Publications (17) View all
-
Article: Common variation near CDKN1A, POLD3 and SHROOM2 influences colorectal cancer risk.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We performed a meta-analysis of five genome-wide association studies to identify common variants influencing colorectal cancer (CRC) risk comprising 8,682 cases and 9,649 controls. Replication analysis was performed in case-control sets totaling 21,096 cases and 19,555 controls. We identified three new CRC risk loci at 6p21 (rs1321311, near CDKN1A; P = 1.14 × 10(-10)), 11q13.4 (rs3824999, intronic to POLD3; P = 3.65 × 10(-10)) and Xp22.2 (rs5934683, near SHROOM2; P = 7.30 × 10(-10)) This brings the number of independent loci associated with CRC risk to 20 and provides further insight into the genetic architecture of inherited susceptibility to CRC.Nature Genetics 05/2012; 44(7):770-6. · 35.53 Impact Factor -
Article: Widespread signatures of recent selection linked to nucleosome positioning in the human lineage.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: In this study we investigated the strengths and modes of selection associated with nucleosome positioning in the human lineage through the comparison of interspecies and intraspecies rates of divergence. We identify significant evidence for both positive and negative selection linked to human nucleosome positioning for the first time, implicating a widespread and important role for DNA sequence in the location of well-positioned nucleosomes. Selection appears to be acting on particular base substitutions to maintain optimum GC compositions in core and linker regions, with, e.g., unexpectedly elevated rates of C→T substitutions during recent human evolution at linker regions 60-90 bp from the nucleosome dyad but significant depletion of the same substitutions within nucleosome core regions. These patterns are strikingly consistent with the known relationships between genomic sequence composition and nucleosome assembly. By stratifying nucleosomes according to the GC content of their genomic neighborhood, we also show that the strength and direction of selection detected is dictated by local GC content. Intriguingly these signatures of selection are not restricted to nucleosomes in close proximity to exons, suggesting the correct positioning of nucleosomes is not only important in and around coding regions. This analysis provides strong evidence that the genomic sequences associated with nucleosomes are not evolving neutrally, and suggests that underlying DNA sequence is an important factor in nucleosome positioning. Recent signatures of selection linked to genomic features as ubiquitous as the nucleosome have important implications for human genome evolution and disease.Genome Research 09/2011; 21(11):1777-87. · 13.61 Impact Factor -
Article: Fine-mapping of colorectal cancer susceptibility loci at 8q23.3, 16q22.1 and 19q13.11: refinement of association signals and use of in silico analysis to suggest functional variation and unexpected candidate target genes.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We have previously identified several colorectal cancer (CRC)-associated polymorphisms using genome-wide association (GWA) analysis. We sought to fine-map the location of the functional variants for three of these regions at 8q23.3 (EIF3H), 16q22.1 (CDH1/CDH3) and 19q13.11 (RHPN2). We genotyped two case-control sets at high density in the selected regions and used existing data from four other case-control sets, comprising a total of 9328 CRC cases and 10 480 controls. To improve marker density, we imputed genotypes from the 1000 Genomes Project and Hapmap3 data sets. All three regions contained smaller areas in which a cluster of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showed clearly stronger association signals than surrounding SNPs, allowing us to assign those areas as the most likely location of the disease-associated functional variant. Further fine-mapping within those areas was generally unhelpful in identifying the functional variation based on strengths of association. However, functional annotation suggested a relatively small number of functional SNPs, including some with potential regulatory function at 8q23.3 and 16q22.1 and a non-synonymous SNP in RPHN2. Interestingly, the expression quantitative trait locus browser showed a number of highly associated SNP alleles correlated with mRNA expression levels not of EIF3H and CDH1 or CDH3, but of UTP23 and ZFP90, respectively. In contrast, none of the top SNPs within these regions was associated with transcript levels at EIF3H, CDH1 or CDH3. Our post-GWA study highlights benefits of fine-mapping of common disease variants in combination with publicly available data sets. In addition, caution should be exercised when assigning functionality to candidate genes in regions discovered through GWA analysis.Human Molecular Genetics 07/2011; 20(14):2879-88. · 7.64 Impact Factor -
Article: Multiple common susceptibility variants near BMP pathway loci GREM1, BMP4, and BMP2 explain part of the missing heritability of colorectal cancer.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 14 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (tagSNPs) that are associated with the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), and several of these tagSNPs are near bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) pathway loci. The penalty of multiple testing implicit in GWAS increases the attraction of complementary approaches for disease gene discovery, including candidate gene- or pathway-based analyses. The strongest candidate loci for additional predisposition SNPs are arguably those already known both to have functional relevance and to be involved in disease risk. To investigate this proposition, we searched for novel CRC susceptibility variants close to the BMP pathway genes GREM1 (15q13.3), BMP4 (14q22.2), and BMP2 (20p12.3) using sample sets totalling 24,910 CRC cases and 26,275 controls. We identified new, independent CRC predisposition SNPs close to BMP4 (rs1957636, P = 3.93×10(-10)) and BMP2 (rs4813802, P = 4.65×10(-11)). Near GREM1, we found using fine-mapping that the previously-identified association between tagSNP rs4779584 and CRC actually resulted from two independent signals represented by rs16969681 (P = 5.33×10(-8)) and rs11632715 (P = 2.30×10(-10)). As low-penetrance predisposition variants become harder to identify-owing to small effect sizes and/or low risk allele frequencies-approaches based on informed candidate gene selection may become increasingly attractive. Our data emphasise that genetic fine-mapping studies can deconvolute associations that have arisen owing to independent correlation of a tagSNP with more than one functional SNP, thus explaining some of the apparently missing heritability of common diseases.PLoS Genetics 06/2011; 7(6):e1002105. · 8.69 Impact Factor -
Article: Sequencing illustrates the transcriptional response of Legionella pneumophila during infection and identifies seventy novel small non-coding RNAs.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Second generation sequencing has prompted a number of groups to re-interrogate the transcriptomes of several bacterial and archaeal species. One of the central findings has been the identification of complex networks of small non-coding RNAs that play central roles in transcriptional regulation in all growth conditions and for the pathogen's interaction with and survival within host cells. Legionella pneumophila is a gram-negative facultative intracellular human pathogen with a distinct biphasic lifestyle. One of its primary environmental hosts in the free-living amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii and its infection by L. pneumophila mimics that seen in human macrophages. Here we present analysis of strand specific sequencing of the transcriptional response of L. pneumophila during exponential and post-exponential broth growth and during the replicative and transmissive phase of infection inside A. castellanii. We extend previous microarray based studies as well as uncovering evidence of a complex regulatory architecture underpinned by numerous non-coding RNAs. Over seventy new non-coding RNAs could be identified; many of them appear to be strain specific and in configurations not previously reported. We discover a family of non-coding RNAs preferentially expressed during infection conditions and identify a second copy of 6S RNA in L. pneumophila. We show that the newly discovered putative 6S RNA as well as a number of other non-coding RNAs show evidence for antisense transcription. The nature and extent of the non-coding RNAs and their expression patterns suggests that these may well play central roles in the regulation of Legionella spp. specific traits and offer clues as to how L. pneumophila adapts to its intracellular niche. The expression profiles outlined in the study have been deposited into Genbank's Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database under the series accession GSE27232.PLoS ONE 01/2011; 6(3):e17570. · 4.09 Impact Factor
