Strong synaptic transmission impact by copy number variations in schizophrenia

Joseph T. Glessner, Muredach P. Reilly, Cecilia E. Kim, Nagahide Takahashi, Anthony Albano, Cuiping Hou, Jonathan P. Bradfield, Haitao Zhang, Patrick M.A. Sleiman, James H. Flory, Marcin Imielinski, Edward C. Frackelton, Rosetta Chiavacci, Kelly A. Thomas, Maria Garris, Frederick G. Otieno, Michael Davidson, Mark Weiser, Abraham Reichenberg, Kenneth L. DavisJoseph I. Friedman, Thomas P. Cappola, Kenneth B. Margulies, Daniel J. Rader, Struan F.A. Grant, Joseph D. Buxbaum, Raquel E. Gur, Hakon Hakonarson*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

172 Scopus citations

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder with onset in late adolescence and unclear etiology characterized by both positive and negative symptoms, as well as cognitive deficits. To identify copy number variations (CNVs) that increase the risk of schizophrenia, we performed a whole-genome CNV analysis on a cohort of 977 schizophrenia cases and 2,000 healthy adults of European ancestry who were genotyped with 1.7 million probes. Positive findings were evaluated in an independent cohort of 758 schizophrenia cases and 1,485 controls. The Gene Ontology synaptic transmission family of genes was notably enriched for CNVs in the cases (P = 1.5 x 10-7). Among these, CACNA1B and DOC2A, both calcium-signaling genes responsible for neuronal excitation, were deleted in 16 cases and duplicated in 10 cases, respectively. In addition, RET and RIT2, both ras-related genes important for neural crest development, were significantly affected by CNVs. RET deletion was exclusive to seven cases, and RIT2 deletions were overrepresented common variant CNVs in the schizophrenia cases. Our results suggest that novel variations involving the processes of synaptic transmission contribute to the genetic susceptibility of schizophrenia.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10584-10589
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume107
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - 8 Jun 2010
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institute of Mental HealthP50MH066392
National Institute of Mental Health

    Keywords

    • Genetics
    • Genomics
    • Neurobiology

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