Homozygous loss-of-function variants in European cosmopolitan and isolate populations

Homozygous loss of function (HLOF) variants provide a valuable window on gene function in humans, as well as an inventory of the human genes that are not essential for survival and reproduction. All humans carry at least a few HLOF variants, but the exact number of inactivated genes that can be tolerated is currently unknown-as are the phenotypic effects of losing function for most human genes. Here, we make use of 1432 whole exome sequences from five European populations to expand the catalogue of known human HLOF mutations; after stringent filtering of variants in our dataset, we identify a total of 173 HLOF mutations, 76 (44%) of which have not been observed previously. We find that population isolates are particularly well suited to surveys of novel HLOF genes because individuals in such populations carry extensive runs of homozygosity, which we show are enriched for novel, rare HLOF variants. Further, we make use of extensive phenotypic data to show that most HLOFs, ascertained in population-based samples, appear to have little detectable effect on the phenotype. On the contrary, we document several genes directly implicated in disease that seem to tolerate HLOF variants. Overall HLOF genes are enriched for olfactory receptor function and are expressed in testes more often than expected, consistent with reduced purifying selection and incipient pseudogenisation.

Type: Other
Archiver: European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)

1 Dataset 2 Publications

Click on a Dataset ID in the table below to learn more, and to find out who to contact about access to these data

Dataset ID	Description	Technology	Samples
EGAD00001002715	Exome sequencing of isolate populations and Generation Scotland	Illumina HiSeq 2000	1027

Publications	Citations
Homozygous loss-of-function variants in European cosmopolitan and isolate populations. Kaiser VB, Svinti V, Prendergast JG, Chau YY, Campbell A, Patarcic I, Barroso I, Joshi PK, Hastie ND, Miljkovic A, Taylor MS, Generation Scotland, UK10K, Enroth S, Memari Y, Kolb-Kokocinski A, Wright AF, Gyllensten U, Durbin R, Rudan I, Campbell H, Polašek O, Johansson Å, Sauer S, Porteous DJ, Fraser RM, Drake C, Vitart V, Hayward C, Semple CA, Wilson JF. Hum Mol Genet 24: 2015 5464-5474	17
Flexible and scalable diagnostic filtering of genomic variants using G2P with Ensembl VEP. Thormann A, Halachev M, McLaren W, Moore DJ, Svinti V, Campbell A, Kerr SM, Tischkowitz M, Hunt SE, Dunlop MG, Hurles ME, Wright CF, Firth HV, Cunningham F, FitzPatrick DR. Nat Commun 10: 2019 2373	63

Publications

Citations

Homozygous loss-of-function variants in European cosmopolitan and isolate populations.
Kaiser VB, Svinti V, Prendergast JG, Chau YY, Campbell A, Patarcic I, Barroso I, Joshi PK, Hastie ND, Miljkovic A, Taylor MS, Generation Scotland, UK10K, Enroth S, Memari Y, Kolb-Kokocinski A, Wright AF, Gyllensten U, Durbin R, Rudan I, Campbell H, Polašek O, Johansson Å, Sauer S, Porteous DJ, Fraser RM, Drake C, Vitart V, Hayward C, Semple CA, Wilson JF. Hum Mol Genet 24: 2015 5464-5474

Flexible and scalable diagnostic filtering of genomic variants using G2P with Ensembl VEP.
Thormann A, Halachev M, McLaren W, Moore DJ, Svinti V, Campbell A, Kerr SM, Tischkowitz M, Hunt SE, Dunlop MG, Hurles ME, Wright CF, Firth HV, Cunningham F, FitzPatrick DR. Nat Commun 10: 2019 2373