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Genome-wide Rare Variant Score Associates With Morphological Subtypes of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Defining different genetic subtypes of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can help predict developmental outcomes. Based on minor physical and major congenital anomalies, we categorized 325 Canadian children with ASD into dysmorphic and non-dysmorphic subgroupings. We developed a method to calculate a genome-wide rare variant score (GRVS) from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data for each ASD proband. GRVS is a sum of the number of variants in morphology-associated coding and non-coding regions, weighted by their effect sizes. Probands with dysmorphic ASD had a significantly higher GRVS compared to those with non-dysmorphic ASD (P= 0.027). Using the polygenic transmission disequilibrium test, we observed an over-transmission of ASD-associated common variants in non-dysmorphic ASD probands (P= 2.9×10-3). We replicated our findings using 442 ASD probands that had accompanying morphology data in the Simons Simplex Collection. Our findings provide support for an alternative genomic classification of ASD subgroups using morphology data, which may inform intervention protocols.

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
EGAD00001008452 HiSeq X Five Illumina HiSeq 2000 112
Publications Citations
Genome-wide rare variant score associates with morphological subtypes of autism spectrum disorder.
Nat Commun 13: 2022 6463
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