UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Combining a prioritization strategy and functional studies nominates 5’UTR variants underlying inherited retinal disease

Dueñas Rey, A; del Pozo Valero, M; Bouckaert, M; Wood, KA; Van den Broeck, F; Varela, MD; Thomas, HB; ... Coppieters, F; + view all (2024) Combining a prioritization strategy and functional studies nominates 5’UTR variants underlying inherited retinal disease. Genome Medicine , 16 (1) , Article 7. 10.1186/s13073-023-01277-1. Green open access

[thumbnail of s13073-023-01277-1.pdf]
Preview
PDF
s13073-023-01277-1.pdf - Published Version

Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: 5’ untranslated regions (5’UTRs) are essential modulators of protein translation. Predicting the impact of 5’UTR variants is challenging and rarely performed in routine diagnostics. Here, we present a combined approach of a comprehensive prioritization strategy and functional assays to evaluate 5’UTR variation in two large cohorts of patients with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). METHODS: We performed an isoform-level re-analysis of retinal RNA-seq data to identify the protein-coding transcripts of 378 IRD genes with highest expression in retina. We evaluated the coverage of their 5’UTRs by different whole exome sequencing (WES) kits. The selected 5’UTRs were analyzed in whole genome sequencing (WGS) and WES data from IRD sub-cohorts from the 100,000 Genomes Project (n = 2397 WGS) and an in-house database (n = 1682 WES), respectively. Identified variants were annotated for 5’UTR-relevant features and classified into seven categories based on their predicted functional consequence. We developed a variant prioritization strategy by integrating population frequency, specific criteria for each category, and family and phenotypic data. A selection of candidate variants underwent functional validation using diverse approaches. RESULTS: Isoform-level re-quantification of retinal gene expression revealed 76 IRD genes with a non-canonical retina-enriched isoform, of which 20 display a fully distinct 5’UTR compared to that of their canonical isoform. Depending on the probe design, 3–20% of IRD genes have 5’UTRs fully captured by WES. After analyzing these regions in both cohorts, we prioritized 11 (likely) pathogenic variants in 10 genes (ARL3, MERTK, NDP, NMNAT1, NPHP4, PAX6, PRPF31, PRPF4, RDH12, RD3), of which 7 were novel. Functional analyses further supported the pathogenicity of three variants. Mis-splicing was demonstrated for the PRPF31:c.-9+1G>T variant. The MERTK:c.-125G>A variant, overlapping a transcriptional start site, was shown to significantly reduce both luciferase mRNA levels and activity. The RDH12:c.-123C>T variant was found in cis with the hypomorphic RDH12:c.701G>A (p.Arg234His) variant in 11 patients. This 5’UTR variant, predicted to introduce an upstream open reading frame, was shown to result in reduced RDH12 protein but unaltered mRNA levels. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the importance of 5’UTR variants implicated in IRDs and provides a systematic approach for 5’UTR annotation and validation that is applicable to other inherited diseases.

Type: Article
Title: Combining a prioritization strategy and functional studies nominates 5’UTR variants underlying inherited retinal disease
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/s13073-023-01277-1
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13073-023-01277-1
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2024, corrected publication 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: 5’untranslated region (5’UTR), Upstream open reading frame (uORF), Non-coding variation, Whole genome sequencing (WGS), Whole exome sequencing (WES), In silico prioritization, Variant interpretation, Functional studies, Inherited retinal disease (IRD)
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Institute of Ophthalmology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186119
Downloads since deposit
13Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item