Identification and Functional Assessment of Autism Susceptibility Genes

自闭症易感基因的鉴定和功能评估

• 批准号: 7338491
• 负责人: VERONICA J. VIELAND
• 金额: $ 20.77万
• 依托单位: RESEARCH INST NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSP
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-30 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7338491
• 关键词: autism; behavioral /social science research tag; behavioral genetics; biotechnology; cell line; developmental genetics; disease /disorder model; family genetics; genetic screening; genetic susceptibility; genetically modified animals; human genetic material tag; human tissue; in situ hybridization; laboratory mouse; linkage disequilibriums; linkage mapping; lymphoblast; mathematical model; neurogenesis; northern blottings; nucleic acid repetitive sequence; postmortem; single nucleotide polymorphism

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of serious neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in communication, abnormal social interactions, and rigid or repetitive interests and behaviors. Although there is strong evidence of an important genetic contribution to the cause of ASD, the isolation of specific causative genetic defects has been difficult. This project will use existing DMA and clinical data from the AGRE and NIMH repositories to search for ASD susceptibility genes. Aim 1 will focus on the analysis of genotype data using an alternative, Bayesian approach to linkage analysis, based on the posterior probability of linkage (PPL). This method was selected as the main analysis approach as it has been demonstrated to be far more effective in extracting accurate information from gene-mapping studies of heterogeneous disorders than any of the current model-based or model-free alternatives, greatly aiding the localization of susceptibility genes. Aim 2 will focus on fine linkage and linkage disequilibrium mapping of regions identified in Aim 1. PPL linkage peaks will initially be narrowed through 1-2 cM density microsatellite mapping, followed by very high density SNP mapping. SNP genotyping will be conducted using an inexpensive, robust, flexible and scalable genotyping system based on allele-specific ligation. An extension of the PPL that incorporates Linkage Disequilibrium (LD) will be used for LD mapping of candidate genes within the linkage peaks. Aim 3 will investigate whether associated haplotypes functionally alter the candidate genes using lymphoblastoid and post-mortem samples as well as in vitro neuronal cultures and mouse knock-ins to analyze developmentally relevant cell types. Upon completion of these experiments, it is likely that ASD-associated alleles for multiple genes will be identified. Through our extensive functional analysis, we will be able to demonstrate that some of the associated haplotypes functionally alter the associated genes, making them likely candidates for risk alleles and providing genetic evidence that these genes likely act as ASD susceptibility loci. The mouse models that will be generated for some of these associated haplotypes will provide a more amenable system for future developmental, behavioral and toxicology experiments. These accomplishments will lead to important translational research so that better diagnoses, treatments and preventions can be developed for ASD.

描述(申请人提供)：自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)是一组严重的神经发育障碍，特征是沟通障碍，社会互动异常，以及僵化或重复的兴趣和行为。虽然有强有力的证据表明ASD的病因中有重要的基因贡献，但分离特定的致病基因缺陷一直是困难的。该项目将使用来自AGRE和NIMH资料库的现有DMA和临床数据来搜索ASD易感基因。目标1将侧重于使用基于后验连锁概率(PPL)的另一种连锁分析的贝叶斯方法来分析基因型数据。这种方法被选为主要的分析方法，因为已经证明，它在从异质性疾病的基因图谱研究中提取准确信息方面比目前任何基于模型或非模型的替代方法都要有效得多，大大有助于易感基因的定位。目标2将侧重于对目标1中确定的区域进行精细连锁和连锁不平衡作图。PPL连锁峰最初将通过1-2 cM密度的微卫星作图来缩小，然后是极高密度的SNP作图。SNP基因分型将使用基于等位基因特异性连接的廉价、强大、灵活和可扩展的基因分型系统进行。包含连锁不平衡(LD)的PPL的扩展将用于连锁峰内候选基因的LD定位。目的3将使用淋巴母细胞和身体标本以及体外神经元培养和小鼠敲击来研究相关单倍型是否在功能上改变候选基因，以分析发育相关的细胞类型。在这些实验完成后，很可能会识别出多个基因的ASD相关等位基因。通过我们广泛的功能分析，我们将能够证明一些相关的单倍型在功能上改变了相关基因，使它们可能成为危险等位基因的候选者，并提供了这些基因可能作为ASD易感基因的遗传学证据。将为其中一些相关单倍型生成的小鼠模型将为未来的发育、行为和毒理学实验提供一个更容易接受的系统。这些成就将导致重要的转化性研究，以便为ASD开发更好的诊断、治疗和预防措施。