Frontiers in Aging (Apr 2022)

Somatic Mutations Detected in Parkinson Disease Could Affect Genes With a Role in Synaptic and Neuronal Processes

  • Irene Lobon,
  • Manuel Solís-Moruno,
  • Manuel Solís-Moruno,
  • David Juan,
  • Ashraf Muhaisen,
  • Ashraf Muhaisen,
  • Federico Abascal,
  • Paula Esteller-Cucala,
  • Raquel García-Pérez,
  • Maria Josep Martí,
  • Maria Josep Martí,
  • Eduardo Tolosa,
  • Eduardo Tolosa,
  • Jesús Ávila,
  • Jesús Ávila,
  • Raheleh Rahbari,
  • Tomas Marques-Bonet,
  • Tomas Marques-Bonet,
  • Tomas Marques-Bonet,
  • Tomas Marques-Bonet,
  • Ferran Casals,
  • Ferran Casals,
  • Eduardo Soriano,
  • Eduardo Soriano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2022.851039
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

Read online

The role of somatic mutations in complex diseases, including neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, is becoming increasingly clear. However, to date, no study has shown their relation to Parkinson disease’s phenotype. To explore the relevance of embryonic somatic mutations in sporadic Parkinson disease, we performed whole-exome sequencing in blood and four brain regions of ten patients. We identified 59 candidate somatic single nucleotide variants (sSNVs) through sensitive calling and a careful filtering strategy (COSMOS). We validated 27 of them with amplicon-based ultra-deep sequencing, with a 70% validation rate for the highest-confidence variants. The identified sSNVs are in genes with synaptic functions that are co-expressed with genes previously associated with Parkinson disease. Most of the sSNVs were only called in blood but were also found in the brain tissues with ultra-deep amplicon sequencing, demonstrating the strength of multi-tissue sampling designs.

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