RNAseq analysis for the diagnosis of muscular dystrophy

Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2015 Dec 8;3(1):55-60. doi: 10.1002/acn3.267. eCollection 2016 Jan.

Abstract

The precise genetic cause remains elusive in nearly 50% of patients with presumed neurogenetic disease, representing a significant barrier for clinical care. This is despite significant advances in clinical genetic diagnostics, including the application of whole-exome sequencing and next-generation sequencing-based gene panels. In this study, we identify a deep intronic mutation in the DMD gene in a patient with muscular dystrophy using both conventional and RNAseq-based transcriptome analyses. The implications of our data are that noncoding mutations likely comprise an important source of unresolved genetic disease and that RNAseq is a powerful platform for detecting such mutations.