jcbarret@broad.mit.edu

There is increasing evidence that genome-wide association (GWA) studies represent a powerful approach to the identification of genes involved in common human diseases. We describe a joint GWA study (using the Affymetrix GeneChip 500K Mapping Array Set) undertaken in the British population, which has examined approximately 2,000 individuals for each of 7 major diseases and a shared set of approximately 3,000 controls. Case-control comparisons identified 24 independent association signals at

Obesity is a serious international health problem that increases the risk of several common diseases. The genetic factors predisposing to obesity are poorly understood. A genome-wide search for type 2 diabetes–susceptibility genes identified a common variant in the FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) gene that predisposes to diabetes through an effect on body mass index (BMI). An additive association of the variant with BMI was replicated in 13 cohorts with 38,759 participants. The 16% of adults who are homozygous for the risk allele weighed about 3 kilograms more and had 1.67-fold increased odds of obesity when compared with those not inheriting a risk allele. This association was observed from age 7 years upward and reflects a specific increase in fat mass.

Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), the two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), affect over 2.5 million people of European ancestry with rising prevalence in other populations1. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and subsequent meta-analyses of CD and UC2,3 as separate phenotypes implicated previously unsuspected mechanisms, such as autophagy4, in pathogenesis and showed that some IBD loci are shared with other inflammatory diseases5. Here we expand knowledge of relevant pathways by undertaking a meta-analysis of CD and UC genome-wide association scans, with validation of significant findings in more than 75,000 cases and controls. We identify 71 new associations, for a total of 163 IBD loci that meet genome-wide significance thresholds. Most loci contribute to both phenotypes, and both directional and balancing selection effects are evident. Many IBD loci are also implicated in other immune-mediated disorders, most notably with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis. We also observe striking overlap between susceptibility loci for IBD and mycobacterial infection. Gene co-expression network analysis emphasizes this relationship, with pathways shared between host responses to mycobacteria and those predisposing to IBD.

Zebrafish have become a popular organism for the study of vertebrate gene function1,2. The virtually transparent embryos of this species, and the ability to accelerate genetic studies by gene knockdown or overexpression, have led to the widespread use of zebrafish in the detailed investigation of vertebrate gene function and increasingly, the study of human genetic disease3–5. However, for effective modelling of human genetic disease it is important to understand the extent to which zebrafish genes and gene structures are related to orthologous human genes. To examine this, we generated a high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome, made up of an overlapping set of completely sequenced large-insert clones that were ordered and oriented using a high-resolution high-density meiotic map. Detailed automatic and manual annotation provides evidence of more than 26,000 protein-coding genes6, the largest gene set of any vertebrate so far sequenced. Comparison to the human reference genome shows that approximately 70% of human genes have at least one obvious zebrafish orthologue. In addition, the high quality of this genome assembly provides a clearer understanding of key genomic features such as a unique repeat content, a scarcity of pseudogenes, an enrichment of zebrafish-specific genes on chromosome 4 and chromosomal regions that influence sex determination.

SummaryThe genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorder involves the interplay of common and rare variation and their impact on hundreds of genes. Using exome sequencing, analysis of rare coding variation in 3,871 autism cases and 9,937 ancestry-matched or parental controls implicates 22 autosomal genes at a false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05, and a set of 107 autosomal genes strongly enriched for those likely to affect risk (FDR < 0.30). These 107 genes, which show unusual evolutionary constraint against mutations, incur de novo loss-of-function mutations in over 5% of autistic subjects. Many of the genes implicated encode proteins for synaptic, transcriptional, and chromatin remodeling pathways. These include voltage-gated ion channels regulating propagation of action potentials, pacemaking, and excitability-transcription coupling, as well as histone-modifying enzymes and chromatin remodelers, prominently histone post-translational modifications involving lysine methylation/demethylation.

Several new risk factors for Crohn's disease have been identified in recent genome-wide association studies. To advance gene discovery further we have combined the data from three studies (a total of 3,230 cases and 4,829 controls) and performed replication in 3,664 independent cases with a mixture of population-based and family-based controls. The results strongly confirm 11 previously reported loci and provide genome-wide significant evidence for 21 new loci, including the regions containing STAT3, JAK2, ICOSLG, CDKAL1, and ITLN1. The expanded molecular understanding of the basis of disease offers promise for informed therapeutic development. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe first genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many common variants associated with complex diseases, and have rapidly expanded our knowledge of the genetic architecture of these traits. Progress in Crohn's disease (CD), a common idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with high heritability (λ s ∼ 20-35), has been especially striking, with recent GWAS publications increasing the number of confirmed associated loci from two to more than ten 1 . The results have identified new pathogenic mechanisms of IBD and promise to advance fundamentally our understanding of CD biology. These recent discoveries highlight, for instance, the key importance of autophagy and innate immunity 2-5 as determinants of the dysregulated host-bacterial interactions implicated in disease pathogenesis. Furthermore, genetic associations have been shown to be shared between CD and other auto-inflammatory conditions -for example, IL23R variants 6 are also associated with psoriasis 7 and ankylosing spondylitis 8 , and PTPN2 variants with type 1 diabetes 3,5 . As in other complex diseases, restricted sample sizes have resulted in early CD studies focusing on only the strongest effects, which turn out to explain only a fraction of the heritability of disease.We recently published three separate GWA scans for CD in European-derived populationsthe details of which are shown in Table 1 4,5,9 . Motivated by the need for larger datasets to improve power to detect loci of modest effect, we carried out a genome-wide meta-analysis from our three CD scans. These analyses, together with a replication study in an equivalently sized, independent panel, have enabled us to identify at genome-wide levels of significance 21 novel Crohn's disease susceptibility genes and loci. This brings the total number of independent loci conclusively associated with Crohn's disease to more than 30 and provides unprecedented insight into both CD pathogenesis as well as the general genetic architecture of a multifactorial disease. Results Meta-analysis of three genome-wide association scansThe combined GWAS study samples (Table 1) consisted of 3,230 cases and 4,829 controls, all of European descent. While the individual scans did identify new risk factors, they were only well-powered to discover common alleles with odds-ratios (ORs) a...

We undertook a meta-analysis of six Crohn's disease genome-wide association studies (GWAS) comprising 6,333 affected individuals (cases) and 15,056 controls and followed up the top association signals in 15,694 cases, 14,026 controls and 414 parent-offspring trios. We identified 30 new susceptibility loci meeting genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10⁻⁸). A series of in silico analyses highlighted particular genes within these loci and, together with manual curation, implicated functionally interesting candidate genes including SMAD3, ERAP2, IL10, IL2RA, TYK2, FUT2, DNMT3A, DENND1B, BACH2 and TAGAP. Combined with previously confirmed loci, these results identify 71 distinct loci with genome-wide significant evidence for association with Crohn's disease