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Sarah B. Ng

Bio: Sarah B. Ng is an academic researcher from University of Washington. The author has contributed to research in topics: Exome sequencing & Exome. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 16 publications receiving 5596 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Experimental and analytical approaches relating to exome sequencing have established a rich framework for discovering the genes underlying unsolved Mendelian disorders and set the stage for applying exome and whole-genome sequencing to facilitate clinical diagnosis and personalized disease-risk profiling.
Abstract: Exome sequencing — the targeted sequencing of the subset of the human genome that is protein coding — is a powerful and cost-effective new tool for dissecting the genetic basis of diseases and traits that have proved to be intractable to conventional gene-discovery strategies. Over the past 2 years, experimental and analytical approaches relating to exome sequencing have established a rich framework for discovering the genes underlying unsolved Mendelian disorders. Additionally, exome sequencing is being adapted to explore the extent to which rare alleles explain the heritability of complex diseases and health- related traits. These advances also set the stage for applying exome and whole-genome sequencing to facilitate clinical diagnosis and personalized disease-risk profiling.

1,672 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results strongly suggest that mutations in MLL2, which encodes a Trithorax-group histone methyltransferase, are a major cause of Kabuki syndrome.
Abstract: We demonstrate the successful application of exome sequencing to discover a gene for an autosomal dominant disorder, Kabuki syndrome (OMIM%147920). We subjected the exomes of ten unrelated probands to massively parallel sequencing. After filtering against existing SNP databases, there was no compelling candidate gene containing previously unknown variants in all affected individuals. Less stringent filtering criteria allowed for the presence of modest genetic heterogeneity or missing data but also identified multiple candidate genes. However, genotypic and phenotypic stratification highlighted MLL2, which encodes a Trithorax-group histone methyltransferase: seven probands had newly identified nonsense or frameshift mutations in this gene. Follow-up Sanger sequencing detected MLL2 mutations in two of the three remaining individuals with Kabuki syndrome (cases) and in 26 of 43 additional cases. In families where parental DNA was available, the mutation was confirmed to be de novo (n = 12) or transmitted (n = 2) in concordance with phenotype. Our results strongly suggest that mutations in MLL2 are a major cause of Kabuki syndrome.

1,261 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results show that trio-based exome sequencing is a powerful approach for identifying new candidate genes for ASDs and suggest that de novo mutations may contribute substantially to the genetic etiology of ASDs.
Abstract: Evidence for the etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has consistently pointed to a strong genetic component complicated by substantial locus heterogeneity. We sequenced the exomes of 20 individuals with sporadic ASD (cases) and their parents, reasoning that these families would be enriched for de novo mutations of major effect. We identified 21 de novo mutations, 11 of which were protein altering. Protein-altering mutations were significantly enriched for changes at highly conserved residues. We identified potentially causative de novo events in 4 out of 20 probands, particularly among more severely affected individuals, in FOXP1, GRIN2B, SCN1A and LAMC3. In the FOXP1 mutation carrier, we also observed a rare inherited CNTNAP2 missense variant, and we provide functional support for a multi-hit model for disease risk. Our results show that trio-based exome sequencing is a powerful approach for identifying new candidate genes for ASDs and suggest that de novo mutations may contribute substantially to the genetic etiology of ASDs.

1,116 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The throughput of massively parallel sequencing with the contiguity information provided by large-insert cloning is combined to experimentally determine the haplotype-resolved genome of a South Asian individual.
Abstract: Sequencing a human genome using next-generation methods does not distinguish between the two copies of each chromosome. Kitzman et al. determine a haplotype-resolved genome sequence by efficiently constructing and sequencing long-insert clones that cover the diploid genome with a low likelihood of overlap.

295 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results indicate that point mutations arising in coding regions of advanced prostate cancers are common but, with notable exceptions, very few genes are mutated in a substantial fraction of tumors, and suggest that increasingly deep catalogs of human germline variation may challenge the necessity of sequencing matched tumor-normal pairs.
Abstract: To catalog protein-altering mutations that may drive the development of prostate cancers and their progression to metastatic disease systematically, we performed whole-exome sequencing of 23 prostate cancers derived from 16 different lethal metastatic tumors and three high-grade primary carcinomas. All tumors were propagated in mice as xenografts, designated the LuCaP series, to model phenotypic variation, such as responses to cancer-directed therapeutics. Although corresponding normal tissue was not available for most tumors, we were able to take advantage of increasingly deep catalogs of human genetic variation to remove most germline variants. On average, each tumor genome contained ∼200 novel nonsynonymous variants, of which the vast majority was specific to individual carcinomas. A subset of genes was recurrently altered across tumors derived from different individuals, including TP53, DLK2, GPC6, and SDF4. Unexpectedly, three prostate cancer genomes exhibited substantially higher mutation frequencies, with 2,000–4,000 novel coding variants per exome. A comparison of castration-resistant and castration-sensitive pairs of tumor lines derived from the same prostate cancer highlights mutations in the Wnt pathway as potentially contributing to the development of castration resistance. Collectively, our results indicate that point mutations arising in coding regions of advanced prostate cancers are common but, with notable exceptions, very few genes are mutated in a substantial fraction of tumors. We also report a previously undescribed subtype of prostate cancers exhibiting “hypermutated” genomes, with potential implications for resistance to cancer therapeutics. Our results also suggest that increasingly deep catalogs of human germline variation may challenge the necessity of sequencing matched tumor-normal pairs.

263 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
Adam Auton1, Gonçalo R. Abecasis2, David Altshuler3, Richard Durbin4  +514 moreInstitutions (90)
01 Oct 2015-Nature
TL;DR: The 1000 Genomes Project set out to provide a comprehensive description of common human genetic variation by applying whole-genome sequencing to a diverse set of individuals from multiple populations, and has reconstructed the genomes of 2,504 individuals from 26 populations using a combination of low-coverage whole-generation sequencing, deep exome sequencing, and dense microarray genotyping.
Abstract: The 1000 Genomes Project set out to provide a comprehensive description of common human genetic variation by applying whole-genome sequencing to a diverse set of individuals from multiple populations. Here we report completion of the project, having reconstructed the genomes of 2,504 individuals from 26 populations using a combination of low-coverage whole-genome sequencing, deep exome sequencing, and dense microarray genotyping. We characterized a broad spectrum of genetic variation, in total over 88 million variants (84.7 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 3.6 million short insertions/deletions (indels), and 60,000 structural variants), all phased onto high-quality haplotypes. This resource includes >99% of SNP variants with a frequency of >1% for a variety of ancestries. We describe the distribution of genetic variation across the global sample, and discuss the implications for common disease studies.

12,661 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Monkol Lek, Konrad J. Karczewski1, Konrad J. Karczewski2, Eric Vallabh Minikel1, Eric Vallabh Minikel2, Kaitlin E. Samocha, Eric Banks2, Timothy Fennell2, Anne H. O’Donnell-Luria2, Anne H. O’Donnell-Luria3, Anne H. O’Donnell-Luria1, James S. Ware, Andrew J. Hill1, Andrew J. Hill2, Andrew J. Hill4, Beryl B. Cummings2, Beryl B. Cummings1, Taru Tukiainen1, Taru Tukiainen2, Daniel P. Birnbaum2, Jack A. Kosmicki, Laramie E. Duncan1, Laramie E. Duncan2, Karol Estrada2, Karol Estrada1, Fengmei Zhao2, Fengmei Zhao1, James Zou2, Emma Pierce-Hoffman2, Emma Pierce-Hoffman1, Joanne Berghout5, David Neil Cooper6, Nicole A. Deflaux7, Mark A. DePristo2, Ron Do, Jason Flannick2, Jason Flannick1, Menachem Fromer, Laura D. Gauthier2, Jackie Goldstein1, Jackie Goldstein2, Namrata Gupta2, Daniel P. Howrigan1, Daniel P. Howrigan2, Adam Kiezun2, Mitja I. Kurki1, Mitja I. Kurki2, Ami Levy Moonshine2, Pradeep Natarajan, Lorena Orozco, Gina M. Peloso2, Gina M. Peloso1, Ryan Poplin2, Manuel A. Rivas2, Valentin Ruano-Rubio2, Samuel A. Rose2, Douglas M. Ruderfer8, Khalid Shakir2, Peter D. Stenson6, Christine Stevens2, Brett Thomas1, Brett Thomas2, Grace Tiao2, María Teresa Tusié-Luna, Ben Weisburd2, Hong-Hee Won9, Dongmei Yu, David Altshuler10, David Altshuler2, Diego Ardissino, Michael Boehnke11, John Danesh12, Stacey Donnelly2, Roberto Elosua, Jose C. Florez1, Jose C. Florez2, Stacey Gabriel2, Gad Getz1, Gad Getz2, Stephen J. Glatt13, Christina M. Hultman14, Sekar Kathiresan, Markku Laakso15, Steven A. McCarroll1, Steven A. McCarroll2, Mark I. McCarthy16, Mark I. McCarthy17, Dermot P.B. McGovern18, Ruth McPherson19, Benjamin M. Neale1, Benjamin M. Neale2, Aarno Palotie, Shaun Purcell8, Danish Saleheen20, Jeremiah M. Scharf, Pamela Sklar, Patrick F. Sullivan14, Patrick F. Sullivan21, Jaakko Tuomilehto22, Ming T. Tsuang23, Hugh Watkins16, Hugh Watkins17, James G. Wilson24, Mark J. Daly2, Mark J. Daly1, Daniel G. MacArthur1, Daniel G. MacArthur2 
18 Aug 2016-Nature
TL;DR: The aggregation and analysis of high-quality exome (protein-coding region) DNA sequence data for 60,706 individuals of diverse ancestries generated as part of the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) provides direct evidence for the presence of widespread mutational recurrence.
Abstract: Large-scale reference data sets of human genetic variation are critical for the medical and functional interpretation of DNA sequence changes. Here we describe the aggregation and analysis of high-quality exome (protein-coding region) DNA sequence data for 60,706 individuals of diverse ancestries generated as part of the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC). This catalogue of human genetic diversity contains an average of one variant every eight bases of the exome, and provides direct evidence for the presence of widespread mutational recurrence. We have used this catalogue to calculate objective metrics of pathogenicity for sequence variants, and to identify genes subject to strong selection against various classes of mutation; identifying 3,230 genes with near-complete depletion of predicted protein-truncating variants, with 72% of these genes having no currently established human disease phenotype. Finally, we demonstrate that these data can be used for the efficient filtering of candidate disease-causing variants, and for the discovery of human 'knockout' variants in protein-coding genes.

8,758 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Nov 2012-Nature
TL;DR: It is shown that evolutionary conservation and coding consequence are key determinants of the strength of purifying selection, that rare-variant load varies substantially across biological pathways, and that each individual contains hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites.
Abstract: By characterizing the geographic and functional spectrum of human genetic variation, the 1000 Genomes Project aims to build a resource to help to understand the genetic contribution to disease. Here we describe the genomes of 1,092 individuals from 14 populations, constructed using a combination of low-coverage whole-genome and exome sequencing. By developing methods to integrate information across several algorithms and diverse data sources, we provide a validated haplotype map of 38 million single nucleotide polymorphisms, 1.4 million short insertions and deletions, and more than 14,000 larger deletions. We show that individuals from different populations carry different profiles of rare and common variants, and that low-frequency variants show substantial geographic differentiation, which is further increased by the action of purifying selection. We show that evolutionary conservation and coding consequence are key determinants of the strength of purifying selection, that rare-variant load varies substantially across biological pathways, and that each individual contains hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites. This resource, which captures up to 98% of accessible single nucleotide polymorphisms at a frequency of 1% in related populations, enables analysis of common and low-frequency variants in individuals from diverse, including admixed, populations.

7,710 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A technical review of template preparation, sequencing and imaging, genome alignment and assembly approaches, and recent advances in current and near-term commercially available NGS instruments is presented.
Abstract: Demand has never been greater for revolutionary technologies that deliver fast, inexpensive and accurate genome information. This challenge has catalysed the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. The inexpensive production of large volumes of sequence data is the primary advantage over conventional methods. Here, I present a technical review of template preparation, sequencing and imaging, genome alignment and assembly approaches, and recent advances in current and near-term commercially available NGS instruments. I also outline the broad range of applications for NGS technologies, in addition to providing guidelines for platform selection to address biological questions of interest.

7,023 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The ability of CADD to prioritize functional, deleterious and pathogenic variants across many functional categories, effect sizes and genetic architectures is unmatched by any current single-annotation method.
Abstract: Our capacity to sequence human genomes has exceeded our ability to interpret genetic variation. Current genomic annotations tend to exploit a single information type (e.g. conservation) and/or are restricted in scope (e.g. to missense changes). Here, we describe Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion (CADD), a framework that objectively integrates many diverse annotations into a single, quantitative score. We implement CADD as a support vector machine trained to differentiate 14.7 million high-frequency human derived alleles from 14.7 million simulated variants. We pre-compute “C-scores” for all 8.6 billion possible human single nucleotide variants and enable scoring of short insertions/deletions. C-scores correlate with allelic diversity, annotations of functionality, pathogenicity, disease severity, experimentally measured regulatory effects, and complex trait associations, and highly rank known pathogenic variants within individual genomes. The ability of CADD to prioritize functional, deleterious, and pathogenic variants across many functional categories, effect sizes and genetic architectures is unmatched by any current annotation.

4,956 citations