Population-scale tissue transcriptomics maps long non-coding RNAs to complex disease.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-13-2021

Identifier

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.050

Abstract

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes have well-established and important impacts on molecular and cellular functions. However, among the thousands of lncRNA genes, it is still a major challenge to identify the subset with disease or trait relevance. To systematically characterize these lncRNA genes, we used Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx) project v8 genetic and multi-tissue transcriptomic data to profile the expression, genetic regulation, cellular contexts, and trait associations of 14,100 lncRNA genes across 49 tissues for 101 distinct complex genetic traits. Using these approaches, we identified 1,432 lncRNA gene-trait associations, 800 of which were not explained by stronger effects of neighboring protein-coding genes. This included associations between lncRNA quantitative trait loci and inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and coronary artery disease, as well as rare variant associations to body mass index.

Journal Title

Cell

Volume

184

Issue

10

First Page

2633

Last Page

2648

Keywords

GTEx; co-expression; colocalization; complex trait; disease; eQTL; expression quantitative trait loci; lncRNA; long non-coding RNA

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