Large Inverted Duplications in the Human Genome Form via a Fold-Back Mechanism

Karen E. Hermetz, Scott Newman, Karen N. Conneely, Christa L. Martin, Blake C. Ballif, Lisa G. Shaffer, Jannine D. Cody, M. Katharine Rudd

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

Inverted duplications are a common type of copy number variation (CNV) in germline and somatic genomes. Large duplications that include many genes can lead to both neurodevelopmental phenotypes in children and gene amplifications in tumors. There are several models for inverted duplication formation, most of which include a dicentric chromosome intermediate followed by breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycles, but the mechanisms that give rise to the inverted dicentric chromosome in most inverted duplications remain unknown. Here we have combined high-resolution array CGH, custom sequence capture, next-generation sequencing, and long-range PCR to analyze the breakpoints of 50 nonrecurrent inverted duplications in patients with intellectual disability, autism, and congenital anomalies. For half of the rearrangements in our study, we sequenced at least one breakpoint junction. Sequence analysis of breakpoint junctions reveals a normal-copy disomic spacer between inverted and non-inverted copies of the duplication. Further, short inverted sequences are present at the boundary of the disomic spacer and the inverted duplication. These data support a mechanism of inverted duplication formation whereby a chromosome with a double-strand break intrastrand pairs with itself to form a "fold-back" intermediate that, after DNA replication, produces a dicentric inverted chromosome with a disomic spacer corresponding to the site of the fold-back loop. This process can lead to inverted duplications adjacent to terminal deletions, inverted duplications juxtaposed to translocations, and inverted duplication ring chromosomes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere1004139
JournalPLoS Genetics
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics(clinical)
  • Genetics
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Research

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Large Inverted Duplications in the Human Genome Form via a Fold-Back Mechanism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this