Journal Article

RNA splicing is a primary link between genetic variation and disease

van de Geijn, Bryce, Gilad, Yoav, Raj, Anil, Pritchard, Jonathan K., Li, Yang I., Petti, Allegra A., Knowles, David A., Golan, David

2016

Overview

Noncoding variants play a central role in the genetics of complex traits, but we still lack a full understanding of the molecular pathways through which they act. We quantified the contribution of cis-acting genetic effects at all major stages of gene regulation from chromatin to proteins, in Yoruba lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). About ~65% of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) have primary effects on chromatin, whereas the remaining eQTLs are enriched in transcribed regions. Using a novel method, we also detected 2893 splicing QTLs, most of which have little or no effect on gene-level expression. These splicing QTLs are major contributors to complex traits, roughly on a par with variants that affect gene expression levels. Our study provides a comprehensive view of the mechanisms linking genetic variation to variation in human gene regulation.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science,The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: Cell Line / Chromatin - metabolism / Coding / Disease / Gene Expression Regulation / Gene mapping / Genetic diversity / Genetic effects / Genetic variance / Genetic Variation / Genetics / Genome-Wide Association Study / Health risks / Humans / Immune System Diseases - genetics / Lymphocytes - immunology / Phenotype / Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Proteins / Quantitative Trait Loci / Ribonucleic acid / RNA / RNA Splicing - genetics