Biology subjects

Avolio, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Avolio, J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Senataxin is required for optimal class switch recombination to the immunoglobulin A isotype

Senataxin (SETX) is an RNA/DNA helicase that plays a pivotal role in transcription, R-loop resolution, and the DNA damage response (DDR). Dysfunction of SETX, however, has been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 2. Importantly, both R-loop resolution and the DDR are essential for class switch recombination (CSR) in B cells, a critical step in generating antibody diversity. Here we demonstrate that ex vivo polyclonal stimulation of SETX+/+ and SETX-/- mouse splenocytes results in equivalent amounts of IgM- and IgG-secreting B cells but significantly fewer IgA-producing B cells in SETX-/- mice. Additionally, SETX-/- mice generate significantly reduced antigen specific IgA titers following infection with influenza A virus. Sequencing of the IgA-secreting B cell repertoire revealed reduced clonal diversity in SETX-/- mice. SETX-/- mice also had increased R-loop formation within the IgA locus. Collectively, these data highlight an important role for SETX in mediating CSR to IgA. As such, a further understanding of SETXs role in the immune response is important for expanding our knowledge of both the general immunobiology relating to CSR as well as the immunological phenotypes associated with neurodegenerative diseases associate with mutations in SETX. One sentence summaryA deficiency in senataxin results in impaired class switching to IgA in vitro with decreased IgA response to infection and IgA repertoire diversity in vivo.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2025

GWAS SVatalog: a visualization tool to aid fine-mapping of GWAS loci with structural variations

BackgroundGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been successful in identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with phenotypic traits. However, SNPs form an incomplete set of variation across the genome and since a large percentage of GWAS-significant SNPs lie in non-coding regions, their impact on a given trait is difficult to decipher. Recognizing whether these SNPs are tagging other polymorphisms, like structural variations (SV), is an important step towards understanding the putative causal variation at GWAS loci. ResultsHere, we develop GWAS SVatalog (https://svatalog.research.sickkids.ca/), a novel open-source web tool that computes and visualizes linkage disequilibrium (LD) between SVs and GWAS-associated SNPs throughout the human genome. The tool combines GWAS Catalogs SNP-trait association data across 14,479 phenotypes with LD statistics calculated between 35,732 SVs and 116,870 SNPs identified in 101 whole-genome long-read sequences. We use GWAS SVatalog to identify SVs that may explain GWAS loci for iron levels, refractive error, and Alzheimers disease, where previously SNPs were unable to provide a causal explanation. ConclusionsGWAS SVatalog advances the fine-mapping of GWAS loci with structural variations, enabling researchers to associate 35,732 common SVs with 14,479 phenotypes, accelerating the understanding of disease etiology.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2022

High Quality Phasing Using Linked-Read Whole Genome Sequencing of Patient Cohorts Informs Genetic Understanding of Complex Traits

Phasing of heterozygous alleles is critical for interpretation of cis-effects of disease-relevant variation. For population studies, phase is often inferred from external data but read-based phasing approaches that span long genomic distances would be more accurate because they enable both genotype and phase to be obtained from a single dataset. To demonstrate how read-based phasing can provide functional insights, we sequenced 477 individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) using linked-read sequencing. We benchmark read-based phasing with different short- and long-read sequencing technologies, prioritize linked-read technology as the most informative and produce a benchmark phase call set from reference sample HG002 for the community. The 477 samples display an average phase block N50 of 4.39 Mb. We use these samples to construct a graph representation of CFTR haplotypes, which facilitates understanding of complex CF alleles. Fine-mapping and phasing of the chr7q35 trypsinogen locus associated with CF meconium ileus demonstrates a 20 kb deletion and a PRSS2 missense variant p.Thr8Ile (rs62473563) independently contribute to meconium ileus risk (p=0.0028, p=0.011, respectively) and are PRSS2 pancreas eQTLs (p=9.5e-7 and p=1.4e-4, respectively), explaining the mechanism by which these polymorphisms contribute to CF. Phase enables access to haplotypes that can be used for genome graph or reference panel construction, identification of cis-effects, and for understanding disease associated loci. The phase information from linked-reads provides a causal explanation for variation at a CF-relevant locus which also has implications for the genetic basis of non-CF pancreatitis to which this locus has been reported to contribute.

genetics↗