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a catalog of worldwide biological databases

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified over 180 independent schizophrenia risk loci. Nevertheless, how the risk variants in the reported loci confer schizophrenia susceptibility remains largely unknown. Here we systematically investigate the gene regulatory mechanisms underpinning schizophrenia risk through integrating data from functional genomics (including 30 ChIP-Seq experiments) and position weight matrix (PWM). We identify 132 risk single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that disrupt transcription factor binding and we find that 97 of the 132 TF binding-disrupting SNPs are associated with gene expression in human brain tissues. We validate the regulatory effect of some TF binding-disrupting SNPs with reporter gene assays (9 SNPs) and allele-specific expression analysis (10 SNPs). Our study reveals gene regulatory mechanisms affected by schizophrenia risk SNPs (including widespread disruption of POLR2A and CTCF binding) and identifies target genes for mechanistic studies and drug development. Our results can be accessed and visualized at SZDB database ( http://www.szdb.org/ ).

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a debilitating brain disorder with a complex genetic architecture. Genetic studies, especially recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS), have identified multiple variants (loci) conferring risk to SZ. However, how to efficiently extract meaningful biological information from bulk genetic findings of SZ remains a major challenge. There is a pressing need to integrate multiple layers of data from various sources, eg, genetic findings from GWAS, copy number variations (CNVs), association and linkage studies, gene expression, protein-protein interaction (PPI), co-expression, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), and Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) data, to provide a comprehensive resource to facilitate the translation of genetic findings into SZ molecular diagnosis and mechanism study. Here we developed the SZDB database (http://www.szdb.org/), a comprehensive resource for SZ research. SZ genetic data, gene expression data, network-based data, brain eQTL data, and SNP function annotation information were systematically extracted, curated and deposited in SZDB. In-depth analyses and systematic integration were performed to identify top prioritized SZ genes and enriched pathways. Multiple types of data from various layers of SZ research were systematically integrated and deposited in SZDB. In-depth data analyses and integration identified top prioritized SZ genes and enriched pathways. We further showed that genes implicated in SZ are highly co-expressed in human brain and proteins encoded by the prioritized SZ risk genes are significantly interacted. The user-friendly SZDB provides high-confidence candidate variants and genes for further functional characterization. More important, SZDB provides convenient online tools for data search and browse, data integration, and customized data analyses.