval mapping method was used for scanning the genome for the presence of QTL and single-factor ANOVA was used for estimating QTL-by-environment interactions. A modest number of QTL were detected per trait, with individual QTL explaining up to 9.5% of the phenotypic variation. Two QTL-by-treatment interactions were found for growth initiation, whereas several QTL-by-treatment interactions were detected among growth cessation traits. This is the first report of QTL interactions with specific environmental signals in forest trees and will assist in the identification of candidate genes controlling these important adaptive traits in perennial plants.


Genetics ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 489-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Maccaferri ◽  
Maria Corinna Sanguineti ◽  
Simona Corneti ◽  
José Luis Araus Ortega ◽  
Moncef Ben Salem ◽  
...  

Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (2) ◽  
pp. 867-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nengjun Yi ◽  
Shizhong Xu ◽  
David B Allison

AbstractMost complex traits of animals, plants, and humans are influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. Interactions among multiple genes play fundamental roles in the genetic control and evolution of complex traits. Statistical modeling of interaction effects in quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis must accommodate a very large number of potential genetic effects, which presents a major challenge to determining the genetic model with respect to the number of QTL, their positions, and their genetic effects. In this study, we use the methodology of Bayesian model and variable selection to develop strategies for identifying multiple QTL with complex epistatic patterns in experimental designs with two segregating genotypes. Specifically, we develop a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to determine the number of QTL and to select main and epistatic effects. With the proposed method, we can jointly infer the genetic model of a complex trait and the associated genetic parameters, including the number, positions, and main and epistatic effects of the identified QTL. Our method can map a large number of QTL with any combination of main and epistatic effects. Utility and flexibility of the method are demonstrated using both simulated data and a real data set. Sensitivity of posterior inference to prior specifications of the number and genetic effects of QTL is investigated.


2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (5) ◽  
pp. 333-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIA SHEN ◽  
LARS RÖNNEGÅRD ◽  
ÖRJAN CARLBORG

SummaryDealing with genotype uncertainty is an ongoing issue in genetic analyses of complex traits. Here we consider genotype uncertainty in quantitative trait loci (QTL) analyses for large crosses in variance component models, where the genetic information is included in identity-by-descent (IBD) matrices. An IBD matrix is one realization from a distribution of potential IBD matrices given available marker information. In QTL analyses, its expectation is normally used resulting in potentially reduced accuracy and loss of power. Previously, IBD distributions have been included in models for small human full-sib families. We develop an Expectation–Maximization (EM) algorithm for estimating a full model based on Monte Carlo imputation for applications in large animal pedigrees. Our simulations show that the bias of variance component estimates using traditional expected IBD matrix can be adjusted by accounting for the distribution and that the calculations are computationally feasible for large pedigrees.


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