Analysis of common genetic variants associated with neuro-synapse development among 60 family trios affected with sporadic autism spectrum disorders / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To explore susceptibility genes for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).@*METHODS@#Whole-exome sequencing was carried out for 60 family trios affected with sporadic ASD. Genetic variants discovered in over 10% of the patients were selected for genotype-phenotype correlation and pathway enrichment analysis using Phenolyzer software and metascape database. Combining gene-phenotypic scores, pathway-related genes associated with neural and neurite triggering were screened for the candidates.@*RESULTS@#A total of 170 common variants were found to be associated with the ASD phenotype. Among these, there was only one high-confidence gene [SHANK2(0.8146)] and four medium-confidence genes [ERBB2(0.1322), LAMC3(0.1117), PPFIA4(0.1059), DISC1(0.1002)]. Twenty-pathways and four biological processes were found to be statistically significant by pathway enrichment analysis, which included neuron projection morphogenesis (GO 0048812), regulation of neuroblast proliferation (GO 1902692), modulation of excitatory postsynaptic potential (GO 0098815), and dendrite morphogenesis (GO 0048813). Twenty-one genes were found to be closely associated with neurological and neurite triggering, among which only SHANK2, ERBB2, and DISC1 had above-medium confidence correlation scores with the ASD phenotypes.@*CONCLUSION@#Abnormal neuron projection morphogenesis (GO 0048812) may be closely related to the occurrence of ASD. SHANK2, ERBB2, and DISC1 are susceptibility genes for ASD.