RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.
A large-scale genome–lipid association map guides lipid identification
Linke, V., Overmyer, K., Miller, I., Brademan, D., Hutchins, P., Trujillo, E., Reddy, T., Russell, J., Cushing, E., Schueler, K., Stapleton, D., Rabaglia, M., Keller, M., Gatti, D., Keele, G., Pham, D., Broman, K., Churchill, G., Attie, A., & Coon, J. (2020). A large-scale genome–lipid association map guides lipid identification. Nature Metabolism, 2(10), 1149-+. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-020-00278-3
Despite the crucial roles of lipids in metabolism, we are still at the early stages of comprehensively annotating lipid species and their genetic basis. Mass spectrometry–based discovery lipidomics offers the potential to globally survey lipids and their relative abundances in various biological samples. To discover the genetics of lipid features obtained through high-resolution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, we analysed liver and plasma from 384 diversity outbred mice, and quantified 3,283 molecular features. These features were mapped to 5,622 lipid quantitative trait loci and compiled into a public web resource termed LipidGenie. The data are cross-referenced to the human genome and offer a bridge between genetic associations in humans and mice. Harnessing this resource, we used genome–lipid association data as an additional aid to identify a number of lipids, for example gangliosides through their association with B4galnt1, and found evidence for a group of sex-specific phosphatidylcholines through their shared locus. Finally, LipidGenie’s ability to query either mass or gene-centric terms suggests acyl-chain-specific functions for proteins of the ABHD family.