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AutoMap is a high performance homozygosity mapping tool using next-generation sequencing data

Quinodoz, Mathieu,Peter, Virginie G,Bedoni, Nicola,Royer Bertrand, Béryl,Cisarova, Katarina,Salmaninejad, Arash,Sepahi, Neda,Rodrigues, Raquel,Piran, Mehran,Mojarrad, Majid,Pasdar, Alireza,Ghanbari Asad, Ali,Sousa, Ana Berta,Santos, Maria Luisa,Superti-F

Abstract

Homozygosity mapping is a powerful method for identifying mutations in patients with recessive conditions, especially in consanguineous families or isolated populations. Historically, it has been used in conjunction with genotypes from highly polymorphic markers, such as DNA microsatellites or common SNPs. Traditional software performs rather poorly with data from Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), which are now extensively used in medical genetics. We develop AutoMap, a tool that is both web-based or downloadable, to allow performing homozygosity mapping directly on VCF (Variant Call Format) calls from WES or WGS projects. Following a training step on WES data from 26 consanguineous families and a validation procedure on a matched cohort, our method shows higher overall performances when compared with eight existing tools. Most importantly, when tested on real cases with negative molecular diagnosis from an internal set, AutoMap detects three gene-disease and multiple variant-disease associations that were previously unrecognized, projecting clear benefits for both molecular diagnosis and research activities in medical genetics.

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ARTICLE Au oMap is a high pe o mance homozygosi y mapping ool using nex -gene a ion sequencing da a Ma hieu Quinodoz1,2,3, Vi ginie G. Pe e 1,2,3,4, Nicola Bedoni5, Bé yl Roye Be and5, Ka a ina Cisa o a5, A ash Salmaninejad 6, Neda Sepahi7, Raquel Rod igues8, Meh an Pi an7,9, Majid Moja ad6, Ali eza Pasda 6,10, Ali Ghanba i Asad 7, Ana Be a Sousa8,11, Luisa Cou inho San os 12, And ea Supe i-Fu ga 5& Ca lo Ri ol a 1,2,3✉ Homozygosi y mapping is a powe ul me hod o iden i ying mu a ions in pa ien s wi h ecessi e condi ions, especially in consanguineous amilies o isola ed popula ions. His o i- cally, i has been used in conjunc ion wi h geno ypes om highly polymo phic ma ke s, such as DNA mic osa elli es o common SNPs. T adi ional so wa e pe o ms a he poo ly wi h da a om Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), which a e now ex ensi ely used in medical gene ics. We de elop Au oMap, a ool ha is bo h web- based o downloadable, o allow pe o ming homozygosi y mapping di ec ly on VCF (Va ian Call Fo ma ) calls om WES o WGS p ojec s. Following a aining s ep on WES da a om 26 consanguineous amilies and a alida ion p ocedu e on a ma ched coho , ou me hod shows highe o e all pe o mances when compa ed wi h eigh exis ing ools. Mos impo an ly, when es ed on eal cases wi h nega i e molecula diagnosis om an in e nal se , Au oMap de ec s h ee gene-disease and mul iple a ian -disease associa ions ha we e p e iously un ecognized, p ojec ing clea benefi s o bo h molecula diagnosis and esea ch ac i i ies in medical gene ics. h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 OPEN 1Ins i u e o Molecula and Clinical Oph halmology Basel (IOB), Basel, Swi ze land. 2Depa men o Oph halmology, Uni e si y o Basel, Basel, Swi ze land. 3Depa men o Gene ics and Genome Biology, Uni e si y o Leices e , Leices e , UK. 4Ins i u e o Expe imen al Pa hology, Lausanne Uni e si y Hospi al (CHUV), Lausanne, Swi ze land. 5Se ice o Medical Gene ics, Lausanne Uni e si y Hospi al (CHUV), Lausanne, Swi ze land. 6Depa men o Medical Gene ics, Facul y o Medicine, Mashhad Uni e si y o Medical Sciences, Mashhad, I an. 7Noncommunicable Diseases Resea ch Cen e , Fasa Uni e si y o Sciences, Fasa, I an. 8Depa men o Medical Gene ics, Hospi al San a Ma ia, Cen o Hospi ala Uni e si á io Lisboa No e (CHULN), Lisbon Academic Medical Cen e (CAML), Lisbon, Po ugal. 9Bioin o ma ics and Compu a ional Biology Resea ch Cen e , Shi az Uni e si y o Medical Sciences, Shi az, I an. 10 Di ision o Applied Medicine, Medical School, Uni e si y o Abe deen, Abe deen, UK. 11 Medical Facul y, Lisbon Uni e si y, Lisbon, Po ugal. 12 Ins i u o de O almologia D Gama Pin o, Lisbon, Po ugal. ✉email: [email p o ec ed] NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2021) 12:518 | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 | www.na u e.com/na u ecommunica ions 1 1234567890():,; Homozygosi y mapping (HM), also called au ozygosi y mapping, is a echnique aimed a de ec ing and sco ing he p esence o consecu i e homozygous geno ypes, o “ uns o homozygosi y”(ROHs) in a pe son’s genome. ROHs esul om he co-inhe i ance o po ions o DNA ha a e p e- alen in a gi en popula ion, and no mally ange om a ew o hund eds o megabases (Mb), depending on he e hnic g oup conside ed1,2. In he o sp ing o consanguineous unions, ROHs co espond in la ge pa o he gene ic ma e ial ha is co- inhe i ed om ances o s who a e common o bo h pa en s3. Fo ins ance, child en o pa en s who a e fi s cousins ha e ROHs o DNA egions ha we e in he e ozygosis in hei g ea -g and- pa en s, and we e inhe i ed om bo h hei ma e nal and pa e nal sides. In pa ien s wi h ecessi e condi ions, especially i belonging o a consanguineous pedig ee, ROHs e y o en encompass he mu a ion ha is esponsible o he disease4, also o igina ing om a heal hy he e ozygous common ances o , and he e o e a e excellen p oxy ma ke s o he mu a ion i sel . In addi ion, HM can also be used o de ec la ge he e ozygous dele ions esul ing in hemizygous (and appa en ly homozygous) geno ypes, as well as o cases o unipa en al disomy5,6. Fo hese easons, HM has been used o decades in medical gene ics as a ool o iden i y egions o he genome o be p io i ized o a ge ed mu a ional sc eens. In he pas , HM p ocedu es elied on geno ypes om polymo phic ma ke s ( ypically mic osa elli es) o de e mine whe he pa ien s had consecu i e homozygous calls s. heal hy ela i es. Since he beginning o his cen u y, he comme ciali- za ion o high-densi y mic oa ays o single-nucleo ide poly- mo phisms (SNPs) has allowed he use o he SNP geno ypes o he same pu pose, by in e oga ing usually non-coding a ian s wi h an ele a ed deg ee o he e ozygosi y in he gene al popula- ion. Se e al so wa e we e hen de eloped, such as PLINK7, Homozygosi yMappe 8, o GERMLINE9. In i ue o he e y high accu acy o hei calls (>99.8%)10, SNP mic oa ays ou pu s a e highly eliable o iden i y ROHs. Howe e , hey do no p o- ide any in o ma ion on a pa ien ’s mu a ions, since hese la e DNA a ian s a e usually a e and he e o e a e no included in such a ays. Con e sely, in o ma ion om whole-exome sequencing (WES), which is la gely used in con empo a y medical gene ics, allows he disco e y o any ype o DNA a ian s, including equen geno ypes and a e mu a ions alike. The e o e, a leas in p inciple, WES can be used as a single echnology o bo h HM and mu a ion de ec ion. Howe e , HM algo i hms de eloped o a ay echnologies end o deli e sub-op imal esul s when applied o WES, since hey a e no adap ed o handle he in insic noise (2.53–30.60%)10 ha is ypical o his sequencing me hod11–13. In pa icula , ROHs de ec ed om WES da a wi h his so wa e a e smalle in size and p oduce lowe cumula i e au ozygosi y alues, o en esul ing in he end in alsely-nega i e ou pu 14–16. Hence, many in es iga o s s ill make use o wo sepa a e ools: SNP mic oa ays o de e mine ROHs, and WES o iden i y possible a e mu a ions, wi h an impo an was e o ime and esou ces17–21. To ci cum en his p oblem, in his wo k we p esen Au oMap (Au ozygosi y Mappe ), a so wa e ha can p o ide e y eliable HM esul s di ec ly om s anda d WES ou pu s and is applicable o WGS (whole-genome sequencing) as an addi ional ea u e, and compa e i wi h o he ools, including some ha we e specifically de eloped o pe o m HM on WES da a (BCFTools16, FILTUS22, H3M223, HOMWES15, Sa yVc Homozygosi y, and Sa yHo- mozygosi y24). Each o he ools used in his compa ison ha e hei own s ongpoin s and limi a ions, such as he p esence o a g aphical use in e ace (GUI), a c oss-pla o m ope a i e sys em, a use - iendly ou pu ype, e c25,26. Au oMap is accessible bo h ia a web in e ace ( ee o cha ge), o allow low- h oughpu o occasional use o exome da a, and as a command-line ool, o la ge-scale genomic p ojec s, o WGS, and o allow in eg a ion in o ou ine analy ical pipelines. Resul s and discussion Au oMap akes as an inpu a ian call o ma (VCF) files (Fig. 1a), i.e., s anda d esul files om a a ie y o commonly- used so wa e o analyzing WES and WGS sequences ( a ian calle s), con aining he lis o DNA a ian s de ec ed in a gi en sample wi h espec o he human e e ence genome. VCF files ha e he ad an age o being o smalle size compa ed o p ima y mapping files (BAM files), con ain mos o he in o ma ion ha can be used o HM pu poses and, impo an ly, a e gene ally mo e a ailable o he end-use s, such as biologis s o physicians. O no e, single-sample VCFs a e accep ed by bo h web and s andalone e sions o Au oMap, while mul isample VCFs a e only accep ed by he s andalone e sion. Once he file is uploaded ia he web in e ace (h ps://au omap.iob.ch/) he use simply launches he analysis, which in he end p oduces an ou pu such as he one indica ed in Fig. 1b, c. This includes a PDF file showing he g aphical ep esen a ion o au ozygous egions along he au osomes, as well as a ex file epo ing he same in o ma ion as nume ical alues, wi h he posi ions o he de ec ed ROHs, hei size, numbe o a ian s, and pe cen age o homozygosi y. Au oMap can also include he X ch omosome, i eques ed by he use , o bo h emales and males. In emales, his ch omosome is ea ed as an au osome, whe eas in males all hemizygous calls a e conside ed as homozygous. In addi ion, i is possible o p o ide a lis o genes (o a “gene panel”, e.g., a lis o genes linked o a gi en condi ion) as a ex file, o immedia ely ecognize whe he hey a e o no wi hin a gi en ROH (Fig. 1c). The same p ocedu e can also be pe o med on a local compu e , by di ec ly down- loading he sou ce files (h ps://gi hub.com/mquinodo/ Au oMap). In i s s andalone e sion, Au oMap does no need compiling bu equi es he ins alla ion o some addi ional so - wa e (BCFTools, 1.9 o la e ; BEDTools, 2.25.0 o la e ; Pe l, 5.22.0 o la e ; R, 3.2.0 o la e ). As men ioned, one o he key poin s o he p ope de ec- ion o ROH om WES da a is he a ge ed emo al o alse posi i e a ian calls. These calls no only ac as a noise wi h espec o ue signals, bu also ac i ely lead o an a ificial agmen a ion o ROHs (when a he e ozygous alse posi i e call is p esen in a uly au ozygous egion) o e en o he comple e miss o a ROH ( o egions wi h a low numbe o calls). To his end, as a fi s s ep, all a ian s om he VCF file a e ca e ully assessed wi h c i e ia elying on co e age and al e na i e eads coun . Mo e p ecisely, hey a e e alua ed acco ding o hei sequencing dep h, he a io be ween eads aligned o he e e ence sequence s. al e na i e alleles ( o he e ozygous calls), and o hei loca ion in epea ed egions o he genome (Fig. 1a and Supplemen a y Table 1). Va ian s ha do no sa is y hese s ingen c i e ia a e selec i ely and indi idually elimina ed om u he analyses. Impo an ly, all such c i e ia we e e ified no o be specific o any gi en a ian calling so wa e, wi h he aim o enabling analyses o VCF files p oduced by a ious p og ams. A e his fil e ing s ep a he a ian le el, ROHs a e iden ified by a sliding-window app oach, associa ed wi h ou unable pa ame e s: he size o he window, he minimal numbe o homozygous a ian s in he window, he maximal gap be ween wo consecu i e a ian s in one ROH, and he maximal size o ex ension om he bounda ies o s e ches o de ec ed ROHs (Fig. 1a and Supplemen a y Table 1). Following hei iden ifica- ion, ROHs a e hen selec ed only i hey each a minimal alue in ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 2NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2021) 12:518 | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 | www.na u e.c om/na u ecommunica ions e ms o size, numbe o a ian s and pe cen age o homozygous geno ypes in he egion (Fig. 1a and Supplemen a y Table 1). To e alua e he pe o mances o Au oMap, we ga he ed da a om 52 amilies wi h ecessi e he edi a y blindness, o which we also had geno ypes om bo h WES and SNP a ays, and selec ed one pa ien pe amily. These indi iduals we e all om consanguineous pedig ees li ing in Po ugal o in I an, i.e., in coun ies wi h a low and an ele a ed deg ee o consanguini y a he le el o he gene al popula ion, espec i ely27,28. Mo e p e- cisely, hey all had a median cumula i e ROH size o 234.8 Mb (de ec ed by PLINK on SNP a ay da a), anging be ween 90.6 and 819.5 Mb. We hen spli hese indi iduals in o wo ma ched se s o 26 pe sons each, hus defining a aining coho and a ma ched alida ion coho (Supplemen a y Da a 1). As a e e - ence o ue posi i e alues, we adop ed he me hod desc ibed by Kanche a e al.15, consis ing in he use o he PLINK so wa e7 applied wi h de aul pa ame e s on da a om SNP a ays. We op imized he pa ame e s o Au oMap on he aining coho (Supplemen a y Table 1 and Supplemen a y Fig. 1A, B, see “Me hods”sec ion), and hen used he op imized alues o ana- lyze he alida ion coho . We pe o med s abili y analyses by a ying each pa ame e indi idually, which esul ed in small a ia ion o he pe o mances, indica i e o he obus ness o he me hod (Supplemen a y Fig. 1C). In addi ion, he a e age pe - o mance was no significan ly di e en be ween he wo coho s, demons a ing no o e -fi ing o he pa ame e s on he aining da a (Supplemen a y Fig. 2A). Mo e p ecisely, specifici y in he aining and alida ion se s had alues o 77.5% and 79.6%, espec i ely (p=0.35, unpai ed - es ), while sensi i i y had alues o 90.5% and 92.4%, espec i ely (p=0.18). We also compa ed he e ec o h ee mains eam a ian calle s ha could be adop ed by Au oMap end use s (GATK- Haplo ype Calle , Sam ools-mpileup and S elka) on he pe o - mance o ou ool (based on da a om he aining se ). Au o- Map’s sensi i i y was sligh ly lowe when S elka was used (−1.4% compa ed o Haplo ype Calle ), whe eas specifici y appea ed o be sligh ly lowe when Sam ools was used, (−4.4% compa ed o Haplo ype Calle , Supplemen a y Fig. 2B). These di e ences we e all below 5%, he e o e indica ing ha ou ool is o e all insensi i e o he choice ope a ed by a po en ial use wi h espec o a gi en calling so wa e. Nex , we compa ed Au oMap wi h eigh p e iously-published ools, namely: PLINK applied on exome da a7, Homo- zygosi yMappe o WES29, HOMWES15, BCFTools/RoH16, FILTUS22,H 3M223, Sa yHomozygosi y, and Sa yVc Homo- zygosi y24 on da a om he alida ion coho , composed o 26 indi iduals wi h a ious le els o au ozygosi y (Supplemen a y Fig. 3). All o hem we e based on a hidden Ma ko model wi h he excep ion o Homozygosi yMappe , PLINK, and HOMWES, which we e de eloped by applying a sliding window me hod (as i is he case o Au oMap as well). O no e, H3M2and Sa yHo- mozygosi y canno p ocess VCF files bu need a BAM file (sequence alignmen da a), Homozygosi yMappe is only a ail- able ia a web in e ace, and FILTUS can only be que ied ia a Fig. 1 Au oMap wo kflow and example o ou pu . a Wo kflow ollowed by Au oMap wi h de aul se ings, b,cexample o g aphical and ex ou pu o pa ien NSI-326, wi h he ollowing pa ame e s: DP =8, pe cal low =0.25, pe cal high =0.75, binomial =0.000001, maxgap =10, window =7, window h es =5, minsize =2, min a =25, minpe c =88, ch X =No, and ex end =1. Blue egions ep esen de ec ed ROHs. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2021) 12:518 | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 | www.na u e.com/na u ecommunica ions 3 g aphical use in e ace (GUI), no allowing au oma ed p oces- sing o mul iple files. The use Sa yHomozygosi y and Sa - yVc Homozygosi y equi es he downloading o p e-p epa ed linkage da a om 1000 Genomes p ojec o a join c om a ew hund ed WGS. We did no include o he so wa e packages such as Agile-Geno ype , Agile-Va ian Mappe 14, and HomSI30 since hey do no p o ide a genome-wide esul file, which could be used as sou ce o da a o compa ison, bu only a g aphical ou pu . We used de aul pa ame e s o all hese ools (i.e., he pa ame e s op imized by hei espec i e au ho s o analyze WES da a), excep o PLINK, since his so wa e was fi s de eloped o SNP a ay da a and he e o e had o be e-pa ame ized o allow i s use on WES geno ypes (see “Me hods”sec ion). Au oMap and Sa yVc Homozygosi y had he bes sensi i i y/ specifici y combina ion and he highes F-sco e when compa ed o o he so wa e (p< 3.0 × 10−7, pai ed - es ) (Fig. 2a, b). Howe e , Au oMap had a significan ly highe sensi i i y han Sa yVc Homozygosi y (p< 2.9 × 10−6) and lowe specifici y (p< 2.8 × 10−6). In addi ion, Au oMap (on WES) was he ool ha displayed he closes alues, in e ms o ROHs size and numbe , o he e e ence (i.e., PLINK on SNP a ay) (Fig. 3). This indica ed no o e y low ROH agmen a ion, especially in compa ison o o he ools, which p oduced o ins ance ei he a high numbe o small and agmen ed ROHs (H3M2, FILTUS, and PLINK) o de ec ed only la ge ROHs (Sa yVc Homozygosi y). Two ep esen a i e examples o his e ec , o e en i e cho omosomes, a e p esen ed in Supplemen a y Fig. 4. Since small ROHs a e mo e di ficul o de ec and indeed could penalize he global pe o mance o some o hese ools, we epea ed he same analysis by conside ing only ROHs la ge han 5 Mb, being awa e ha such egions a e mo e likely o ha bo causa i e a ian s o ecessi e diseases4. As expec ed, e e y ool displayed inc eased pe o mances, due o he a ificial clea ing o Fig. 2 Pe o mance o Au oMap and o he ools on da a om he alida ion se . a,bPe o mance o Au oMap o ROHs la ge han 1 Mb (Megabase): aspecifici y and sensi i i y; bF-sco e. c,dSame analyses as in a,b, bu limi ed o ROHs wi h sizes o 5 Mb o highe (mos likely o con ain causa i e ecessi e mu a ions in medical gene ics p ac ice, acco ding o published li e a u e). E o ba s ep esen s anda d de ia ions o he mean. Fo boxplo s (b,d), he middle band indica es he median, boxes ep esen he fi s and he hi d qua iles, and whiske s indica e he la ges obse a ion smalle han o equal o he fi s qua ile −1.5 x IQR ( he in e qua ile ange) and he smalles obse a ion g ea e han o equal o o hi d qua ile +1.5 x IQR. N= ~2.7 million DNA a ian s pe ool and pe es . Sou ce da a a e p o ided in he Sou ce Da a File. ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 4NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2021) 12:518 | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 | www.na u e.c om/na u ecommunica ions smalle ROHs, and Au oMap, Sa yHomozygosi y and Sa - yVc Homozygosi y had he bes F-sco es (p< 2.0 × 10−4, Fig. 2c, d). Au oMap had a significan highe sensi i i y han Sa yVc - Homozygosi y (p=2.9 × 10−6) bu lowe han Sa yHomo- zygosi y (p< 6.9 × 10−9). Conce ning specifici y, he esul s we e e e sed, wi h Au oMap ha ing a significan ly highe alue han Sa yHomozygosi y (p< 3.0 × 10−3) bu a lowe sco e wi h espec o Sa yVc Homozygosi y (p< 2.5 × 10−5). In summa y, Au oMap had he bes pe o mances o e all when es ed on ou alida ion coho . Since his coho comp ised only indi iduals o Eu opean and Sou h Asian ances y, u he assessmen s may be needed o e alua e popula ion-specific pe o mances on da a om o he e hnic g oups. In addi ion, a possible con ounding ac o in ou analysis could be ep esen ed by he use o di e en cap u e ki s o WES. Al hough we did no assess his pa ame e a he expe imen al le el, p e ious li e a u e has shown ha conco dance a es o called a ian s ac oss di e en cap u e ki s a e e y ele a ed31, making subs an ial a iabili y o pe o mance linked o he use o di e en ki s a a he unlikely e en . Con- ce ning WGS da a, addi ional es s will be also needed o benchma k exis ing ools such as PLINK o o he a ay-specific so wa e s. Au oMap, due o he di e ence in e ms o numbe o a ian s and co e age compa ed o WES. In addi ion o an inc eased pe o mance in e ie ing ROHs om exome da a, Au oMap also displayed o he benefi s. Fo ins ance, Au oMap was he only ool ha could be un bo h ia a web applica ion ( o he a e age use ) and he command-line, o allow mo e compu a ionally-inclined use s o exploi i s ull po en ial. In addi ion, he a e age p ocessing ime displayed by Au oMap was ela i ely sho , especially in ela ionship o i s pe o mance. All ools, excep hose using BAM files as an inpu (H3M2and Sa yHomozygosi y) could analyze a s anda d VCF in 30 s o less. The as es ools we e BCFTools and PLINK, comple ing he analysis in less han 5 s, while Au oMap ook app oxima ely 20 s. A mo e de ailed compa ison o all hese ea u es is p o ided in Supplemen a y Table 2. As a final es , we used Au oMap on unexplo ed WGS and WES esea ch da a om ou labo a o y, o cases wi h unknown molecula e iology. Following expe imen al alida ion, ou ool was ins umen al in he end o iden i ying bo h coding and noncoding mu a ions, all included in o la ge ROHs, o a ew new synd omes. These included: an in e genic dele ion causing de elopmen al de ec s32, a small dele ion a ec ing splicing in he gene PISD and esul ing in he Libe a b synd ome33, and a pa ial duplica ion o he NMNAT1 gene, esponsible o a new mul isys em diso de 34. Compa ed o he o he ools analyzed, Au oMap was he only one allowing he comple e de ec ion o he au ozygous egions con aining he mu a ions in all h ee cases (Supplemen a y Table 3). Fo he NMNAT1 s udy, o example, he lack o pe o mance displayed by some o he ools was likely due o he p esence o a ew alse-posi i e he e ozygous a ian s in he ROH con aining he pa hogenic duplica ion, which we e indeed ecognized as such—and hence disca ded—by Au oMap. The same was ue o he wo o he s udies, whe e he p esence o alse-posi i e he e ozygous geno ypes was combined wi h he ela i ely sho size o ROHs and/o he p esence o a limi ed numbe o iden ifiable geno ypes. In addi ion, Au oMap enabled he de ec ion o new a ian s in a numbe o genes ha we e al eady associa ed wi h Mendelian condi ions35–37. In conclusion, Au oMap is a eliable ool ha can p edic ROHs wi h high specifici y and sensi i i y, in less han a minu e, e en om VCF files de i ed om noisy exome sequencing da a. I is a ailable bo h ia a web-based in e ace, o a quick analysis, as well as a command-line package, allowing la ge-scale and ou ine analyses. Me hods Pa ien s and DNA. This s udy adhe ed o he o he ene s o he Decla a ion o Helsinki and was app o ed by he Ins i u ional Re iew Boa ds o ou espec i e ins i u ions: he E hikkommission No dewes - and Zen alschweiz (2019-01660), he Ins i u ional Re iew Boa ds o Mashhad Uni e si y o Medical Sciences (961015), he e hics commission o he Oph halmic Hospi al “D Gama Pin o”in Lisbon (16.05.20) and he Noncommunicable Diseases Resea ch Cen e o Fasa Uni e si y o medical sciences (IR.FUMS.REC.1396.211). W i en in o med con- sen o ms we e signed by all subjec s, ec ui ed a he Oph halmic Hospi al “D Gama Pin o”in Lisbon, and a he Fasa and Mashhad Uni e si ies o Medical Science in I an. Pa icipan s had ei he epo ed consanguini y o had ~100 Mb o mo e o cumula i e ROHs as de e mined by PLINK applied on a ay da a (Sup- plemen a y Da a 1). Genomic DNA was ex ac ed om pe iphe al blood leuko- cy es. Mo e p ecisely, o Po uguese pa ien s DNA ex ac ion was pe o med by using he EZ1 DNA blood ki and EZ1 DNA bu y coa ca d (Qiagen), acco ding o he manu ac u e ’s ins uc ions, choosing an elu ion olume o 200 μl. Fo I anian pa ien s, DNA was ex ac ed om blood using RPN8512 Nucleon BACC3 DNA Ex ac ion Ki (Illus a). A ay geno yping. DNA o s udied indi iduals we e geno yped a he iGE3 Pla o m o he Uni e si y o Gene a, Swi ze land, using Illumina Infinium a ays (San Diego, USA; GSAMD-24 2.0, GSA-24 2.0, Co eExome-24 1.1, and Co eExome-24 1.2). Geno ypes alues we e ob ained wi h GenomeS udio (Illumina). Exome sequencing. Exome cap u e and lib a y p epa a ion was pe o med using he Su eSelec Human All Exon 6 ki (Agilen , San aCla a, USA) and HiSeq Rapid PE Clus e Ki 2 (Illumina, San Diego, USA) wi h 2 μg genomic DNA. Lib a ies we e sequenced on a HiSeq 2500 o a No aSeq 6000 ins umen s (Illumina) (Supplemen a y Da a 1). Raw eads we e mapped o he human genome e e ence sequence (build hg19) wi h he No oalign so wa e (V3.08.00, No oc a Tech- nologies, Selango , Malaysia). Duplica e eads we e hen emo ed using Pica d ( . 2.14.0-SNAPSHOT). Base quali y sco e ecalib a ion was pe o med and a ian calling was done wi h Haplo ypeCalle (GATK, .4.0.3.0). Au oMap equi emen s. Au oMap is composed o Bash, Pe l and R sc ip s. I equi es BCFTools (≥ 1.9), BEDTools (≥ 2.25.0), Pe l (≥ 5.22.0), and R (≥ 3.2.0). The ollowing e sions we e used o all analysis: BCFTools ( 1.9-78-gb7e4ba9), BEDTools ( 2.25.0), Pe l ( 5.22.0), Bash (4.3.48(1)- elease) and R ( 3.5.1). To be p ocessed by Au oMap, a VCF file mus con ain he GT (geno ype) and AD (allelic dep hs o he e and al alleles) o DP4 (numbe o high-quali y e - o wa d bases, e - e e se, al - o wa d, and al - e e se bases) fields. F H V S A 3 P WB 0 4 8 12 0 40 80 120 160 200 A e age numbe o ROHs Median o ROH size a e ages [Mb] Au oMap BCFTools Fil us H3M2 HOMWES A B F 3 W Homozygosi yMappe PLINK Sa yHomozygosi y Sa yVc Homozygosi y SNP−a ay PLINK H P S V * Fig. 3 A e age numbe o ROH de ec ed pe sample (N=26) s. he median o he size a e ages o ROHs pe sample (ROHs la ge han 1Mb).The as e isk indica es he e e ence alue used o compa ison, i.e., da a om SNP a ays analyzed wi h PLINK. E o ba s ep esen s anda d de ia ions o he mean. Sou ce da a a e p o ided in he Sou ce Da a File. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2021) 12:518 | h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467-020-20584-4 | www.na u e.com/na u ecommunica ions 5 Au oMap algo i hm. The fi s s ep o he algo i hm emo es a ian s om he VCF file ha a e loca ed in epea egions, as epo ed by he UCSC genome b owse (h ps://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTables). Va ian s a e hen fil e ed by quali y, based on he pe cen age o al e na i e eads (de aul op ions: –minpe cal 0.25 and –maxpe cal 0.75), on a binomial es o al e na i e and e e ence ead coun s o he e ozygous a ian s (de aul op ion: –binomial 0.000001), and on dep h (de aul op ion: –DP 8). A his poin , he analysis is s opped i he e a e less han 10,000 a ian s su i ing such p ocedu es. ROHs a e subsequen ly de ec ed by a sliding window wi h a fixed size and a h eshold based on he numbe o homozygous a ian s (de aul op ions: –window 7 a ian s and –window h es 5). A e ha , de ec ed ROHs a e immed a hei ends o emo e he e ozygous a ian s and a e ex ended a bo h ends (de aul op ion: –ex end 1 [Mb]). ROHs con aining egions wi hou a ian s o a s e ch la ge han a gi en h eshold (de aul op ion: –maxgap 10 [Mb]) a e spli in o wo di e en ROHs by excluding he egion wi h no a ian s. Finally, ROHs a e fil e ed o ha e a minimal size, a minimal numbe o a ian s and a minimal pe cen age o homozygous a ian s (de aul op ions: –minsize 1 [Mb], –min a 25, and –minpe c 88 [%]). P obabili ies o binomial dis ibu ion. P obabili ies o binomial dis ibu ions we e calcula ed wi h he Pe l sc ip w i en by T.J. Finney (h ps://www.halo ype. com/RKM/figu es/TJF/binomial. x ). O e lap o ROHs. O e lap o ROHs we e ob ained wi h bed ools and he ol- lowing command: bed ools in e sec -a a.bed -b b.bed Pa ame e s used o de ec ROHs om a ay da a. PLINK was used wi h de aul pa ame e s, excep o a ian s wi h mino allele coun o 2 pe ba ch, o fil e ing agains e y a e a ian s, o en ep esen ing alse-posi i e38,39: plink –bfile bfile –homozyg –ou ou –homozyg-window-he 1 –homozyg-densi y 50 –homozyg-gap 1000 –homozyg-window-missing 5 –homozyg-window-snp 50 – homozyg-snp 100 –homozyg-window- h eshold 0.05 –homozyg-kb 1000 –mac 2 De ec ion o ROHs om exome da a. All a ailable ools we e used wi h de aul pa ame e s o ea ing inpu files, op imized by hei de elope s, excep o PLINK. Fo his ool, we ook he pa ame e s defined by Kanche a e al. 15, o op imize sensi i i y, and e- es ed he mos impo an pa ame e , i.e., he numbe o allowed he e ozygous SNP pe ROH. This pa ame e is impo an o ake in accoun he noise in exome sequencing da a. Indeed, low alues o his pa ame e esul ed in low sensi i i y. We chose o use a alue o 3 since i p oduced a highe sensi i i y wi h accep able specifici y (Supplemen a y Fig. 5). The command used was: plink –bfile bfile –homozyg –ou ou –homozyg-kb 1000 –homozyg-window-he 3 –homozyg-densi y 10000 –homozyg-gap 10000 –homozyg-window-missing 10 – homozyg-window-snp 20 –homozyg-snp 10 –homozyg-window- h eshold 0.05 Fo Sa yHomozygosi y and Sa yVc Homozygosi y, we used he p e-p epa ed linkage da a om 1000 Genomes p ojec , p o ided by he de elope s (h ps:// gi hub.com/ demolgen/Sa ySui e). Pa ame e used o a ian calle s. Sam ools: sam ools mpileup - DP,AD -ug e . as a inpu .bam|bc ools call - mO -o ou . c S elka: configu eS elkaGe mlineWo kflow.py –bam inpu .bam – e e enceFas a e . as a –exome Haplo ypeCalle : ga k –ja a-op ions “-Xmx4g”Haplo ypeCalle -R e . as a –dbsnp dbsnp. c -I $inpu .bam -O ou . c A e calling, a ian s we e fil e ed o be p esen in he egions included in he cap u e ki s, wi h a 100 bp padding on each side. Compu a ions o pe o mances. As a e e ence o ue posi i e alues, we adop ed he me hod desc ibed by Kanche a e al.15, consis ing in he use o he PLINK so wa e7applied wi h de aul pa ame e s on da a om SNP a ays. Sen- si i i y and specifici y we e hen compu ed as ollows: Sensi i i y %ðÞ¼ROHexomeall o e lapping wi h ROHa ay il e ed=To al ROHa ay il e ed; Speci ici y %ðÞ¼ROHexome il e ed o e lapping wi h ROHa ayall=To al ROHexome il e ed; whe e fil e ed ROHs a e la ge han 1 o 5 Mb and excluding gap egions such as cen ome es, elome es, sho a ms, and he e och oma in defined om he gap able in UCSC Table B owse (h ps://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTables). F-sco e was also added as a measu e o accu acy, compu ed as: Fsco e ¼2sensi i i y speci ici y=sensi i i y þspeci ici yðÞ: S a is ical es s.T- es we e pe o med wi h . es unc ion in RS udio ( 1.0.153) wi h R ( 3.5.1). Fo pai ed es : . es (x, y, al e na i e =“ wo.sided”, pai ed =TRUE) Fo unpai ed es : . es (x, y, al e na i e =“ wo.sided”, pai ed =FALSE) Figu es. Figu es we e done wi h ggplo 2 ( 3.3.2) and g idEx a ( 2.3) packages in RS udio ( 1.0.153) wi h R ( 3.5.1). Repo ing summa y. Fu he in o ma ion on esea ch design is a ailable in he Na u e Resea ch Repo ing Summa y linked o his a icle. Da a a ailabili y A ay geno yping da a and exome sequencing da a canno be sha ed because o es ic ions ela ed o he p o ec ion o pe sonal da a, as pe Swiss and Eu opean law. Da a om Figs. 2and 3can be e ie ed in he Sou ce Da a file. Sou ce da a a e p o ided wi h his pape . Code a ailabili y Au oMap code is eely a ailable on Gi Hub (h ps://gi hub.com/mquinodo/Au oMap/) and was deposi ed in he zenodo.o g eposi o y (h ps://doi.o g/10.5281/ zenodo.4279125)40. Recei ed: 17 Ma ch 2020; Accep ed: 9 Decembe 2020; Re e ences 1. Ceballos, F.C., Joshi, P.K., Cla k, D.W., Ramsay, M. & Wilson, J.F. Runs o homozygosi y: windows in o popula ion his o y and ai a chi ec u e. Na Re Gene 19, 220–234 (2018). 2. Pembe on, T. J. e al. Genomic pa e ns o homozygosi y in wo ldwide human popula ions. Am. J. Hum. Gene . 91, 275–292 (2012). 3. McQuillan, R. e al. Runs o homozygosi y in Eu opean popula ions. 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An Alu-media ed duplica ion in NMNAT1, in ol ed in NAD biosyn hesis, causes a no el synd ome, SHILCA, a ec ing mul iple issues and o gans. Hum. Mol. Gene . 29, 2250–2260 (2020). 35. Pe e , V. G. e al. A no el missense a ian in IDH3A causes au osomal ecessi e e ini is pigmen osa. Oph halmic Gene . 40, 177–181 (2019). 36. Moye, A. R. e al. Mu a ions in ARL2BP, a p o ein equi ed o cilia y mic o ubule s uc u e, cause synd omic male in e ili y in humans and mice. PLoS Gene . 15, e1008315 (2019). 37. Rehman, A. U. e al. Explo ing he gene ic landscape o e inal diseases in No h-Wes e n Pakis an e eals a high deg ee o au ozygosi y and a p e alen ounde mu a ion in ABCA4. Genes 11, 12 (2019). 38. W igh , C. F. e al. Assessing he pa hogenici y, pene ance, and exp essi i y o pu a i e disease-causing a ian s in a popula ion se ing. Am. J. Hum. Gene . 104, 275–286 (2019). 39. Weedon, M. N. e al. Assessing he analy ical alidi y o SNP-chips o de ec ing e y a e pa hogenic a ian s: implica ions o di ec - o-consume gene ic es ing. bioRxi 696799 (2019). 40. Quinodoz, M. e al. Au oMap: High Pe o mance Homozygosi y Mapping using Nex -Gene a ion Sequencing Da a (Zenodo, 2020). Acknowledgemen s This wo k was suppo ed by he Swiss Na ional Science Founda ion (g an # 176097, o C.R.) and by he PhD Fellowships in Li e Science o he Uni e si y o Lausanne ( o M.Q.). Au ho con ibu ions M.Q. and C.R. designed he esea ch, w o e he manusc ip , analyzed all he da a, and in e p e ed he esul s. V.P., N.B., A.S., N.S., R.R., M.P., M.M., A.P., A.G.A., A.B.S., and L.C-.S. pa icipa ed o he collec ion o biological samples and DNA ex ac ion. V.P., N.B., B.R.B., K.C., and A.S.-F. pa icipa ed o he expe imen al design and p o ided commen s. Compe ing in e es s The au ho s decla e no compe ing in e es s. Addi ional in o ma ion Supplemen a y in o ma ion is a ailable o his pape a h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s41467- 020-20584-4. Co espondence and eques s o ma e ials should be add essed o C.R. Pee e iew in o ma ion Na u e Communica ions hanks Ryan Dhindsa, Sla é Pe o ski and he o he , anonymous, e iewe o hei con ibu ion o he pee e iew o his wo k. Rep in s and pe mission in o ma ion is a ailable a h p://www.na u e.com/ ep in s Publishe ’s no e Sp inge Na u e emains neu al wi h ega d o ju isdic ional claims in published maps and ins i u ional a filia ions. Open Access This a icle is licensed unde a C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional License, which pe mi s use, sha ing, adap a ion, dis ibu ion and ep oduc ion in any medium o o ma , as long as you gi e app op ia e c edi o he o iginal au ho (s) and he sou ce, p o ide a link o he C ea i e Commons license, and indica e i changes we e made. 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