Prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with renal anomalies by whole genome sequencing

Abstract

To explore the genetic basis for fetuses with renal anomalies. Genomic DNA of four fetuses and their parents was extracted from amniotic fluid and peripheral blood samples and subjected to whole genome sequencing. Candidate variants were predicted according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines and validated by SNP-array and Sanger sequencing. Two fetuses were found to carry a 1.45 Mb pathogenic microdeletion in 17q12 and a pathogenic 1.85 Mb microduplication at 1q21.1-21.2, respectively. One fetus was found to harbor compound heterozygous variants c.8301del (p.Asn2768Thrfs*18) and c.4481del (p.Asn1494Thrfs*6) of the PKHD1 gene, which were predicted to be pathogenic. And one fetus has harbored homozygous c.1372dup (p.Thr458Asnfs*5) variants of the BBS12 gene, which was predicted to be likely pathogenic. All variants were validated by Sanger sequencing. Whole genome sequencing can enable efficient prenatal diagnosis for fetuses with renal anomalies with high accuracy.