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Inverted triplications formed by iterative template switches generate structural variant diversity at genomic disorder loci.

The duplication-triplication/inverted-duplication (DUP-TRP/INV-DUP) structure is a complex genomic rearrangement (CGR). Although it has been identified as an important pathogenic DNA mutation signature in genomic disorders and cancer genomes, its architecture remains unresolved. Here, we studied the genomic architecture of DUP-TRP/INV-DUP by investigating the DNA of 24 patients identified by array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) on whom we found evidence for the existence of 4 out of 4 predicted structural variant (SV) haplotypes. Using a combination of short-read genome sequencing (GS), long-read GS, optical genome mapping, and single-cell DNA template strand sequencing (strand-seq), the haplotype structure was resolved in 18 samples. The point of template switching in 4 samples was shown to be a segment of ∼2.2-5.5 kb of 100% nucleotide similarity within inverted repeat pairs. These data provide experimental evidence that inverted low-copy repeats act as recombinant substrates. This type of CGR can result in multiple conformers generating diverse SV haplotypes in susceptible dosage-sensitive loci.

Humans↗

The activity of 25 paroxetine/femoxetine structure variants in various reactions, assumed to be important for the effect of antidepressants.

Structure-activity relationships for 25 structural variants around the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) uptake inhibitors paroxetine and femoxetine have been investigated. Three parameters related to the 5-HT system were investigated: (i) The inhibition of [3H]5-HT uptake into rat brain synaptosomes, (ii) the inhibition of [3H]paroxetine binding to rat neuronal membranes and (iii) the effect of the compounds on the affinity of [3H]imipramine for the human platelet membrane binding site, measured as the dissociation rate of the [3H]imipramine human platelet membrane binding site complex. A highly significant correlation was found for 5-HT uptake inhibition and inhibition of [3H]paroxetine binding for the different substances, indicating that the two parameters are closely connected. However the slope of the regression line was only 0.6 and not 1.0; this may indicate that [3H]paroxetine binding is necessary, but not sufficient for 5-HT uptake inhibition. No correlation was found between the inhibition of [3H]paroxetine binding and the affinity of the compounds for the [3H]imipramine binding site complex. The two binding sites are therefore probably situated on different parts of the 5-HT transport system, the [3H]paroxetine binding site being part of the 5-HT transport mechanism whereas the [3H]imipramine binding site may represent a site modulating the activity of, and affinity for, 5-HT in the 5-HT transport mechanism. Structure-activity relationships among the substances showed that stereochemical changes from (-)- to (+)-trans changed the activity towards both 5-HT uptake inhibition and [3H]paroxetine displacement for most of the (-)-/(+)-pairs. The substitution of -H with -F or -CH3 also affected the activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Structural variants of the alpha-fetoprotein gene in different inbred strains of rat.

Two structural variants of the rat alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) gene have been detected in different inbred strains of rats by EcoRI or HindIII restriction enzyme cleavage of cellular DNA, agarose gel electrophoresis and Southern blot hybridization using 32P-labeled cloned rat AFP cDNA probes. The type I AFP gene variant is characteristic of the Sprague-Dawley strain, and type II is found in Buffalo rats. These variants appear to represent two different allelic forms of the rat AFP gene since they are inherited in a normal Mendelian fashion when Sprague-Dawley and Buffalo rats are crossed. The mapping results suggest that the two allelic variants differ from each other by multiple cleavage site variations (base pair substitutions) and by an insertion or deletion of DNA sequences. An extensive sequence variation appears to exist between the two forms of the rat AFP gene; we have estimated that as much as 2.7% of the nucleotides in this region vary between the two alleles.

Animals↗

Comprehensive benchmarking of somatic structural variant detection at ultra-low allele fractions.

Postzygotic mosaicism gives rise to somatic structural variants (SVs) at ultra-low variant allele fractions (VAFs), which pose challenges for detection due to the high-coverage sequencing required and noise introduced by sequencing artifacts. Although somatic SV detection has been extensively studied in cancer, these studies are not directly applicable to the study of tissue mosaicism, as they rely on matched normals, target higher VAF ranges, and are enriched for different types of SVs. We present comprehensive benchmark data and best practices for non-cancer somatic SV detection. We created a synthetic mosaic sample by combining six HapMap individuals at varying proportions, generating allele fractions as low as 0.25%. This sample was sequenced to ~2,300x total coverage using Illumina, PacBio, and Nanopore technologies across multiple sequencing centers. A high-confidence benchmark SV set containing over 21,000 pseudo-somatic insertions and deletions ≥50bp was derived from haplotype-resolved assemblies. We evaluated 12 SV discovery pipelines and identified caller-specific strengths and sequencing platform-specific shortcomings. We find that short read-based approaches show reduced recall for insertions and repeat-associated SVs, whereas long-read sequencing achieves high accuracy throughout the genome, increasing linearly with coverage. The best algorithm's sensitivity exceeded 80% for VAFs ≥4% and 15% for VAFs of 0.5-1% with 60x coverage. The publicly available benchmarking data and comparative analysis of current methods provide a foundation for robust discovery of SV mosaicism in non-cancer tissues..

Journal Article↗

Structural variants of chromosome 9: a possible association with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.

We report two cases of structural variations of chromosome 9 associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and azoospermia in adolescent boys. One patient also had a partially imperforated urethral meatus. Histological examination revealed that both had hypotrophic and underdeveloped testes. There was no LH and FSH response to LH-RH stimulation nor was there any response to naloxone tests. Basal and HCG stimulated plasma testosterone values were below normal prepubertal levels. As the administration of gonadotrophins did not improve the clinical and hormonal findings, alternative androgen therapy was necessary to achieve secondary sexual characteristics. Although they reached a good level of androgenization, their testes were still very small and azoospermia remained, as confirmed by repeated semen analyses. A possible association between chromosome 9 polymorphisms and hypothalamo-pituitary axis abnormalities is suggested. It is hypothesized that structural variants of chromosome 9 are not unrelated occurrences. Furthermore, and in view of the fact that they can lead to a high risk of azoospermia and infertility, such variants call for clinical investigation.

Child↗

Improving long-read somatic structural variant calling with pangenome and de novo personal genome assembly.

Accurate detection of mosaic and somatic structural variants (SVs) provides early diagnostic and therapeutic evidence for cancers. While long-read whole-genome sequencing leads to more accurate SV detection than short read sequencing, existing long-read SV callers only look at alignment against a single reference genome and are susceptible to systematic false discovery caused by germline differences between the individual genome and the reference genome. Here we develop a new SV filtering method that jointly considers the alignment against a pangenome and the de novo assembly of the germline genome. It dramatically reduces false positive mosaic and somatic SVs in cancer cell lines with little loss in sensitivity for existing long read SV callers. Our study highlights the essential need for pangenome or personal genome assembly to integrate SV calls for both SV discoveries and clinical diagnostics.

Journal Article↗

Structural variants linked to Alzheimer's disease and other common age-related clinical and neuropathologic traits.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder with substantial genetic influence. While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous risk loci for late-onset AD (LOAD), the functional mechanisms underlying most of these associations remain unresolved. Large genomic rearrangements, known as structural variants (SVs), represent a promising avenue for elucidating such mechanisms within some of these loci. METHODS: By leveraging data from two ongoing cohort studies of aging and dementia, the Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROS/MAP), we performed genome-wide association analysis testing 20,205 common SVs from 1088 participants with whole genome sequencing (WGS) data. A range of Alzheimer's disease and other common age-related clinical and neuropathologic traits were examined. RESULTS: First, we mapped SVs across 81 AD risk loci and discovered 22 SVs in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with GWAS lead variants and directly associated with the phenotypes tested. The strongest association was a deletion of an Alu element in the 3'UTR of the TMEM106B gene, in high LD with the respective AD GWAS locus and associated with multiple AD and AD-related disorders (ADRD) phenotypes, including tangles density, TDP-43, and cognitive resilience. The deletion of this element was also linked to lower TMEM106B protein abundance. We also found a 22-kb deletion associated with depression in ROS/MAP and bearing similar association patterns as GWAS SNPs at the IQCK locus. In addition, we leveraged our catalog of SV-GWAS to replicate and characterize independent findings in SV-based GWAS for AD and five other neurodegenerative diseases. Among these findings, we highlight the replication of genome-wide significant SVs for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), including markers for the 17q21.31 MAPT locus inversion and a 1483-bp deletion at the CYP2A13 locus, along with other suggestive associations, such as a 994-bp duplication in the LMNTD1 locus, suggestively linked to AD and a 3958-bp deletion at the DOCK5 locus linked to Lewy body disease (LBD) (P = 3.36 × 10-4). CONCLUSIONS: While still limited in sample size, this study highlights the utility of including analysis of SVs for elucidating mechanisms underlying GWAS loci and provides a valuable resource for the characterization of the effects of SVs in neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis.

Humans↗

Regulation of cellular interactions with laminin by integrin cytoplasmic domains: the A and B structural variants of the alpha 6 beta 1 integrin differentially modulate the adhesive strength, morphology, and migration of macrophages.

Several integrin alpha subunits have structural variants that are identical in their extracellular and transmembrane domains but that differ in their cytoplasmic domains. The functional significance of these variants, however, is unknown. In the present study, we examined the possibility that the A and B variants of the alpha 6 beta 1 integrin laminin receptor differ in function. For this purpose, we expressed the alpha 6A and alpha 6B cDNAs, as well as a truncated alpha 6 cDNA (alpha 6-delta CYT) in which the cytoplasmic domain sequence was deleted after the GFFKR pentapeptide, in P388D1 cells, an alpha 6 deficient macrophage cell line. Populations of stable alpha 6A, alpha 6B, and alpha 6-delta CYT transfectants that expressed equivalent levels of cell surface alpha 6 were obtained by fluorescence-activated cell sorter and shown to form heterodimers with endogenous beta 1 subunits. Upon attachment to laminin, the alpha 6A transfectants extended numerous pseudopodia. In contrast, the alpha 6B transfectants remained rounded and extended few processes. The transfectants were also examined for their ability to migrate toward a laminin substratum using Transwell chambers. The alpha 6A transfectants were three- to fourfold more migratory than the alpha 6B transfectants. The alpha 6-delta CYT transfectants did not attach to laminin in normal culture medium, but they did attach in the presence of Mn2+. The alpha 6-delta CYT transfectants migrated to a lesser extent than either the alpha 6A or alpha 6B transfectants in the presence of Mn2+. The alpha 6 transfectants differed significantly in the concentration of substratum bound laminin required for half-maximal adhesion in the presence of Mn2+:alpha 6A (2.1 micrograms/ml), alpha 6B (6.3 micrograms/ml), and alpha 6-delta CYT (8.8 micrograms/ml). Divalent cation titration studies revealed that these transfectants also differed significantly in both the [Ca2+] and [Mn2+] required to obtain half-maximal adhesion to laminin. These data demonstrate that the A and B variants of the alpha 6 cytoplasmic domain can differentially modulate the function of the alpha 6 beta 1 extracellular domain.

Animals↗

Chromosome-scale genome remodeling in tumor evolution: Copy number alterations and structural variants as two sides of the same coin.

Chromosome-scale genomic rearrangements are a dominant force in tumor evolution. Copy-number alterations (CNAs) and structural variants (SVs) constitute two complementary axes of this process. Although detection technologies now deliver near-comprehensive catalogs, technical resolution has outpaced conceptual integration. In this review, we frame CNAs and SVs as inextricable facets of chromosomal aberrations. They reshape cancer genomes through altered gene dosage and three-dimensional regulatory rewiring. CNAs quantify the gene-dosage imbalance, yet arise through mechanistically distinct routes. Segmental CNAs typically require chromosomal breakage, and therefore often coincide with SV junctions. By contrast, whole-chromosome aneuploidy and whole-genome doubling (WGD) primarily reflect mitotic or cytokinetic failure and can occur without local breakpoints, while nevertheless reshaping the karyotypic landscape and seeding subsequent structural complexity. SVs, in turn, range from unbalanced events that alter copy number to ostensibly balanced exchanges that predominantly rewire regulatory architecture. Despite their diverse and sometimes catastrophic architectures, SVs are ultimately rooted in double-strand break formation and error-prone resolution. By integrating CNAs and SVs within a unified mechanistic and functional framework, we aim to convert catalogs into concepts and distill the organizing principles that govern tumor genome evolution.

Humans↗

[Structural variants in hemoglobin occurring in the Czech Republic].

The authors present a review of clinical and laboratory findings of seven in the Czech Republic hitherto diagnosed structural haemoglobin variants. Unstable variants are found most frequently: Hb-Köln, Hb-St. Louis, Hb-Nottingham, Hb-E and Hb-Hradec Králové. The variant Hb-Hradec Králové (Hb-HK) or alpha 2 beta 2 115 (G17) Ala-Asp was newly detected. The great instability of Hb-HK chains makes classical diagnosis of Hb-pathy impossible. It was possible to identify it only at a molecular genetic level. A manifestation of Hb-HK instability is also the thalassaemic feature of the disease and the formation of Heinz bodies from free chains. The only representative of haemoglobins with a high oxygen affinity identified in this country was newly detected. It was given the name Hb-Olomouc or alpha 2 beta 2 86 (F2) Ala-Asp. This haemoglobin variant leads to erythrocytosis in father and son and the same clinical manifestations were recently described also in Japan. The last structural variant of haemoglobin found in this country is Hb-M Milwaukee or alpha 2 beta 2 67 (E11) Val-Glu which in our patients is manifested rather by haemolysis with formation of Heinz bodies than classical cyanosis. The cause of instability of Hb-M in our patients is not known. Hb-S was not diagnosed so far in the Czech Republic.

Adolescent↗

De novo structural variants in autism spectrum disorder disrupt distal regulatory interactions of neuronal genes.

Three-dimensional genome organization plays a critical role in gene regulation, and disruptions can lead to developmental disorders by altering the contact between genes and their distal regulatory elements. Structural variants (SVs) can disturb local genome organization, such as the merging of topologically associating domains upon boundary deletion. Testing large numbers of SVs experimentally for their effects on chromatin structure and gene expression is time and cost prohibitive. To address this, we propose a computational approach to predict SV impacts on genome folding, which can help prioritize causal hypotheses for functional testing. We develop a weighted scoring method that measures chromatin contact changes specifically affecting regions of interest, such as regulatory elements or promoters, and implement it in the SuPreMo-Akita software. With this tool, we rank hundreds of de novo SVs (dnSVs) from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) individuals and their unaffected siblings based on predicted disruptions to nearby neuronal regulatory interactions. This reveals that putative cis-regulatory element interactions (CREints) are more disrupted by dnSVs from ASD probands versus unaffected siblings. We prioritize candidate variants that disrupt ASD CREints and validate our top-ranked locus using isogenic excitatory neurons with and without the dnSV, confirming accurate predictions of disrupted chromatin contacts. This study suggests that disrupted genome folding is a potential genetic mechanism in a subset of ASD cases and provides a general strategy for prioritizing variants predicted to disrupt regulatory interactions across tissues.

Humans↗

De novo structural variants in autism spectrum disorder disrupt distal regulatory interactions of neuronal genes.

Three-dimensional genome organization plays a critical role in gene regulation, and disruptions can lead to developmental disorders by altering the contact between genes and their distal regulatory elements. Structural variants (SVs) can disturb local genome organization, such as the merging of topologically associating domains upon boundary deletion. Testing large numbers of SVs experimentally for their effects on chromatin structure and gene expression is time and cost prohibitive. To address this, we propose a computational approach to predict SV impacts on genome folding, which can help prioritize causal hypotheses for functional testing. We developed a weighted scoring method that measures chromatin contact changes specifically affecting regions of interest, such as regulatory elements or promoters, and implemented it in the SuPreMo-Akita software (Gjoni and Pollard 2024). With this tool, we ranked hundreds of de novo SVs (dnSVs) from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) individuals and their unaffected siblings based on predicted disruptions to nearby neuronal regulatory interactions. This revealed that putative cis-regulatory element interactions (CREints) are more disrupted by dnSVs from ASD probands versus unaffected siblings. We prioritized candidate variants that disrupt ASD CREints and validated our top-ranked locus using isogenic excitatory neurons with and without the dnSV, confirming accurate predictions of disrupted chromatin contacts. This study establishes disrupted genome folding as a potential genetic mechanism in ASD and provides a general strategy for prioritizing variants predicted to disrupt regulatory interactions across tissues.

Journal Article↗

Three new structural variants of fetal hemoglobin: Hb F-Campinas [Agamma g121(GH4)Glu --> Gln], Hb F-Paulinia [Ggamma 80(EF4)Asp --> Tyr] and Hb F-Joanopolis [Ggamma73(E17) Asp -->Ala].

Three new structural variants of fetal hemoglobin were detected in newborns during a neonatal screening for Hb S in the southeast of Brazil: Hb F-Campinas [AgammaI121 (GH4)Glu --> Gln], Hb F-Paulinia [Ggamma80(EF4)Asp -->Tyr] and Hb F-Joanopolis [Ggamma73(E17) Asp -->Ala]. These variants were not related to clinical abnormalities

Adult↗

Structure and function of conjugative pili: monoclonal antibodies as probes for structural variants of F pili.

The lac-tra operon fusion plasmid pTG801 contains the known F plasmid DNA transfer (tra) genes required by Escherichia coli to elaborate functional F pili (T. Grossman and P. M. Silverman, J. Bacteriol. 171:650-656, 1989). Here, we show that these pili are actually structural variants of normal F pili and that the F plasmid must contain additional genes that affect pilus structure and function. We confirmed a previous report that two monoclonal antibodies that recognize epitopes at and near the amino terminus of F pilin do not decorate the sides of normal F pili, as determined by immunogold electron microscopy. However, both antibodies laterally decorated pTG801 pili. The epitope for one of the antibodies has been shown to include the amino-terminal acetyl group of F pilin, which must therefore also be present on pTG801 pilin. Normal antibody staining was restored to pTG801 pili when cells contained, in addition to pTG801, the compatible plasmid pRS31, which must therefore include at least one gene affecting F-pilus structure. One candidate, traD, was excluded as the sole such gene, since traD+ derivatives of a pTG801 strain still elaborated pili that could be laterally decorated with antibody. Moreover, although traD alone restored RNA bacteriophage R17 infectivity to pTG801 cells, as expected, it did not mimic pRS31 in restoring to pTG801 pili other characteristics of normal F pili. We conclude that pRS31 contains as yet uncharacterized genes required for elaboration of structurally normal F pili. Finally, we identified vesicular material, especially abundant in cultures of pTG801 transformants, that stained heavily with the anti-F-pilin monoclonal antibodies. This material may reflect the inner membrane pool of F pilin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Human serum albumin and its structural variants mediate cholesterol efflux from cultured endothelial cells.

In the present study, we used the human EA.hy926 endothelial cell line as the model system to investigate the effect of human serum albumin (HSA) and its structural variants on cholesterol efflux. Initial studies showed that HSA promoted cholesterol efflux in a dose- and time-dependent manner, reaching a plateau at 10 mg/ml at 90 min. As a control, gelatin displayed no significant effect on efflux, while HSA was significantly more efficient than ovalbumin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) in promoting cholesterol efflux. Equal molar concentrations of HSA and apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) showed that apoA-I had considerably higher efficiency in efflux. However, the prevailing high plasma concentrations of HSA may compensate for its lower efflux rate compared to apoA-I. To characterize the mechanism of HSA-mediated cholesterol efflux, we studied the effects of cAMP and temperature on efflux using both EA.hy926 endothelial cells and murine RAW 264.7 macrophages. We found that HSA-mediated efflux occurred via a cAMP-independent and relatively temperature-insensitive pathway. We next examined the nature of HSA-cholesterol interaction by comparing the effects of various HSA mutants to wild-type HSA on cholesterol efflux. We found specific interactions between subdomains 2A and 3A and cholesterol, as indicated by the changes in the efflux rate of various HSA mutants. In conclusion, our study provides evidence for the role of HSA in cholesterol efflux, and shows that the substitution of specific amino acid residues in subdomains of 2A and 3A may be important structural determinants in its ability to bind to cholesterol and participate in cholesterol efflux.

Apolipoprotein A-I↗

Rate of turnover of structural variants in the rDNA gene family of Drosophila melanogaster.

A high degree of polymorphism for the length and copy number of rDNA spacers, in both the X and Y chromosome clusters, has been found in a wild population of Drosophila melanogaster. The genetic behaviour of rDNA structural variants in separate and mixed populations derived from isofemale lines suggest that they are not subject to strong selection and are stable for over 1,000 generations. The high structural variability suggests an evolutionary rapid process of turnover in the family which could partly explain widespread sequence homogeneity (concerted evolution) of rDNA within a species.

Animals↗

[Characteristics and structural variants of human lumbar intervertebral disks].

By means of macro- and microscopical methods structure of 412 lumbar intervertebral discs (ID), obtained from 84 corpses of persons died at the age 16-90 years have been studied, as well as 30 macerated lumbar vertebra. During these periods the lumbar ID are formed by hyalin laminae and a connective tissue wall, surrounding the cavity. According to the tissue type, in the ID wall three main layers are differentiated. The external layer is determined as a fibrous ring, the middle one--as fibrous-cartilagenous and the internal one--as a chondromucoid ring. The three layers gradually and consequently turn one into another. According to manifestation degree of these layers, development of the internal layer and size of the cavity three main variants of the ID structure are nominated: intervertebral synarthrosis, intervertebral hemiarthrosis and intervertebral "diathrosis" (real articulations have not been revealed between the vertebral bodies). The occurrence rate of the ID structural variants revealed in the lumbar part of the spinal cord is demonstrated. Absence of chordal mucous in the cavity is specific for the ID during the age periods investigated. The role of the "nucleus" is performed by the internal layer of the ID wall, which possesses a system of processes and a forming peculiar pulpous complex, which ensures the ID adaptation to various changes in position of the vertebral locomotor segment. The pulpous complex is surrounded with a united fibrillar carcass of hyalin laminae and fibrous-cartilagenous ring; together with the carcass it forms an elastic layer between the vertebral bodies.

Adolescent↗