Scientists identified new risk genes for Neuro-degenerative disorders
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Neurodegenerative dementias such as AD and PSP are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
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Authors used massively parallel reporter assays to screen noncoding variants reported in genome-wide association studies of two neurodegenerative disorders
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They used MPRA coupled with CRISPR-based validation to identify causal genetic variants underlying 2 neurodegenerative conditions- Alzheimers and progressive supranuclear palsy.
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They tested the transcriptional regulatory activity of 5706 noncoding single-nucleotide variants, representing 25 significant loci associated with AD and 9 loci associated with PSP.
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Identified 320 different functional regulatory variants (frVars) that affect gene expression within 27 of these loci.
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AD frVars were enriched within microglial enhancers, whereas PSP frVars were enriched within neuronal enhancers
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They also identified and validated multiple risk loci using CRISPR interference/excision, including complement 4 (C4A) and APOC1 in AD and PLEKHM1 and KANSL1 in PSP.
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These analyses support a mechanism underlying noncoding genetic risk, whereby common genetic variants drive disease risk in aggregate through polygenic cell type specific regulatory effects.
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Reference: Functional regulatory variants implicate distinct transcriptional networks in dementia.
By Yonatan A. Cooper Noam Teyssier et al Science 2022