Menu

Auto Tag: CNVs

June 1, 2021  |  

Unique haplotype structure determination in human genome using Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) Sequencing of targeted full-length fosmids.

Determination of unique individual haplotypes is an essential first step toward understanding how identical genotypes having different phases lead to different biological interpretations of function, phenotype, and disease. Genome-wide methods for identifying individual genetic variation have been limited in their ability to acquire phased, extended, and complete genomic sequences that are long enough to assemble haplotypes with high confidence. We explore a recombineering approach for isolation and sequencing of a tiling of targeted fosmids to capture interesting regions from human genome. Each individual fosmid contains large genomic fragments (~35?kb) that are sequenced with long-read SMRT technology to generate contiguous long reads. These long reads can be easily de novo assembled for targeted haplotype resolution within an individual’s genomes. The P5-C3 chemistry for SMRT Sequencing generated contiguous, full-length fosmid sequences of 30 to 40 kb in a single read, allowing assembly of resolved haplotypes with minimal data processing. The phase preserved in fosmid clones spanned at least two heterozygous variant loci, providing the essential detail of precise haplotype structures. We show complete assembly of haplotypes for various targeted loci, including the complex haplotypes of the KIR locus (~150 to 200 kb) and conserved extended haplotypes (CEHs) of the MHC region. This method is easily applicable to other regions of the human genome, as well as other genomes.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

Immune regions are no longer incomprehensible with SMRT Sequencing

The complex immune regions of the genome, including MHC and KIR, contain large copy number variants (CNVs), a high density of genes, hyper-polymorphic gene alleles, and conserved extended haplotypes (CEH) with enormous linkage disequilibrium (LDs). This level of complexity and inherent biases of short-read sequencing make it challenging for extracting immune region haplotype information from reference-reliant, shotgun sequencing and GWAS methods. As NGS based genome and exome sequencing and SNP arrays have become a routine for population studies, numerous efforts are being made for developing software to extract and or impute the immune gene information from these datasets. Despite these efforts, the fine mapping of causal variants of immune genes for their well-documented association with cancer, drug-induced hypersensitivity and immune-related diseases, has been slower than expected. This has in many ways limited our understanding of the mechanisms leading to immune disease. In the present work, we demonstrate the advantages of long reads delivered by SMRT Sequencing for assembling complete haplotypes of MHC and KIR gene clusters, as well as calling correct genotypes of genes comprised within them. All the genotype information is detected at allele- level with full phasing information across SNP-poor regions. Genotypes were called correctly from targeted gene amplicons, haplotypes, as well as from a completely assembled 5 Mb contig of the MHC region from a de novo assembly of whole genome shotgun data. De novo analysis pipeline used in all these approaches allowed for reference-free analysis without imputation, a key for interrogation without prior knowledge about ethnic backgrounds. These methods are thus easily adoptable for previously uncharacterized human or non-human species.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

Resolving KIR genotypes and haplotypes simultaneously using Single Molecule, Real-Time Sequencing

The killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) genes belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily and are widely studied due to the critical role they play in coordinating the innate immune response to infection and disease. Highly accurate, contiguous, long reads, like those generated by SMRT Sequencing, when combined with target-enrichment protocols, provide a straightforward strategy for generating complete de novo assembled KIR haplotypes. We have explored two different methods to capture the KIR region; one applying the use of fosmid clones and one using Nimblegen capture.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

Characterizing haplotype diversity at the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus across human populations using novel long-read sequencing and assembly approaches

The human immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (IGH) remains among the most understudied regions of the human genome. Recent efforts have shown that haplotype diversity within IGH is elevated and exhibits population specific patterns; for example, our re-sequencing of the locus from only a single chromosome uncovered >100 Kb of novel sequence, including descriptions of six novel alleles, and four previously unmapped genes. Historically, this complex locus architecture has hindered the characterization of IGH germline single nucleotide, copy number, and structural variants (SNVs; CNVs; SVs), and as a result, there remains little known about the role of IGH polymorphisms in inter-individual antibody repertoire variability and disease. To remedy this, we are taking a multi-faceted approach to improving existing genomic resources in the human IGH region. First, from whole-genome and fosmid-based datasets, we are building the largest and most ethnically diverse set of IGH reference assemblies to date, by employing PacBio long-read sequencing combined with novel algorithms for phased haplotype assembly. In total, our effort will result in the characterization of >15 phased haplotypes from individuals of Asian, African, and European descent, to be used as a representative reference set by the genomics and immunogenetics community. Second, we are utilizing this more comprehensive sequence catalogue to inform the design and analysis of novel targeted IGH genotyping assays. Standard targeted DNA enrichment methods (e.g., exome capture) are currently optimized for the capture of only very short (100’s of bp) DNA segments. Our platform uses a modified bench protocol to pair existing capture-array technologies with the enrichment of longer fragments of DNA, enabling the use of PacBio sequencing of DNA segments up to 7 Kb. This substantial increase in contiguity disambiguates many of the complex repeated structures inherent to the locus, while yielding the base pair fidelity required to call SNVs. Together these resources will establish a stronger framework for further characterizing IGH genetic diversity and facilitate IGH genomic profiling in the clinical and research settings, which will be key to fully understanding the role of IGH germline variation in antibody repertoire development and disease.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

Comprehensive structural and copy-number variant detection with long reads

To comprehensively detect large variants in human genomes, we have extended pbsv – a structural variant caller for long reads – to call copy-number variants (CNVs) from read-clipping and read-depth signatures. In human germline benchmark samples, we detect more than 300 CNVs spanning around 10 Mb, and we call hundreds of additional events in re-arranged cancer samples. Long-read sequencing of diverse humans has revealed more than 20,000 insertion, deletion, and inversion structural variants spanning more than 12 Mb in a typical human genome. Most of these variants are too large to detect with short reads and too small for array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH). While the standard approaches to calling structural variants with long reads thrive in the 50 bp to 10 kb size range, they tend to miss exactly the large (>50 kb) copy-number variants that are called more readily with aCGH and short reads. Standard algorithms rely on reference-based mapping of reads that fully span a variant or on de novo assembly; and copy-number variants are often too large to be spanned by a single read and frequently involve segmentally duplicated sequence that is not yet included in most de novo assemblies.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

New advances in SMRT Sequencing facilitate multiplexing for de novo and structural variant studies

The latest advancements in Sequel II SMRT Sequencing have increased average read lengths up to 50% compared to Sequel II chemistry 1.0 which allows multiplexing of 2-3 small organisms (<500 Mb) such as insects and worms for producing reference quality assemblies, calling structural variants for up to 2 samples with ~3 Gb genomes, analysis of 48 microbial genomes, and up to 8 communities for metagenomic profiling in a single SMRT Cell 8M. With the improved processivity of the new Sequel II sequencing polymerase, more SMRTbell molecules reach rolling circle mode resulting in longer overall read lengths, thus allowing efficient detection of barcodes (up to 80%) in the SMRTbell templates. Multiplexing of genomes larger than microbial organisms is now achievable. In collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute, we have developed a workflow for multiplexing two individual Anopheles coluzzii using as low as 150 ng genomic DNA per individual. The resulting assemblies had high contiguity (contig N50s over 3 Mb) and completeness (>98% of conserved genes) for both individuals. For microbial multiplexing, we multiplexed 48 microbes with varying complexities and sizes ranging 1.6-8.0 Mb in single SMRT Cell 8M. Using a new end-to-end analysis (Microbial Assembly Analysis, SMRT Link 8.0), assemblies resulted in complete circularized genomes (>200-fold coverage) and efficient detection of >3-200 kb plasmids. Finally, the long read lengths (>90 kb) allows detection of barcodes in large insert SMRTbell templates (>15 kb) thus facilitating multiplex of two human samples in 1 SMRT Cell 8M for detecting SVs, Indels and CNVs. Here, we present results and describe workflows for multiplexing samples for specific applications for SMRT Sequencing.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

Copy-number variant detection with PacBio long reads

Long-read sequencing of diverse humans has revealed more than 20,000 insertion, deletion, and inversion structural variants spanning more than 12 Mb in a healthy human genome. Most of these variants are too large to detect with short reads and too small for array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH). While the standard approaches to calling structural variants with long reads thrive in the 50 bp to 10 kb size range, they tend to miss exactly the large (>50 kb) copy-number variants that are called more readily with aCGH. Standard algorithms rely on reference-based mapping of reads that fully span a variant or on de novo assembly; and copy-number variants are often too large to be spanned by a single read and frequently involve segmentally duplicated sequence that is not yet included in most de novo assemblies. To comprehensively detect large variants in human genomes, we extended pbsv – a structural variant caller for long reads – to call copy-number variants (CNVs) from read-clipping and read-depth signatures. In human germline benchmark samples, we detect more than 300 CNVs spanning around 10 Mb, and we call hundreds of additional events in re-arranged cancer samples. Together with insertion, deletion, inversion, duplication, and translocation calling from spanning reads, this allows pbsv to comprehensively detect large variants from a single data type.

Read more
June 1, 2021  |  

Comprehensive variant detection in a human genome with highly accurate long reads

Introduction: Long-read sequencing has revealed more than 20,000 structural variants spanning over 12 Mb in a healthy human genome. Short-read sequencing fails to detect most structural variants but has remained the more effective approach for small variants, due to 10-15% error rates in long reads, and copy-number variants (CNVs), due to lack of effective long-read variant callers. The development of PacBio highly accurate long reads (HiFi reads) with read lengths of 10-25 kb and quality >99% presents the opportunity to capture all classes of variation with one approach.Methods: We sequence the Genome in a Bottle benchmark sample HG002 and an individual with a presumed Mendelian disease with HiFi reads. We call SNVs and indels with DeepVariant and extend the structural variant caller pbsv to call CNVs using read depth and clipping signatures. Results: For 18-fold coverage with 13 kb HiFi reads, variant calling in HG002 achieves an F1 score of 99.7% for SNVs, 96.6% for indels, and 96.4% for structural variants. Additionally, we detect more than 300 CNVs spanning around 10 Mb. For the Mendelian disease case, HiFi reads reveal thousands of variants that were overlooked by short-read sequencing, including a candidate causative structural variant. Conclusions: These results illustrate the ability of HiFi reads to comprehensively detect variants, including those associated with human disease.

Read more
April 21, 2020  |  

Characterization of Reference Materials for Genetic Testing of CYP2D6 Alleles: A GeT-RM Collaborative Project.

Pharmacogenetic testing increasingly is available from clinical and research laboratories. However, only a limited number of quality control and other reference materials currently are available for the complex rearrangements and rare variants that occur in the CYP2D6 gene. To address this need, the Division of Laboratory Systems, CDC-based Genetic Testing Reference Material Coordination Program, in collaboration with members of the pharmacogenetic testing and research communities and the Coriell Cell Repositories (Camden, NJ), has characterized 179 DNA samples derived from Coriell cell lines. Testing included the recharacterization of 137 genomic DNAs that were genotyped in previous Genetic Testing Reference Material Coordination Program studies and 42 additional samples that had not been characterized previously. DNA samples were distributed to volunteer testing laboratories for genotyping using a variety of commercially available and laboratory-developed tests. These publicly available samples will support the quality-assurance and quality-control programs of clinical laboratories performing CYP2D6 testing.Published by Elsevier Inc.

Read more

Subscribe for blog updates:

Talk with an expert

If you have a question, need to check the status of an order, or are interested in purchasing an instrument, we're here to help.