A Flexible Approach for the Analysis of Rare Variants Allowing for a Mixture of Effects on Binary or Quantitative Traits

Multiple rare variants either within or across genes have been hypothesised to collectively influence complex human traits. The increasing availability of high throughput sequencing technologies offers the opportunity to study the effect of rare variants on these traits. However, appropriate and computationally efficient analytical methods are required to account for collections of rare variants that display a combination of protective, deleterious and null effects on the trait. We have developed a novel method for the analysis of rare genetic variation in a gene, region or pathway that, by simply aggregating summary statistics at each variant, can: (i) test for the presence of a mixture of effects on a trait; (ii) be applied to both binary and quantitative traits in population-based and family-based data; (iii) adjust for covariates to allow for non-genetic risk factors and; (iv) incorporate imputed genetic variation. In addition, for preliminary identification of promising genes, the method can be applied to association summary statistics, available from meta-analysis of published data, for example, without the need for individual level genotype data. Through simulation, we show that our method is immune to the presence of bi-directional effects, with no apparent loss in power across a range of different mixtures, and can achieve greater power than existing approaches as long as summary statistics at each variant are robust. We apply our method to investigate association of type-1 diabetes with imputed rare variants within genes in the major histocompatibility complex using genotype data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium.Author Summary: Rapid advances in sequencing technology mean that it is now possible to directly assay rare genetic variation. In addition, the availability of almost fully sequenced human genomes by the 1000 Genomes Project allows genotyping at rare variants that are not present on arrays commonly used in genome-wide association studies. Rare variants within a gene or region may act to collectively influence a complex trait. Methods for testing these rare variants should be able to account for a combination of those that serve to either increase, decrease or have no effect on the trait of interest. Here, we introduce a method for the analysis of a collection of rare genetic variants, within a gene or region, which assesses evidence for a mixture of effects. Our method simply aggregates summary statistics at each variant and, as such, can be applied to both population and family-based data, to binary or quantitative traits and to either directly genotyped or imputed data. In addition, it does not require individual level genotype or phenotype data, and can be adjusted for non-genetic risk factors. We illustrate our approach by examining imputed rare variants in the major histocompatibility complex for association with type-1 diabetes using genotype data from the Wellcome Trust case Control Consortium.