Autism gene variants disrupt enteric neuron migration and cause gastrointestinal dysmotility.

The comorbidity of autism spectrum disorders and severe gastrointestinal symptoms is well-established, yet the molecular underpinnings remain unknown. The identification of high-confidence large-effect autism risk genes offers the opportunity to identify convergent, underlying biology by studying these genes in the context of the gastrointestinal system. Here we show that the expression of these genes is enriched in human prenatal gut neurons as well as their migratory progenitors, suggesting that the development and/or function of these neurons may be disrupted by autism-associated pathogenic variants, leading to gastrointestinal dysfunction. Here we document the prevalence of gastrointestinal issues in patients with large-effect variants in sixteen of these genes, highlighting dysmotility, consistent with potential enteric neuron dysfunction. Using the high-throughput diploid frog Xenopus tropicalis , we individually target five of these genes ( SYNGAP1, CHD8, SCN2A, CHD2 , and DYRK1A ) and observe disrupted enteric neuronal progenitor migration for each. More extensive analysis of DYRK1A reveals that perturbation causes gut dysmotility in vivo , which can be ameliorated by treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (escitalopram) or a serotonin receptor 6 agonist, identified by in vivo drug screening. This work suggests that atypical development of enteric neurons contributes to the gastrointestinal distress commonly seen in individuals with autism and that increasing serotonin signaling may be a productive therapeutic avenue.

Five autism-associated transcriptional regulators target shared loci proximal to brain-expressed genes.

Many autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-associated genes act as transcriptional regulators (TRs). Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) was used to identify the regulatory targets of ARID1B, BCL11A, FOXP1, TBR1, and TCF7L2, ASD-associated TRs in the developing human and mouse cortex. These TRs shared substantial overlap in the binding sites, especially within open chromatin. The overlap within a promoter region, 1-2,000 bp upstream of the transcription start site, was highly predictive of brain-expressed genes. This signature was observed in 96 out of 102 ASD-associated genes. In vitro CRISPRi against ARID1B and TBR1 delineated downstream convergent biology in mouse cortical cultures. After 8 days, NeuN+ and CALB+ cells were decreased, GFAP+ cells were increased, and transcriptomic signatures correlated with the postmortem brain samples from individuals with ASD. We suggest that functional convergence across five ASD-associated TRs leads to shared neurodevelopmental outcomes of haploinsufficient disruption.

Rare X-linked variants carry predominantly male risk in autism, Tourette syndrome, and ADHD.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Tourette syndrome (TS), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display strong male sex bias, due to a combination of genetic and biological factors, as well as selective ascertainment. While the hemizygous nature of chromosome X (Chr X) in males has long been postulated as a key point of "male vulnerability", rare genetic variation on this chromosome has not been systematically characterized in large-scale whole exome sequencing studies of "idiopathic" ASD, TS, and ADHD. Here, we take advantage of informative recombinations in simplex ASD families to pinpoint risk-enriched regions on Chr X, within which rare maternally-inherited damaging variants carry substantial risk in males with ASD. We then apply a modified transmission disequilibrium test to 13,052 ASD probands and identify a novel high confidence ASD risk gene at exome-wide significance (MAGEC3). Finally, we observe that rare damaging variants within these risk regions carry similar effect sizes in males with TS or ADHD, further clarifying genetic mechanisms underlying male vulnerability in multiple neurodevelopmental disorders that can be exploited for systematic gene discovery.

Pleiotropy of autism-associated chromatin regulators.

Gene ontology analyses of high-confidence autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk genes highlight chromatin regulation and synaptic function as major contributors to pathobiology. Our recent functional work in vivo has additionally implicated tubulin biology and cellular proliferation. As many chromatin regulators, including the ASD risk genes ADNP and CHD3, are known to directly regulate both tubulins and histones, we studied the five chromatin regulators most strongly associated with ASD (ADNP, CHD8, CHD2, POGZ and KMT5B) specifically with respect to tubulin biology. We observe that all five localize to microtubules of the mitotic spindle in vitro in human cells and in vivo in Xenopus. Investigation of CHD2 provides evidence that mutations present in individuals with ASD cause a range of microtubule-related phenotypes, including disrupted localization of the protein at mitotic spindles, cell cycle stalling, DNA damage and cell death. Lastly, we observe that ASD genetic risk is significantly enriched among tubulin-associated proteins, suggesting broader relevance. Together, these results provide additional evidence that the role of tubulin biology and cellular proliferation in ASD warrants further investigation and highlight the pitfalls of relying solely on annotated gene functions in the search for pathological mechanisms.

New and emerging approaches to treat psychiatric disorders.

Psychiatric disorders are highly prevalent, often devastating diseases that negatively impact the lives of millions of people worldwide. Although their etiological and diagnostic heterogeneity has long challenged drug discovery, an emerging circuit-based understanding of psychiatric illness is offering an important alternative to the current reliance on trial and error, both in the development and in the clinical application of treatments. Here we review new and emerging treatment approaches, with a particular emphasis on the revolutionary potential of brain-circuit-based interventions for precision psychiatry. Limitations of circuit models, challenges of bringing precision therapeutics to market and the crucial advances needed to overcome these obstacles are presented.

In Search of Biomarkers to Guide Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to catalog and evaluate response biomarkers correlated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms to improve clinical trials. METHODS: A systematic review of MEDLINE, Embase, and Scopus was conducted in April 2020. Seven criteria were applied to focus on original research that includes quantifiable response biomarkers measured alongside ASD symptoms. Interventional studies or human studies that assessed the correlation between biomarkers and ASD-related behavioral measures were included. RESULTS: A total of 5,799 independent records yielded 280 articles for review that reported on 940 biomarkers, 755 of which were unique to a single publication. Molecular biomarkers were the most frequently assayed, including cytokines, growth factors, measures of oxidative stress, neurotransmitters, and hormones, followed by neurophysiology (e.g., EEG and eye tracking), neuroimaging (e.g., functional MRI), and other physiological measures. Studies were highly heterogeneous, including in phenotypes, demographic characteristics, tissues assayed, and methods for biomarker detection. With a median total sample size of 64, almost all of the reviewed studies were only powered to identify biomarkers with large effect sizes. Reporting of individual-level values and summary statistics was inconsistent, hampering mega- and meta-analysis. Biomarkers assayed in multiple studies yielded mostly inconsistent results, revealing a "replication crisis." CONCLUSIONS: There is currently no response biomarker with sufficient evidence to inform ASD clinical trials. This review highlights methodological imperatives for ASD biomarker research necessary to make definitive progress: consistent experimental design, correction for multiple comparisons, formal replication, sharing of sample-level data, and preregistration of study designs. Systematic "big data" analyses of multiple potential biomarkers could accelerate discovery.

Genomics, convergent neuroscience and progress in understanding autism spectrum disorder.

More than a hundred genes have been identified that, when disrupted, impart large risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Current knowledge about the encoded proteins - although incomplete - points to a very wide range of developmentally dynamic and diverse biological processes. Moreover, the core symptoms of ASD involve distinctly human characteristics, presenting challenges to interpreting evolutionarily distant model systems. Indeed, despite a decade of striking progress in gene discovery, an actionable understanding of pathobiology remains elusive. Increasingly, convergent neuroscience approaches have been recognized as an important complement to traditional uses of genetics to illuminate the biology of human disorders. These methods seek to identify intersection among molecular-level, cellular-level and circuit-level functions across multiple risk genes and have highlighted developing excitatory neurons in the human mid-gestational prefrontal cortex as an important pathobiological nexus in ASD. In addition, neurogenesis, chromatin modification and synaptic function have emerged as key potential mediators of genetic vulnerability. The continued expansion of foundational 'omics' data sets, the application of higher-throughput model systems and incorporating developmental trajectories and sex differences into future analyses will refine and extend these results. Ultimately, a systems-level understanding of ASD genetic risk holds promise for clarifying pathobiology and advancing therapeutics.

Autism risk gene POGZ promotes chromatin accessibility and expression of clustered synaptic genes.

Deleterious genetic variants in POGZ, which encodes the chromatin regulator Pogo Transposable Element with ZNF Domain protein, are strongly associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although it is a high-confidence ASD risk gene, the neurodevelopmental functions of POGZ remain unclear. Here we reveal the genomic binding of POGZ in the developing forebrain at euchromatic loci and gene regulatory elements (REs). We profile chromatin accessibility and gene expression in Pogz-/- mice and show that POGZ promotes the active chromatin state and transcription of clustered synaptic genes. We further demonstrate that POGZ forms a nuclear complex and co-occupies loci with ADNP, another high-confidence ASD risk gene, and provide evidence that POGZ regulates other neurodevelopmental disorder risk genes as well. Our results reveal a neurodevelopmental function of an ASD risk gene and identify molecular targets that may elucidate its function in ASD.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Genetics and the Search for Pathological Mechanisms.

Recent progress in the identification of genes and genomic regions contributing to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has had a broad impact on our understanding of the nature of genetic risk for a range of psychiatric disorders, on our understanding of ASD biology, and on defining the key challenges now facing the field in efforts to translate gene discovery into an actionable understanding of pathology. While these advances have not yet had a transformative impact on clinical practice, there is nonetheless cause for real optimism: reliable lists of risk genes are large and growing rapidly; the identified encoded proteins have already begun to point to a relatively small number of areas of biology, where parallel advances in neuroscience and functional genomics are yielding profound insights; there is strong evidence pointing to mid-fetal prefrontal cortical development as one nexus of vulnerability for some of the largest-effect ASD risk genes; and there are multiple plausible paths forward toward rational therapeutics development that, while admittedly challenging, constitute fundamental departures from what was possible prior to the era of successful gene discovery.

Parallel in vivo analysis of large-effect autism genes implicates cortical neurogenesis and estrogen in risk and resilience.

Gene Ontology analyses of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) risk genes have repeatedly highlighted synaptic function and transcriptional regulation as key points of convergence. However, these analyses rely on incomplete knowledge of gene function across brain development. Here we leverage Xenopus tropicalis to study in vivo ten genes with the strongest statistical evidence for association with ASD. All genes are expressed in developing telencephalon at time points mapping to human mid-prenatal development, and mutations lead to an increase in the ratio of neural progenitor cells to maturing neurons, supporting previous in silico systems biological findings implicating cortical neurons in ASD vulnerability, but expanding the range of convergent functions to include neurogenesis. Systematic chemical screening identifies that estrogen, via Sonic hedgehog signaling, rescues this convergent phenotype in Xenopus and human models of brain development, suggesting a resilience factor that may mitigate a range of ASD genetic risks.

Leveraging large genomic datasets to illuminate the pathobiology of autism spectrum disorders.

"Big data" approaches in the form of large-scale human genomic studies have led to striking advances in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) genetics. Similar to many other psychiatric syndromes, advances in genotyping technology, allowing for inexpensive genome-wide assays, has confirmed the contribution of polygenic inheritance involving common alleles of small effect, a handful of which have now been definitively identified. However, the past decade of gene discovery in ASD has been most notable for the application, in large family-based cohorts, of high-density microarray studies of submicroscopic chromosomal structure as well as high-throughput DNA sequencing-leading to the identification of an increasingly long list of risk regions and genes disrupted by rare, de novo germline mutations of large effect. This genomic architecture offers particular advantages for the illumination of biological mechanisms but also presents distinctive challenges. While the tremendous locus heterogeneity and functional pleiotropy associated with the more than 100 identified ASD-risk genes and regions is daunting, a growing armamentarium of comprehensive, large, foundational -omics databases, across species and capturing developmental trajectories, are increasingly contributing to a deeper understanding of ASD pathology.

A Chromatin Accessibility Atlas of the Developing Human Telencephalon.

To discover regulatory elements driving the specificity of gene expression in different cell types and regions of the developing human brain, we generated an atlas of open chromatin from nine dissected regions of the mid-gestation human telencephalon, as well as microdissected upper and deep layers of the prefrontal cortex. We identified a subset of open chromatin regions (OCRs), termed predicted regulatory elements (pREs), that are likely to function as developmental brain enhancers. pREs showed temporal, regional, and laminar differences in chromatin accessibility and were correlated with gene expression differences across regions and gestational ages. We identified two functional de novo variants in a pRE for autism risk gene SLC6A1, and using CRISPRa, demonstrated that this pRE regulates SCL6A1. Additionally, mouse transgenic experiments validated enhancer activity for pREs proximal to FEZF2 and BCL11A. Thus, this atlas serves as a resource for decoding neurodevelopmental gene regulation in health and disease.

The neurodevelopmental disorder risk gene DYRK1A is required for ciliogenesis and control of brain size in Xenopus embryos.

DYRK1A [dual specificity tyrosine-(Y)-phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1 A] is a high-confidence autism risk gene that encodes a conserved kinase. In addition to autism, individuals with putative loss-of-function variants in DYRK1A exhibit microcephaly, intellectual disability, developmental delay and/or congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract. DYRK1A is also located within the critical region for Down syndrome; therefore, understanding the role of DYRK1A in brain development is crucial for understanding the pathobiology of multiple developmental disorders. To characterize the function of this gene, we used the diploid frog Xenopus tropicalis We discover that Dyrk1a is expressed in ciliated tissues, localizes to ciliary axonemes and basal bodies, and is required for ciliogenesis. We also demonstrate that Dyrk1a localizes to mitotic spindles and that its inhibition leads to decreased forebrain size, abnormal cell cycle progression and cell death during brain development. These findings provide hypotheses about potential mechanisms of pathobiology and underscore the utility of X. tropicalis as a model system for understanding neurodevelopmental disorders.

Enhancing WNT Signaling Restores Cortical Neuronal Spine Maturation and Synaptogenesis in Tbr1 Mutants.

Tbr1 is a high-confidence autism spectrum disorder (ASD) gene encoding a transcription factor with distinct pre- and postnatal functions. Postnatally, Tbr1 conditional knockout (CKO) mutants and constitutive heterozygotes have immature dendritic spines and reduced synaptic density. Tbr1 regulates expression of several genes that underlie synaptic defects, including a kinesin (Kif1a) and a WNT-signaling ligand (Wnt7b). Furthermore, Tbr1 mutant corticothalamic neurons have reduced thalamic axonal arborization. LiCl and a GSK3ß inhibitor, two WNT-signaling agonists, robustly rescue the dendritic spines and the synaptic and axonal defects, suggesting that this could have relevance for therapeutic approaches in some forms of ASD.

Whole-Genome and RNA Sequencing Reveal Variation and Transcriptomic Coordination in the Developing Human Prefrontal Cortex.

Gene expression levels vary across developmental stage, cell type, and region in the brain. Genomic variants also contribute to the variation in expression, and some neuropsychiatric disorder loci may exert their effects through this mechanism. To investigate these relationships, we present BrainVar, a unique resource of paired whole-genome and bulk tissue RNA sequencing from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of 176 individuals across prenatal and postnatal development. Here we identify common variants that alter gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci [eQTLs]) constantly across development or predominantly during prenatal or postnatal stages. Both "constant" and "temporal-predominant" eQTLs are enriched for loci associated with neuropsychiatric traits and disorders and colocalize with specific variants. Expression levels of more than 12,000 genes rise or fall in a concerted late-fetal transition, with the transitional genes enriched for cell-type-specific genes and neuropsychiatric risk loci, underscoring the importance of cataloging developmental trajectories in understanding cortical physiology and pathology.

Large-Scale Exome Sequencing Study Implicates Both Developmental and Functional Changes in the Neurobiology of Autism.

We present the largest exome sequencing study of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to date (n = 35,584 total samples, 11,986 with ASD). Using an enhanced analytical framework to integrate de novo and case-control rare variation, we identify 102 risk genes at a false discovery rate of 0.1 or less. Of these genes, 49 show higher frequencies of disruptive de novo variants in individuals ascertained to have severe neurodevelopmental delay, whereas 53 show higher frequencies in individuals ascertained to have ASD; comparing ASD cases with mutations in these groups reveals phenotypic differences. Expressed early in brain development, most risk genes have roles in regulation of gene expression or neuronal communication (i.e., mutations effect neurodevelopmental and neurophysiological changes), and 13 fall within loci recurrently hit by copy number variants. In cells from the human cortex, expression of risk genes is enriched in excitatory and inhibitory neuronal lineages, consistent with multiple paths to an excitatory-inhibitory imbalance underlying ASD.

Autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder is a construct used to describe individuals with a specific combination of impairments in social communication and repetitive behaviours, highly restricted interests and/or sensory behaviours beginning early in life. The worldwide prevalence of autism is just under 1%, but estimates are higher in high-income countries. Although gross brain pathology is not characteristic of autism, subtle anatomical and functional differences have been observed in post-mortem, neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies. Initially, it was hoped that accurate measurement of behavioural phenotypes would lead to specific genetic subtypes, but genetic findings have mainly applied to heterogeneous groups that are not specific to autism. Psychosocial interventions in children can improve specific behaviours, such as joint attention, language and social engagement, that may affect further development and could reduce symptom severity. However, further research is necessary to identify the long-term needs of people with autism, and treatments and the mechanisms behind them that could result in improved independence and quality of life over time. Families are often the major source of support for people with autism throughout much of life and need to be considered, along with the perspectives of autistic individuals, in both research and practice.