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Salerno, W. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Salerno, W. J..

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Structural variation across 138,134 samples in the TOPMed consortium

Ever larger Structural Variant (SV) catalogs highlighting the diversity within and between populations help researchers better understand the links between SVs and disease. The identification of SVs from DNA sequence data is non-trivial and requires a balance between comprehensiveness and precision. Here we present a catalog of 355,667 SVs (59.34% novel) across autosomes and the X chromosome (50bp+) from 138,134 individuals in the diverse TOPMed consortium. We describe our methodologies for SV inference resulting in high variant quality and >90% allele concordance compared to long-read de-novo assemblies of well-characterized control samples. We demonstrate utility through significant associations between SVs and important various cardio-metabolic and hemotologic traits. We have identified 690 SV hotspots and deserts and those that potentially impact the regulation of medically relevant genes. This catalog characterizes SVs across multiple populations and will serve as a valuable tool to understand the impact of SV on disease development and progression.

genomics↗

Open-source mapping and variant calling for large-scale NGS data from original base-quality scores

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWStandardized genome informatics protocols minimize reprocessing costs and facilitate harmonization across studies if implemented in a transparent, accessible and reproducible manner. Here we define the OQFE protocol, a lossless read-mapping protocol that retains key features of existing NGS standard methods. We demonstrate that variants can be called directly from NovaSeq OQFE data without the need for base quality score recalibration and describe a large-scale variant calling protocol for OQFE data. The OQFE protocol is open-source and a containerized implementation is provided.

bioinformatics↗

SVCollector: Optimized sample selection for cost-efficient long-read population sequencing

An increasingly important scenario in population genetics is when a large cohort has been genotyped using a low-resolution approach (e.g. microarrays, exome capture, short-read WGS), from which a few individuals are selected for resequencing using a more comprehensive approach, especially long-read sequencing. The subset of individuals selected should ensure that the captured genetic diversity is fully representative and includes variants across all subpopulations. For example, human variation has historically been focused on individuals with European ancestry, but this represents a small fraction of the overall diversity. To address this goal, SVCollector (https://github.com/fritzsedlazeck/SVCollector) identifies the optimal subset of individuals for resequencing. SVCollector analyzes a population-level VCF file from a low resolution genotyping study. It then computes a ranked list of samples that maximizes the total number of variants present from a subset of a given size. To solve this optimization problem, SVCollector implements a fast greedy heuristic and an exact algorithm using integer linear programming. We apply SVCollector on simulated data, 2504 human genomes from the 1000 Genomes Project, and 3024 genomes from the 3K Rice Genomes Project and show the rankings it computes are more representative than widely used naive strategies. Notably, we show that when selecting an optimal subset of 100 samples in these two cohorts, SV-Collector identifies individuals from every subpopulation while naive methods yield an unbalanced selection. Finally, we show the number of variants present in cohorts of different sizes selected using this approach follows a power-law distribution that is naturally related to the population genetic concept of the allele frequency spectrum, allowing us to estimate the diversity present with increasing numbers of samples.

bioinformatics↗

Sparse Project VCF: efficient encoding of population genotype matrices

SummaryVariant Call Format (VCF), the prevailing representation for germline genotypes in population sequencing, suffers rapid size growth as larger cohorts are sequenced and more rare variants are discovered. We present Sparse Project VCF (spVCF), an evolution of VCF with judicious entropy reduction and run-length encoding, delivering >10X size reduction for modern studies with practically minimal information loss. spVCF interoperates with VCF efficiently, including tabix-based random access. Availability and ImplementationFreely available at github.com/mlin/spVCF Contactdna@mlin.net

bioinformatics↗

Whole exome sequencing and characterization of coding variation in 49,960 individuals in the UK Biobank

The UK Biobank is a prospective study of 502,543 individuals, combining extensive phenotypic and genotypic data with streamlined access for researchers around the world. Here we describe the first tranche of large-scale exome sequence data for 49,960 study participants, revealing approximately 4 million coding variants (of which ~98.4% have frequency < 1%). The data includes 231,631 predicted loss of function variants, a >10-fold increase compared to imputed sequence for the same participants. Nearly all genes (>97%) had [&ge;]1 predicted loss of function carrier, and most genes (>69%) had [&ge;]10 loss of function carriers. We illustrate the power of characterizing loss of function variation in this large population through association analyses across 1,741 phenotypes. In addition to replicating a range of established associations, we discover novel loss of function variants with large effects on disease traits, including PIEZO1 on varicose veins, COL6A1 on corneal resistance, MEPE on bone density, and IQGAP2 and GMPR on blood cell traits. We further demonstrate the value of exome sequencing by surveying the prevalence of pathogenic variants of clinical significance in this population, finding that 2% of the population has a medically actionable variant. Additionally, we leverage the phenotypic data to characterize the relationship between rare BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants and cancer risk. Exomes from the first 49,960 participants are now made accessible to the scientific community and highlight the promise offered by genomic sequencing in large-scale population-based studies.

genomics↗

Mapping and characterization of structural variation in 17,795 deeply sequenced human genomes

A key goal of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for human genetics studies is to interrogate all forms of variation, including single nucleotide variants (SNV), small insertion/deletion (indel) variants and structural variants (SV). However, tools and resources for the study of SV have lagged behind those for smaller variants. Here, we used a cloud-based pipeline to map and characterize SV in 17,795 deeply sequenced human genomes from common disease trait mapping studies. We publicly release site-frequency information to create the largest WGS-based SV resource to date. On average, individuals carry 2.9 rare SVs that alter coding regions, which affect the dosage or structure of 4.2 genes and account for 4.0-11.2% of rare high-impact coding alleles. Based on a computational model, we estimate that SVs account for 17.2% of rare alleles genome-wide whose predicted deleterious effects are equivalent to loss-of-function (LoF) coding alleles; ~90% of such SVs are non-coding deletions (mean 19.1 per genome). We report 158,991 ultra-rare SVs and show that ~2% of individuals carry ultra-rare megabase-scale SVs, nearly half of which are balanced and/or complex rearrangements. Finally, we exploit this resource to infer the dosage sensitivity of genes and non-coding elements, revealing strong trends related to regulatory element class, conservation and cell-type specificity. This work will help guide SV analysis and interpretation in the era of WGS.

genomics↗

GLnexus: joint variant calling for large cohort sequencing

As ever-larger cohorts of human genomes are collected in pursuit of genotype/phenotype associations, sequencing informatics must scale up to yield complete and accurate genotypes from vast raw datasets. Joint variant calling, a data processing step entailing simultaneous analysis of all participants sequenced, exhibits this scaling challenge acutely. We present GLnexus (GL, Genotype Likelihood), a system for joint variant calling designed to scale up to the largest foreseeable human cohorts. GLnexus combines scalable joint calling algorithms with a persistent database that grows efficiently as additional participants are sequenced. We validate GLnexus using 50,000 exomes to show it produces comparable or better results than existing methods, at a fraction of the computational cost with better scaling. We provide a standalone open-source version of GLnexus and a DNAnexus cloud-native deployment supporting very large projects, which has been employed for cohorts of >240,000 exomes and >22,000 whole-genomes.

bioinformatics↗

SVCollector: Optimized sample selection for validating and long-read resequencing of structural variants

SummaryStructural Variations (SVs) are increasingly recognized for their importance in genomics. Short-read sequencing is the most widely-used approach for genotyping large numbers of samples for SVs but suffers from relatively poor accuracy. Here we present SVCollector, an open-source method that optimally selects samples to maximize variant discovery and validation using long read resequencing or PCR-based validation. SVCollector has two modes: selecting those samples that are individually the most diverse or those that collectively capture the largest number of variations.\n\nAvailabilityhttps://github.com/fritzsedlazeck/SVCollector\n\nContactfritz.sedlazeck@bcm.edu\n\nSupplementary informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

bioinformatics↗

VCPA: genomic variant calling pipeline and data management tool for Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project

Summary: We report VCPA, our SNP/Indel Variant Calling Pipeline and data management tool used for analysis of whole genome and exome sequencing (WGS/WES) for the Alzheimers Disease Sequencing Project. VCPA consists of two independent but linkable components: pipeline and tracking database. The pipeline is coded in Workflow Description Language and is fully optimized for the Amazon elastic compute cloud environment. This includes steps for processing raw sequence reads including read alignment, and all the way up to variant calling using GATK. The tracking database allows users to dynamically view the statuses of jobs running and the quality metrics reported by the pipeline. Users can thus monitor the production process and diagnose if any problem arises during the procedure. All quality metrics (>100 collected per processed genome) are stored in the database, thus facilitating users to compare, share and visualize the results. To summarize, VCPA is functional equivalent to the CCDG/TOPMed pipeline. Together with the dockerized database (also available as Amazon Machine Image), users can easily process any WGS/WES data on Amazon cloud with minimal installation.\n\nAvailability: VCPA is released under the MIT license and is available for academic and nonprofit use for free. The pipeline source code and step-by-step instructions are available from the National Institute on Aging Genetics of Alzheimers Disease Data Storage Site (http://www.niagads.org/VCPA).\n\nContact: yyee@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or lswang@pennmedicine.upenn.edu\n\nSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

bioinformatics↗

Quality Control and Integration of Genotypes from Two Calling Pipelines for Whole Genome Sequence Data in the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project

The Alzheimers Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 584 subjects from 111 multiplex families at three sequencing centers. Genotype calling of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and insertion-deletion variants (indels) was performed centrally using GATK-HaplotypeCaller and Atlas V2. The ADSP Quality Control (QC) Working Group applied QC protocols to project-level variant call format files (VCFs) from each pipeline, and developed and implemented a novel protocol, termed \"consensus calling,\" to combine genotype calls from both pipelines into a single high-quality set. QC was applied to autosomal bi-allelic SNVs and indels, and included pipeline-recommended QC filters, variant-level QC, and sample-level QC. Low-quality variants or genotypes were excluded, and sample outliers were noted. Quality was assessed by examining Mendelian inconsistencies (MIs) among 67 parent-offspring pairs, and MIs were used to establish additional genotype-specific filters for GATK calls. After QC, 578 subjects remained. Pipeline-specific QC excluded ~12.0% of GATK and 14.5% of Atlas SNVs. Between pipelines, ~91% of SNV genotypes across all QCed variants were concordant; 4.23% and 4.56% of genotypes were exclusive to Atlas or GATK, respectively; the remaining ~0.01% of discordant genotypes were excluded. For indels, variant-level QC excluded ~36.8% of GATK and 35.3% of Atlas indels. Between pipelines, ~55.6% of indel genotypes were concordant; while 10.3% and 28.3% were exclusive to Atlas or GATK, respectively; and ~0.29% of discordant genotypes were. The final WGS consensus dataset contains 27,896,774 SNVs and 3,133,926 indels and is publicly available.\n\nAbbreviationsAD, Alzheimers disease; QC, Quality Control; LSSAC, Large-Scale Sequencing and Analysis Center; Broad, Broad Institute Genomics Service; Baylor, Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center; WashU, Washington University-St. Louis McDonnell Genome Institute; WGS, whole genome sequencing; WES, whole exome sequencing; indel, insertion-deletion variants; VCF, variant control format; MI, Mendelian inconsistency; MC, Mendelian consistency; GWAS, genome-wide association study; VR, referent allele read depth; DP, overall read depth; MS, mapping score; GQ, genotype quality score; Ti/Tv, Transition/Transversion; CS, concordance code

genetics↗