@article {6597, title = {Association of exome sequences with plasma C-reactive protein levels in >9000 participants.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {24}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan 15}, pages = {559-71}, abstract = {

C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration is a heritable systemic marker of inflammation that is associated with cardiovascular disease risk. Genome-wide association studies have identified CRP-associated common variants associated in \~{}25 genes. Our aims were to apply exome sequencing to (1) assess whether the candidate loci contain rare coding variants associated with CRP levels and (2) perform an exome-wide search for rare variants in novel genes associated with CRP levels. We exome-sequenced 6050 European-Americans (EAs) and 3109 African-Americans (AAs) from the NHLBI-ESP and the CHARGE consortia, and performed association tests of sequence data with measured CRP levels. In single-variant tests across candidate loci, a novel rare (minor allele frequency = 0.16\%) CRP-coding variant (rs77832441-A; p.Thr59Met) was associated with 53\% lower mean CRP levels (P = 2.9 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). We replicated the association of rs77832441 in an exome array analysis of 11 414 EAs (P = 3.0 {\texttimes} 10(-15)). Despite a strong effect on CRP levels, rs77832441 was not associated with inflammation-related phenotypes including coronary heart disease. We also found evidence for an AA-specific association of APOE-ε2 rs7214 with higher CRP levels. At the exome-wide significance level (P < 5.0 {\texttimes} 10(-8)), we confirmed associations for reported common variants of HNF1A, CRP, IL6R and TOMM40-APOE. In gene-based tests, a burden of rare/lower frequency variation in CRP in EAs (P <= 6.8 {\texttimes} 10(-4)) and in retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor α (RORA) in AAs (P = 1.7 {\texttimes} 10(-3)) were associated with CRP levels at the candidate gene level (P < 2.0 {\texttimes} 10(-3)). This inquiry did not elucidate novel genes, but instead demonstrated that variants distributed across the allele frequency spectrum within candidate genes contribute to CRP levels.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Exome, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1-alpha, Humans, Male, Plasma, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Interleukin-6, Risk Factors}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddu450}, author = {Schick, Ursula M and Auer, Paul L and Bis, Joshua C and Lin, Honghuang and Wei, Peng and Pankratz, Nathan and Lange, Leslie A and Brody, Jennifer and Stitziel, Nathan O and Kim, Daniel S and Carlson, Christopher S and Fornage, Myriam and Haessler, Jeffery and Hsu, Li and Jackson, Rebecca D and Kooperberg, Charles and Leal, Suzanne M and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Tracy, Russell and Ardissino, Diego and Shah, Svati and Willer, Cristen and Loos, Ruth and Melander, Olle and McPherson, Ruth and Hovingh, Kees and Reilly, Muredach and Watkins, Hugh and Girelli, Domenico and Fontanillas, Pierre and Chasman, Daniel I and Gabriel, Stacey B and Gibbs, Richard and Nickerson, Deborah A and Kathiresan, Sekar and Peters, Ulrike and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Wilson, James G and Rich, Stephen S and Morrison, Alanna C and Benjamin, Emelia J and Gross, Myron D and Reiner, Alex P} } @article {7138, title = {Exome Genotyping Identifies Pleiotropic Variants Associated with Red Blood Cell Traits.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {99}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jul 7}, pages = {8-21}, abstract = {

Red blood cell (RBC) traits are important heritable clinical biomarkers and modifiers of disease severity. To identify coding genetic variants associated with these traits, we conducted meta-analyses of seven RBC phenotypes in 130,273 multi-ethnic individuals from~studies genotyped on an exome array. After conditional analyses and replication in 27,480 independent individuals, we identified 16 new RBC variants. We found low-frequency missense variants in MAP1A (rs55707100, minor allele frequency [MAF] = 3.3\%, p = 2~{\texttimes}~10(-10) for hemoglobin [HGB]) and HNF4A (rs1800961, MAF = 2.4\%, p < 3~{\texttimes} 10(-8) for hematocrit [HCT] and HGB). In African Americans, we identified a nonsense variant in CD36 associated with higher RBC distribution width (rs3211938, MAF = 8.7\%, p = 7~{\texttimes} 10(-11)) and showed that it is associated with lower CD36 expression and strong allelic imbalance in ex~vivo differentiated human erythroblasts. We also identified a rare missense variant in ALAS2 (rs201062903, MAF = 0.2\%) associated with lower mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p < 8~{\texttimes} 10(-9)). Mendelian mutations in ALAS2 are a cause of sideroblastic anemia and erythropoietic protoporphyria. Gene-based testing highlighted three rare missense variants in PKLR, a gene mutated in Mendelian non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia, associated with HGB and HCT (SKAT p < 8~{\texttimes} 10(-7)). These rare, low-frequency, and common RBC variants showed pleiotropy, being also associated with platelet, white blood cell, and lipid traits. Our association results and functional annotation suggest the involvement of new genes in human erythropoiesis. We also confirm that rare and low-frequency variants play a role in the architecture of complex human traits, although their phenotypic effect is generally smaller than originally anticipated.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.05.007}, author = {Chami, Nathalie and Chen, Ming-Huei and Slater, Andrew J and Eicher, John D and Evangelou, Evangelos and Tajuddin, Salman M and Love-Gregory, Latisha and Kacprowski, Tim and Schick, Ursula M and Nomura, Akihiro and Giri, Ayush and Lessard, Samuel and Brody, Jennifer A and Schurmann, Claudia and Pankratz, Nathan and Yanek, Lisa R and Manichaikul, Ani and Pazoki, Raha and Mihailov, Evelin and Hill, W David and Raffield, Laura M and Burt, Amber and Bartz, Traci M and Becker, Diane M and Becker, Lewis C and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bork-Jensen, Jette and Bottinger, Erwin P and O{\textquoteright}Donoghue, Michelle L and Crosslin, David R and de Denus, Simon and Dub{\'e}, Marie-Pierre and Elliott, Paul and Engstr{\"o}m, Gunnar and Evans, Michele K and Floyd, James S and Fornage, Myriam and Gao, He and Greinacher, Andreas and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hansen, Torben and Harris, Tamara B and Hayward, Caroline and Hernesniemi, Jussi and Highland, Heather M and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Hofman, Albert and Irvin, Marguerite R and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Lange, Ethan and Launer, Lenore J and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Li, Jin and Liewald, David C M and Linneberg, Allan and Liu, Yongmei and Lu, Yingchang and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Mathias, Rasika A and Melander, Olle and Metspalu, Andres and Mononen, Nina and Nalls, Mike A and Nickerson, Deborah A and Nikus, Kjell and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Chris J and Orho-Melander, Marju and Pedersen, Oluf and Petersmann, Astrid and Polfus, Linda and Psaty, Bruce M and Raitakari, Olli T and Raitoharju, Emma and Richard, Melissa and Rice, Kenneth M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rotter, Jerome I and Schmidt, Frank and Smith, Albert Vernon and Starr, John M and Taylor, Kent D and Teumer, Alexander and Thuesen, Betina H and Torstenson, Eric S and Tracy, Russell P and Tzoulaki, Ioanna and Zakai, Neil A and Vacchi-Suzzi, Caterina and van Duijn, Cornelia M and van Rooij, Frank J A and Cushman, Mary and Deary, Ian J and Velez Edwards, Digna R and Vergnaud, Anne-Claire and Wallentin, Lars and Waterworth, Dawn M and White, Harvey D and Wilson, James G and Zonderman, Alan B and Kathiresan, Sekar and Grarup, Niels and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Loos, Ruth J F and Lange, Leslie A and Faraday, Nauder and Abumrad, Nada A and Edwards, Todd L and Ganesh, Santhi K and Auer, Paul L and Johnson, Andrew D and Reiner, Alexander P and Lettre, Guillaume} } @article {7146, title = {Large-Scale Exome-wide Association Analysis Identifies Loci for White Blood Cell Traits and Pleiotropy with Immune-Mediated Diseases.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {99}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jul 7}, pages = {22-39}, abstract = {

White blood cells play diverse roles in innate and adaptive immunity. Genetic association analyses of phenotypic variation in circulating white blood cell (WBC) counts from large samples of otherwise healthy individuals can provide insights into genes and biologic pathways involved in production, differentiation, or clearance of particular WBC lineages (myeloid, lymphoid) and also potentially inform the genetic basis of autoimmune, allergic, and blood diseases. We performed an exome array-based meta-analysis of total WBC and subtype counts (neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, basophils, and eosinophils) in a multi-ancestry discovery and replication sample of~\~{}157,622 individuals from 25 studies. We identified 16 common variants (8 of which were coding variants) associated with one or more WBC traits, the majority of which are pleiotropically associated with autoimmune diseases. Based on functional annotation, these loci included genes encoding surface markers of myeloid, lymphoid, or hematopoietic stem cell differentiation (CD69, CD33, CD87), transcription factors regulating lineage specification during hematopoiesis (ASXL1, IRF8, IKZF1, JMJD1C, ETS2-PSMG1), and molecules involved in neutrophil clearance/apoptosis (C10orf54, LTA), adhesion (TNXB), or centrosome and microtubule structure/function (KIF9, TUBD1). Together with recent reports of somatic ASXL1 mutations among individuals with idiopathic cytopenias or clonal hematopoiesis of undetermined significance, the identification of a common regulatory 3{\textquoteright} UTR variant of ASXL1 suggests that both germline and somatic ASXL1 mutations contribute to lower blood counts in otherwise asymptomatic individuals. These association results shed light on genetic mechanisms that regulate circulating WBC counts and suggest a prominent shared genetic architecture with inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.05.003}, author = {Tajuddin, Salman M and Schick, Ursula M and Eicher, John D and Chami, Nathalie and Giri, Ayush and Brody, Jennifer A and Hill, W David and Kacprowski, Tim and Li, Jin and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Manichaikul, Ani and Mihailov, Evelin and O{\textquoteright}Donoghue, Michelle L and Pankratz, Nathan and Pazoki, Raha and Polfus, Linda M and Smith, Albert Vernon and Schurmann, Claudia and Vacchi-Suzzi, Caterina and Waterworth, Dawn M and Evangelou, Evangelos and Yanek, Lisa R and Burt, Amber and Chen, Ming-Huei and van Rooij, Frank J A and Floyd, James S and Greinacher, Andreas and Harris, Tamara B and Highland, Heather M and Lange, Leslie A and Liu, Yongmei and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Nalls, Mike A and Mathias, Rasika A and Nickerson, Deborah A and Nikus, Kjell and Starr, John M and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Tzoulaki, Ioanna and Velez Edwards, Digna R and Wallentin, Lars and Bartz, Traci M and Becker, Lewis C and Denny, Joshua C and Raffield, Laura M and Rioux, John D and Friedrich, Nele and Fornage, Myriam and Gao, He and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Liewald, David C M and Rich, Stephen S and Uitterlinden, Andre and Bastarache, Lisa and Becker, Diane M and Boerwinkle, Eric and de Denus, Simon and Bottinger, Erwin P and Hayward, Caroline and Hofman, Albert and Homuth, Georg and Lange, Ethan and Launer, Lenore J and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Lu, Yingchang and Metspalu, Andres and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Chris J and Quarells, Rakale C and Richard, Melissa and Torstenson, Eric S and Taylor, Kent D and Vergnaud, Anne-Claire and Zonderman, Alan B and Crosslin, David R and Deary, Ian J and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Elliott, Paul and Evans, Michele K and Gudnason, Vilmundur and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Psaty, Bruce M and Rotter, Jerome I and Slater, Andrew J and Dehghan, Abbas and White, Harvey D and Ganesh, Santhi K and Loos, Ruth J F and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Faraday, Nauder and Wilson, James G and Cushman, Mary and Johnson, Andrew D and Edwards, Todd L and Zakai, Neil A and Lettre, Guillaume and Reiner, Alex P and Auer, Paul L} } @article {7139, title = {Platelet-Related Variants Identified by Exomechip Meta-analysis in 157,293 Individuals.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {99}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jul 7}, pages = {40-55}, abstract = {

Platelet production, maintenance, and clearance are tightly controlled processes indicative of platelets{\textquoteright} important roles in hemostasis and thrombosis. Platelets are common targets for primary and secondary prevention of several conditions. They are monitored clinically by complete blood counts, specifically with measurements of platelet count (PLT) and mean platelet volume (MPV). Identifying genetic effects on PLT and MPV can provide mechanistic insights into platelet biology and their role in disease. Therefore, we formed the Blood Cell Consortium (BCX) to perform a large-scale meta-analysis of Exomechip association results for PLT and MPV in 157,293 and 57,617 individuals, respectively. Using the low-frequency/rare coding variant-enriched Exomechip genotyping array, we sought to identify genetic variants associated with PLT and MPV. In addition to confirming 47 known PLT and 20 known MPV associations, we identified 32 PLT and 18 MPV associations not previously observed in the literature across the allele frequency spectrum, including rare large effect (FCER1A), low-frequency (IQGAP2, MAP1A, LY75), and common (ZMIZ2, SMG6, PEAR1, ARFGAP3/PACSIN2) variants. Several variants associated with PLT/MPV (PEAR1, MRVI1, PTGES3) were also associated with platelet reactivity. In concurrent BCX analyses, there was overlap of platelet-associated variants with red (MAP1A, TMPRSS6, ZMIZ2) and white (PEAR1, ZMIZ2, LY75) blood cell traits, suggesting common regulatory pathways with shared genetic architecture among these hematopoietic lineages. Our large-scale Exomechip analyses identified previously undocumented associations with platelet traits and further indicate that several complex quantitative hematological, lipid, and cardiovascular traits share genetic factors.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.05.005}, author = {Eicher, John D and Chami, Nathalie and Kacprowski, Tim and Nomura, Akihiro and Chen, Ming-Huei and Yanek, Lisa R and Tajuddin, Salman M and Schick, Ursula M and Slater, Andrew J and Pankratz, Nathan and Polfus, Linda and Schurmann, Claudia and Giri, Ayush and Brody, Jennifer A and Lange, Leslie A and Manichaikul, Ani and Hill, W David and Pazoki, Raha and Elliot, Paul and Evangelou, Evangelos and Tzoulaki, Ioanna and Gao, He and Vergnaud, Anne-Claire and Mathias, Rasika A and Becker, Diane M and Becker, Lewis C and Burt, Amber and Crosslin, David R and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Nikus, Kjell and Hernesniemi, Jussi and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Raitoharju, Emma and Mononen, Nina and Raitakari, Olli T and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Cushman, Mary and Zakai, Neil A and Nickerson, Deborah A and Raffield, Laura M and Quarells, Rakale and Willer, Cristen J and Peloso, Gina M and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Liu, Dajiang J and Deloukas, Panos and Samani, Nilesh J and Schunkert, Heribert and Erdmann, Jeanette and Fornage, Myriam and Richard, Melissa and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Rioux, John D and Dub{\'e}, Marie-Pierre and de Denus, Simon and Lu, Yingchang and Bottinger, Erwin P and Loos, Ruth J F and Smith, Albert Vernon and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Velez Edwards, Digna R and Torstenson, Eric S and Liu, Yongmei and Tracy, Russell P and Rotter, Jerome I and Rich, Stephen S and Highland, Heather M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Li, Jin and Lange, Ethan and Wilson, James G and Mihailov, Evelin and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Hirschhorn, Joel and Metspalu, Andres and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Vacchi-Suzzi, Caterina and Nalls, Mike A and Zonderman, Alan B and Evans, Michele K and Engstr{\"o}m, Gunnar and Orho-Melander, Marju and Melander, Olle and O{\textquoteright}Donoghue, Michelle L and Waterworth, Dawn M and Wallentin, Lars and White, Harvey D and Floyd, James S and Bartz, Traci M and Rice, Kenneth M and Psaty, Bruce M and Starr, J M and Liewald, David C M and Hayward, Caroline and Deary, Ian J and Greinacher, Andreas and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Thiele, Thomas and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and van Rooij, Frank J A and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Franco, Oscar H and Dehghan, Abbas and Edwards, Todd L and Ganesh, Santhi K and Kathiresan, Sekar and Faraday, Nauder and Auer, Paul L and Reiner, Alex P and Lettre, Guillaume and Johnson, Andrew D} } @article {7255, title = {SOS2 and ACP1 Loci Identified through Large-Scale Exome Chip Analysis Regulate Kidney Development and Function.}, journal = {J Am Soc Nephrol}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Dec 05}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies have identified >50 common variants associated with kidney function, but these variants do not fully explain the variation in eGFR. We performed a two-stage meta-analysis of associations between genotypes from the Illumina exome array and eGFR on the basis of serum creatinine (eGFRcrea) among participants of European ancestry from the CKDGen Consortium (nStage1: 111,666; nStage2: 48,343). In single-variant analyses, we identified single nucleotide polymorphisms at seven new loci associated with eGFRcrea (PPM1J, EDEM3, ACP1, SPEG, EYA4, CYP1A1, and ATXN2L; PStage1<3.7{\texttimes}10(-7)), of which most were common and annotated as nonsynonymous variants. Gene-based analysis identified associations of functional rare variants in three genes with eGFRcrea, including a novel association with the SOS Ras/Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 2 gene, SOS2 (P=5.4{\texttimes}10(-8) by sequence kernel association test). Experimental follow-up in zebrafish embryos revealed changes in glomerular gene expression and renal tubule morphology in the embryonic kidney of acp1- and sos2-knockdowns. These developmental abnormalities associated with altered blood clearance rate and heightened prevalence of edema. This study expands the number of loci associated with kidney function and identifies novel genes with potential roles in kidney formation.

}, issn = {1533-3450}, doi = {10.1681/ASN.2016020131}, author = {Li, Man and Li, Yong and Weeks, Olivia and Mijatovic, Vladan and Teumer, Alexander and Huffman, Jennifer E and Tromp, Gerard and Fuchsberger, Christian and Gorski, Mathias and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Nutile, Teresa and Sedaghat, Sanaz and Sorice, Rossella and Tin, Adrienne and Yang, Qiong and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Arking, Dan E and Bihlmeyer, Nathan A and B{\"o}ger, Carsten A and Carroll, Robert J and Chasman, Daniel I and Cornelis, Marilyn C and Dehghan, Abbas and Faul, Jessica D and Feitosa, Mary F and Gambaro, Giovanni and Gasparini, Paolo and Giulianini, Franco and Heid, Iris and Huang, Jinyan and Imboden, Medea and Jackson, Anne U and Jeff, Janina and Jhun, Min A and Katz, Ronit and Kifley, Annette and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Kumar, Ashish and Laakso, Markku and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Lohman, Kurt and Lu, Yingchang and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Malerba, Giovanni and Mihailov, Evelin and Mohlke, Karen L and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Robino, Antonietta and Ruderfer, Douglas and Salvi, Erika and Schick, Ursula M and Schulz, Christina-Alexandra and Smith, Albert V and Smith, Jennifer A and Traglia, Michela and Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M and Zhao, Wei and Goodarzi, Mark O and Kraja, Aldi T and Liu, Chunyu and Wessel, Jennifer and Boerwinkle, Eric and Borecki, Ingrid B and Bork-Jensen, Jette and Bottinger, Erwin P and Braga, Daniele and Brandslund, Ivan and Brody, Jennifer A and Campbell, Archie and Carey, David J and Christensen, Cramer and Coresh, Josef and Crook, Errol and Curhan, Gary C and Cusi, Daniele and de Boer, Ian H and de Vries, Aiko P J and Denny, Joshua C and Devuyst, Olivier and Dreisbach, Albert W and Endlich, Karlhans and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Franco, Oscar H and Fulop, Tibor and Gerhard, Glenn S and Gl{\"u}mer, Charlotte and Gottesman, Omri and Grarup, Niels and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara B and Hayward, Caroline and Hocking, Lynne and Hofman, Albert and Hu, Frank B and Husemoen, Lise Lotte N and Jackson, Rebecca D and J{\o}rgensen, Torben and J{\o}rgensen, Marit E and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kardia, Sharon L R and K{\"o}nig, Wolfgang and Kooperberg, Charles and Kriebel, Jennifer and Launer, Lenore J and Lauritzen, Torsten and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Levy, Daniel and Linksted, Pamela and Linneberg, Allan and Liu, Yongmei and Loos, Ruth J F and Lupo, Antonio and Meisinger, Christine and Melander, Olle and Metspalu, Andres and Mitchell, Paul and Nauck, Matthias and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Orho-Melander, Marju and Parsa, Afshin and Pedersen, Oluf and Peters, Annette and Peters, Ulrike and Polasek, Ozren and Porteous, David and Probst-Hensch, Nicole M and Psaty, Bruce M and Qi, Lu and Raitakari, Olli T and Reiner, Alex P and Rettig, Rainer and Ridker, Paul M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rossouw, Jacques E and Schmidt, Frank and Siscovick, David and Soranzo, Nicole and Strauch, Konstantin and Toniolo, Daniela and Turner, Stephen T and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Ulivi, Sheila and Velayutham, Dinesh and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Waldenberger, Melanie and Wang, Jie Jin and Weir, David R and Witte, Daniel and Kuivaniemi, Helena and Fox, Caroline S and Franceschini, Nora and Goessling, Wolfram and K{\"o}ttgen, Anna and Chu, Audrey Y} } @article {7263, title = {Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Loci Associated with Blood Cell Traits and Reveals a Role for Alternative GFI1B Splice Variants in Human Hematopoiesis.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {99}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Sep 01}, pages = {785}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.08.002}, author = {Polfus, Linda M and Khajuria, Rajiv K and Schick, Ursula M and Pankratz, Nathan and Pazoki, Raha and Brody, Jennifer A and Chen, Ming-Huei and Auer, Paul L and Floyd, James S and Huang, Jie and Lange, Leslie and van Rooij, Frank J A and Gibbs, Richard A and Metcalf, Ginger and Muzny, Donna and Veeraraghavan, Narayanan and Walter, Klaudia and Chen, Lu and Yanek, Lisa and Becker, Lewis C and Peloso, Gina M and Wakabayashi, Aoi and Kals, Mart and Metspalu, Andres and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Fox, Keolu and Wallace, Robert and Franceschini, Nora and Matijevic, Nena and Rice, Kenneth M and Bartz, Traci M and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Raitakari, Olli T and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Lettre, Guillaume and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Franco, Oscar H and Rich, Stephen S and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Hofman, Albert and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Wilson, James G and Psaty, Bruce M and Soranzo, Nicole and Dehghan, Abbas and Boerwinkle, Eric and Zhang, Xiaoling and Johnson, Andrew D and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Johnsen, Jill M and Reiner, Alexander P and Ganesh, Santhi K and Sankaran, Vijay G} } @article {7364, title = {Genome-wide Trans-ethnic Meta-analysis Identifies Seven Genetic Loci Influencing Erythrocyte Traits and a Role for RBPMS in Erythropoiesis.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {100}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jan 05}, pages = {51-63}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified loci for erythrocyte traits in primarily European ancestry populations. We conducted GWAS meta-analyses of six erythrocyte traits in 71,638 individuals from European, East Asian, and African ancestries using a Bayesian approach to account for heterogeneity in allelic effects and variation in the structure of linkage disequilibrium between ethnicities. We identified seven loci for erythrocyte traits including a locus (RBPMS/GTF2E2) associated with mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume. Statistical fine-mapping at this locus pointed to RBPMS at this locus and excluded nearby GTF2E2. Using zebrafish morpholino to evaluate loss of function, we observed a strong in~vivo erythropoietic effect for RBPMS but not for GTF2E2, supporting the statistical fine-mapping at this locus and demonstrating that RBPMS is a regulator of erythropoiesis. Our findings show the utility of trans-ethnic GWASs for discovery and characterization of genetic loci influencing hematologic traits.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.11.016}, author = {van Rooij, Frank J A and Qayyum, Rehan and Smith, Albert V and Zhou, Yi and Trompet, Stella and Tanaka, Toshiko and Keller, Margaux F and Chang, Li-Ching and Schmidt, Helena and Yang, Min-Lee and Chen, Ming-Huei and Hayes, James and Johnson, Andrew D and Yanek, Lisa R and Mueller, Christian and Lange, Leslie and Floyd, James S and Ghanbari, Mohsen and Zonderman, Alan B and Jukema, J Wouter and Hofman, Albert and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Desch, Karl C and Saba, Yasaman and Ozel, Ayse B and Snively, Beverly M and Wu, Jer-Yuarn and Schmidt, Reinhold and Fornage, Myriam and Klein, Robert J and Fox, Caroline S and Matsuda, Koichi and Kamatani, Naoyuki and Wild, Philipp S and Stott, David J and Ford, Ian and Slagboom, P Eline and Yang, Jaden and Chu, Audrey Y and Lambert, Amy J and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Franco, Oscar H and Hofer, Edith and Ginsburg, David and Hu, Bella and Keating, Brendan and Schick, Ursula M and Brody, Jennifer A and Li, Jun Z and Chen, Zhao and Zeller, Tanja and Guralnik, Jack M and Chasman, Daniel I and Peters, Luanne L and Kubo, Michiaki and Becker, Diane M and Li, Jin and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Rotter, Jerome I and Levy, Daniel and Grossmann, Vera and Patel, Kushang V and Chen, Chien-Hsiun and Ridker, Paul M and Tang, Hua and Launer, Lenore J and Rice, Kenneth M and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Ferrucci, Luigi and Evans, Michelle K and Choudhuri, Avik and Trompouki, Eirini and Abraham, Brian J and Yang, Song and Takahashi, Atsushi and Kamatani, Yoichiro and Kooperberg, Charles and Harris, Tamara B and Jee, Sun Ha and Coresh, Josef and Tsai, Fuu-Jen and Longo, Dan L and Chen, Yuan-Tsong and Felix, Janine F and Yang, Qiong and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Becker, Lewis C and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Wilson, James G and Gudnason, Vilmundur and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Dehghan, Abbas and Cupples, L Adrienne and Nalls, Michael A and Morris, Andrew P and Okada, Yukinori and Reiner, Alexander P and Zon, Leonard I and Ganesh, Santhi K} } @article {7793, title = {Generalization and fine mapping of red blood cell trait genetic associations to multi-ethnic populations: The PAGE Study.}, journal = {Am J Hematol}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Jun 15}, abstract = {

Red blood cell (RBC) traits provide insight into a wide range of physiological states and exhibit moderate to high heritability, making them excellent candidates for genetic studies to inform underlying biologic mechanisms. Previous RBC trait genome-wide association studies were performed primarily in European- or Asian-ancestry populations, missing opportunities to inform understanding of RBC genetic architecture in diverse populations and reduce intervals surrounding putative functional SNPs through fine-mapping. Here, we report the first fine-mapping of six correlated (Pearson{\textquoteright}s r range: |0.04 - 0.92|) RBC traits in up to 19,036 African Americans and 19,562 Hispanic/Latinos participants of the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) consortium. Trans-ethnic meta-analysis of race/ethnic- and study-specific estimates for approximately 11,000 SNPs flanking 13 previously identified association signals as well as 150,000 additional array-wide SNPs was performed using inverse-variance meta-analysis after adjusting for study and clinical covariates. Approximately half of previously reported index SNP-RBC trait associations generalized to the trans-ethnic study population (p<1.7x10 ); previously unreported independent association signals within the ABO region reinforce the potential for multiple functional variants affecting the same locus. Trans-ethnic fine-mapping did not reveal additional signals at the HFE locus independent of the known functional variants. Finally, we identified a potential novel association in the Hispanic/Latino study population at the HECTD4/RPL6 locus for RBC count (p=1.9x10 ). The identification of a previously unknown association, generalization of a large proportion of known association signals, and refinement of known association signals all exemplify the benefits of genetic studies in diverse populations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

}, issn = {1096-8652}, doi = {10.1002/ajh.25161}, author = {Jo Hodonsky, Chani and Schurmann, Claudia and Schick, Ursula M and Kocarnik, Jonathan and Tao, Ran and van Rooij, Frank Ja and Wassel, Christina and Buyske, Steve and Fornage, Myriam and Hindorff, Lucia A and Floyd, James S and Ganesh, Santhi K and Lin, Dan-Yu and North, Kari E and Reiner, Alex P and Loos, Ruth Jf and Kooperberg, Charles and Avery, Christy L} }