Genome-Wide Interaction-Based Association of Human Diseases—A Survey

Genome-Wide Association Studies（GWASs） aim to identify genetic variants that are associated with disease by assaying and analyzing hundreds of thousands of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms（SNPs）. Although traditional single-locus statistical approaches have been standardized and led to many interesting findings, a substantial number of recent GWASs indicate that for most disorders, the individual SNPs explain only a small fraction of the genetic causes. Consequently, exploring multi-SNPs interactions in the hope of discovering more significant associations has attracted more attentions. Due to the huge search space for complicated multilocus interactions, many fast and effective methods have recently been proposed for detecting disease-associated epistatic interactions using GWAS data. In this paper, we provide a critical review and comparison of eight popular methods, i.e., BOOST, TEAM, epi Forest, EDCF, SNPHarvester, epi MODE, MECPM, and MIC, which are used for detecting gene-gene interactions among genetic loci. In views of the assumption model on the data and searching strategies, we divide the methods into seven categories. Moreover, the evaluation methodologies,including detecting powers, disease models for simulation, resources of real GWAS data, and the control of false discover rate, are elaborated as references for new approach developers. At the end of the paper, we summarize the methods and discuss the future directions in genome-wide association studies for detecting epistatic interactions.     

基于美国高加索人群瘦体重的全基因组关联研究

为了寻找与瘦体重相关的单核苷酸多态性(SNP)位点及易感基因,在2 283名不相关的美国高加索人群中对瘦体重指数(LMI)进行全基因组关联分析(GWAS),并在1 000名不相关的美国高加索人群中验证,将研究结果与验证结果进行荟萃分析。研究发现,位于19p13.3区域的UQCR, MBD3和TCF3基因与LMI相关联。UQCR基因上rs8697(合并p=4.94×10~(-3))和rs56122285(合并p=2.59×10~(-3))具有eQTL效应,MBD3基因上rs8110543(合并p=6.88×10~(-3))和rs7252741(合并p=1.22×10~(-2))具有eQTL效应,DB得分分别为1b和1f。本研究进一步证实了UQCR,MBD3和TCF3基因在瘦体重变异中的作用,对肌少症的认识提供新的理论依据。     

植物代谢组学技术研究进展

 代谢组学对生物体或细胞中全部小分子代谢物进行定性、定量分析, 是继基因组学、蛋白组学之后又一门新兴的组学技术。植物代谢物在种类、含量、生理功能方面极具多样性, 因此植物代谢组学在代谢组学的研究中占据重要地位。植物代谢物是植物生理状态在代谢水平的反映, 从整体上研究植物代谢物的变化及其调控将为解析植物生长发育及其与环境因子的互作奠定基础。植物代谢组学已经被广泛的应用于代谢物积累模式及其遗传基础研究、代谢相关基因的鉴定及途径解析方面, 成为现代植物生物学研究中的热点领域之一。本文综述植物代谢组学分析技术的基本组成、发展状况及植物代谢组学应用于现代植物生物学研究的现状和趋势。     

基于IMPUTE2的全基因组关联性研究的基因型填补

多数全基因组关联性研究(GWAS)采用不同的分型芯片,导致遗传变异位点的数目及选择准则不同。基因型填补可以依据已有的基因分型数据,对未分型的位点进行填补。在应用IMPUTE2软件对基因型和表型数据库(db Ga P)中胃癌GWAS数据进行全基因组填补,以详细介绍全基因组填补的原理和过程。以第九号染色体为例,使用1000 Genome Project模板介绍全基因组填补的过程,包括填补前的质量控制、Pre-phasing、填补过程、填补的质量评估及填补后的关联性分析。第九号染色体在填补前有21 033个位点;而在填补后有1 630 406个SNP;其中INFO0.3的SNP位点有817 494个;而填补质量较高(INFO0.5)的位点数目有584 755个。IMPUTE2软件可以快速准确的对未分型的基因型进行填补,从而可以将多个GWAS数据整合到相同的位点数和密度上,再进行联合分析可以提高检验的把握度以便发现新的遗传易感性位点。     

Pathway-based analysis for genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia to provide new insight in schizophrenia study

Schizophrenia (SZ) is an inheritable complex mental disease. There have been several genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of SZ to identify novel genetic susceptibility factors. To further interpret SZ GWASs, pathway-based analysis (PBA), which considers the combined effect of variants and identifies pathways associated with traits, provides a feasible solution to discover the biological function and mechanism of SZ. Furthermore, to investigate the common pathways between SZ and bipolar disorder (BD) wil...     

全基因组关联分析显示基因ANXA8和C10orf11为影响肌少症的候选基因

为了寻找与瘦体重(lean body mass,LBM)相关的单核苷酸多态性(single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP)位点及易感基因,在1 000个不相关的白人中采用Affymetix 500K芯片扫描了500 000个SNPs,并进行全基因组关联分析(genome-wide association study,GWAS),显著结果在1 625个中国人样本和2 283个欧洲白人样本中进行验证,并将验证结果与研究结果进行荟萃分析。研究发现SNPsrs7905603,rs9416083,rs4409772,rs2894310与LBM关联,其中rs7905603位于基因ANXA8,其他3个SNPs位于基因C10orf11。荟萃分析得到的合并p值分别为2.08×10-5,7.44×10~(-6),6.73×10~(-6),6.76×10~(-6)。ANXA8和C10orf11基因是影响LBM变异的候选基因,这对肌少症的认识提供了新的理论依据。     

Nutrigenomics in the whole-genome scanning era: Crohn’s disease as example

Nutrigenomics has the potential to tailor diets to optimize health, based on knowledge of key genetic polymorphisms. Identification of candidate genes is often based on a priori knowledge of disease processes. However, genome-wide association methods are not only validating previously identified genes and polymorphisms, but also revealing new gene-disease associations not anticipated from prior knowledge. In Crohn’s disease (CD), such studies not only confirm the importance of caspase-activated recruitment domain 15 and major histocompatability complex II molecules, but also reveal strong associations with the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-23 receptor and autophagy-related 16-like gene. Genes identified to date in CD can be linked into two interrelated pathways: receptor-mediated cytokine induction or autophagocytosis. New genomic technologies need to be matched with innovative methodologies to characterize the likely impact of foods and to take the field to another dimension of value for human diet development and optimized health. Received 2 July 2007; received after revision 31 July 2007; accepted 29 August 2007     

脑影像与基因组数据关联的交互可视化方法研究

可视化是基因组数据分析的一个重要部分,而下一代测序技术和基于阵列的分析方法产生的数据集的数量和多样性对现有的可视化工具提出了重大挑战.针对于这些问题,通过比对已有的可视化工具,总结其优势与不足,设计了一个可视化系统,从全基因组关联研究的数据中挖掘出显著的基因组数据信息,并且将此信息与脑影像结合起来.将研究者关注的信息生成热图（Heatmap Plot）,在Heatmap图中的数据信息可以显示相应表型对应的曼哈顿图,以及相应单核苷酸多态性对应的脑影像中的表型信息（不同区域使用不同p-value进行颜色绘制）,给予研究者更加直接的可视化表现.