MicroRNA binding site variation is enriched inpsychiatric disorders

Psychiatric disorders and other complex traits have a polygenic architecture, often associated with dozens or even hundreds of independent genomic loci. As each of these have a relatively small influence on the trait, the dissection of their biological components is a non-trivial task. For psychiatric disorders in particular, the majority of associated loci lie within non-coding regions of the genome, suggesting that most of the genetic risk for disease originates from the disruption of regulatory sequences. While previously exploration of the heritability of these sequences has focused on variants that modify DNA elements, those that alter cis-acting RNA sequences, such as miRNA binding sites, are also likely to have a significant impact in these disorders. MiRNA have already been shown to be dysregulated in these disorders through both genetic and environmental influence, so it is reasonable to suspect their target genes may also be affected by common variation. In this study, we investigated the distribution of miRNA binding site variants (MBSVs) predicted to alter miRNA binding affinity in psychiatric disorders and observed significant enrichment in schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and anorexia nervosa. We also observed significant enrichment of MBSVs in genes targeted by several miRNA families, including miR-335-5p, miR-21-5p/590-5p, miR-361-5p, and miR-557 in both schizophrenia and depression, and nominally significant enrichment of MBSV for miR-323b-3p in schizophrenia. We also identified a significant association between MBSVs in gene sets involved in regulation of the synapse and synaptic depression in schizophrenia. While these observations support the role of miRNA in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, we also observed significant association of MBSVs in other complex traits suggesting that MBSVs are an important class of regulatory variants that have functional implications for many disorders.