Human and mouse essentiality screens as a resource for disease gene discovery
Pilar Cacheiro, Violeta Muñoz‐Fuentes, Stephen A. Murray, Mary E. Dickinson, Maja Bućan, Lauryl M. J. Nutter, Kevin A. Peterson, Hamed Haselimashhadi, Ann M. Flenniken, Hugh W. Morgan, Henrik Westerberg, Tomasz Konopka, Chih‐Wei Hsu, Audrey E. Christiansen, Denise G. Lanza, Arthur L. Beaudet, Jason D. Heaney, Helmut Fuchs, Valérie Gailus‐Durner, Tania Sorg, Jan Procházka, Vendula Novosadová, Christopher J. Lelliott, Hannah Wardle‐Jones, Sara Wells, Lydia Teboul, Heather Cater, Michelle Stewart, Tertius Hough, Wolfgang Wurst, Radislav Sedláček, David J. Adams, John R. Seavitt, Glauco P. Tocchini‐Valentini, Fabio Mammano, Robert E. Braun, Colin McKerlie, Yann Hérault, Martin Hrabě de Angelis, Ann‐Marie Mallon, K. C. Kent Lloyd, Steve D. M. Brown, Helen Parkinson, Terrence F. Meehan, Damian Smedley, J. C. Ambrose, Paramasivam Arumugam, E. L. Baple, Marta Bleda, F. Boardman-Pretty, J. M. Boissiere, C. R. Boustred, H. Brittain, Mark J. Caulfield, Gcf Chan, C. E. H. Craig, Louise C. Daugherty, A. de Burca, A. Devereau, Greg Elgar, Rebecca E. Foulger, Tom Fowler, P. Furió-Tarí, J.M. Hackett, Dina Halai, Angela Hamblin, Seton Henderson, J. E. Holman, Tim Hubbard, Kristina Ibáñez, Richard V. Jackson, Lesley Jones, Dalia Kasperavičiūtė, M. Kayikci, L. Lahnstein, Kim Lawson, S. E. A. Leigh, Ivone Leong, F. J. Lopez, F. Maleady-Crowe, Joanne Mason, Ellen M. McDonagh, L. Moutsianas, Michael Mueller, Nirupa Murugaesu, A. C. Need, Christopher A. Odhams, C. Patch, D. Perez-Gil, Dimitris Polychronopoulos, J. Pullinger, T. Rahim, Álvaro Rendón, Pablo Riesgo-Ferreiro, Tim Rogers, Mina Ryten, K Savage, K. Sawant, Richard H. Scott, A. Siddiq
Abstract
The identification of causal variants in sequencing studies remains a considerable challenge that can be partially addressed by new gene-specific knowledge. Here, we integrate measures of how essential a gene is to supporting life, as inferred from viability and phenotyping screens performed on knockout mice by the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium and essentiality screens carried out on human cell lines. We propose a cross-species gene classification across the Full Spectrum of Intolerance to Loss-of-function (FUSIL) and demonstrate that genes in five mutually exclusive FUSIL categories have differing biological properties. Most notably, Mendelian disease genes, particularly those associated with developmental disorders, are highly overrepresented among genes non-essential for cell survival but required for organism development. After screening developmental disorder cases from three independent disease sequencing consortia, we identify potentially pathogenic variants in genes not previously associated with rare diseases. We therefore propose FUSIL as an efficient approach for disease gene discovery.