Sex-specific recombination patterns predict parent of origin for recurrent genomic disorders

Abstract Background Structural rearrangements of the genome, which generally occur during meiosis and result in large-scale (> 1 kb) copy number variants (CNV; deletions or duplications ≥ 1 kb), underlie genomic disorders. Recurrent pathogenic CNVs harbor similar breakpoints in multiple unrelated...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Trenell J. Mosley, H. Richard Johnston, David J. Cutler, Michael E. Zwick, Jennifer G. Mulle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2021-06-01
Series:BMC Medical Genomics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12920-021-00999-8
Description
Summary:Abstract Background Structural rearrangements of the genome, which generally occur during meiosis and result in large-scale (> 1 kb) copy number variants (CNV; deletions or duplications ≥ 1 kb), underlie genomic disorders. Recurrent pathogenic CNVs harbor similar breakpoints in multiple unrelated individuals and are primarily formed via non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR). Several pathogenic NAHR-mediated recurrent CNV loci demonstrate biases for parental origin of de novo CNVs. However, the mechanism underlying these biases is not well understood. Methods We performed a systematic, comprehensive literature search to curate parent of origin data for multiple pathogenic CNV loci. Using a regression framework, we assessed the relationship between parental CNV origin and the male to female recombination rate ratio. Results We demonstrate significant association between sex-specific differences in meiotic recombination and parental origin biases at these loci (p = 1.07 × 10–14). Conclusions Our results suggest that parental origin of CNVs is largely influenced by sex-specific recombination rates and highlight the need to consider these differences when investigating mechanisms that cause structural variation.
ISSN:1755-8794