Allele-specific expression and high-throughput reporter assay reveal functional genetic variants associated with alcohol use disorders

Author:

Rao Xi,Thapa Kriti S.,Chen Andy B.ORCID,Lin Hai,Gao Hongyu,Reiter Jill L.,Hargreaves Katherine A.,Ipe Joseph,Lai DongbingORCID,Xuei Xiaoling,Wang Yue,Gu Hongmei,Kapoor Manav,Farris Sean P.,Tischfield Jay,Foroud Tatiana,Goate Alison M.ORCID,Skaar Todd C.,Mayfield R. Dayne,Edenberg Howard J.ORCID,Liu YunlongORCID

Abstract

AbstractGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) of complex traits, such as alcohol use disorders (AUD), usually identify variants in non-coding regions and cannot by themselves distinguish whether the associated variants are functional or in linkage disequilibrium with the functional variants. Transcriptome studies can identify genes whose expression differs between alcoholics and controls. To test which variants associated with AUD may cause expression differences, we integrated data from deep RNA-seq and GWAS of four postmortem brain regions from 30 subjects with AUD and 30 controls to analyze allele-specific expression (ASE). We identified 88 genes with differential ASE in subjects with AUD compared to controls. Next, to test one potential mechanism contributing to the differential ASE, we analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTR) of these genes. Of the 88 genes with differential ASE, 61 genes contained 437 SNPs in the 3′UTR with at least one heterozygote among the subjects studied. Using a modified PASSPORT-seq (parallel assessment of polymorphisms in miRNA target-sites by sequencing) assay, we identified 25 SNPs that affected RNA levels in a consistent manner in two neuroblastoma cell lines, SH-SY5Y and SK-N-BE(2). Many of these SNPs are in binding sites of miRNAs and RNA-binding proteins, indicating that these SNPs are likely causal variants of AUD-associated differential ASE. In sum, we demonstrate that a combination of computational and experimental approaches provides a powerful strategy to uncover functionally relevant variants associated with the risk for AUD.

Funder

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Subject

Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience,Psychiatry and Mental health,Molecular Biology

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