Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-22-2024
Identifier
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44980-2; PMCID: PMC10803329
Abstract
Rare DNA alterations that cause heritable diseases are only partially resolvable by clinical next-generation sequencing due to the difficulty of detecting structural variation (SV) in all genomic contexts. Long-read, high fidelity genome sequencing (HiFi-GS) detects SVs with increased sensitivity and enables assembling personal and graph genomes. We leverage standard reference genomes, public assemblies (n = 94) and a large collection of HiFi-GS data from a rare disease program (Genomic Answers for Kids, GA4K, n = 574 assemblies) to build a graph genome representing a unified SV callset in GA4K, identify common variation and prioritize SVs that are more likely to cause genetic disease (MAF < 0.01). Using graphs, we obtain a higher level of reproducibility than the standard reference approach. We observe over 200,000 SV alleles unique to GA4K, including nearly 1000 rare variants that impact coding sequence. With improved specificity for rare SVs, we isolate 30 candidate SVs in phenotypically prioritized genes, including known disease SVs. We isolate a novel diagnostic SV in KMT2E, demonstrating use of personal assemblies coupled with pangenome graphs for rare disease genomics. The community may interrogate our pangenome with additional assemblies to discover new SVs within the allele frequency spectrum relevant to genetic diseases.
Journal Title
Nat Commun
Volume
15
Issue
1
First Page
657
Last Page
657
MeSH Keywords
Humans; Rare Diseases; Reproducibility of Results; Chromosome Mapping; Alleles; Genomics
Keywords
Rare Diseases; Reproducibility of Results; Chromosome Mapping; Alleles; Genomics
Recommended Citation
Groza C, Schwendinger-Schreck C, Cheung WA, et al. Pangenome graphs improve the analysis of structural variants in rare genetic diseases. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):657. Published 2024 Jan 22. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-44980-2
Comments
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Publisher's Link:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44980-2