Key result
Colocalizing spatiotemporal eQTLs with GWAS signals identifies putative causal variants in 210 context-specific cardiac loci.
Why the study?
The causal variants and genes underlying thousands of cardiac GWAS signals have yet to be identified.
Observational (n=491)
Integrating spatiotemporal eQTL data with GWAS identifies potential causal variants and molecular mechanisms for hundreds of cardiac traits and diseases.
Warrants spatiotemporal context for cardiac GWAS interpretation; leaves open human translation from animal models.
The causal variants and genes underlying thousands of cardiac GWAS signals have yet to be identified. Here, we leverage spatiotemporal information on 966 RNA-seq cardiac samples and perform an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis detecting eQTLs considering both eGenes and eIsoforms. We identify 2,578 eQTLs associated with a specific developmental stage-, tissue- and/or cell type. Colocalization between eQTL and GWAS signals of five cardiac traits identified variants with high posterior probabilities for being causal in 210 GWAS loci. Pulse pressure GWAS loci are enriched for colocalization with fetal- and smooth muscle- eQTLs; pulse rate with adult- and cardiac muscle- eQTLs; and atrial fibrillation with cardiac muscle- eQTLs. Fine mapping identifies 79 credible sets with five or fewer SNPs, of which 15 were associated with spatiotemporal eQTLs. Our study shows that many cardiac GWAS variants impact traits and disease in a developmental stage-, tissue- and/or cell type-specific fashion.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
D’Antonio et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Cardiac traits and disease (n=491). Genetic variants (eQTLs) was evaluated on Identification of spatiotemporal eQTLs and colocalization with cardiac GWAS signals. Colocalization of spatiotemporal eQTLs with GWAS signals identified putative causal variants in 210 cardiac loci, demonstrating that many cardiac variants function in a developmental stage-, tissue-, or cell-type-specific manner.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: