Functional and Genomic Features of Human Genes Mutated in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

BACKGROUND: In recent years, a large number of studies around the world have led to the identification of causal genes for hereditary types of common and rare neurological and psychiatric disorders. OBJECTIVE: To explore the functional and genomic features of known human genes mutated in neuropsychiatric disorders. METHODS: A systematic search was used to develop a comprehensive catalog of genes mutated in neuropsychiatric disorders (NPD). Functional enrichment and protein-protein interaction analyses were carried out. A false discovery rate approach was used for correction for multiple testing. RESULTS: We found several functional categories that are enriched among NPD genes, such as gene ontologies, protein domains, tissue expression, signaling pathways and regulation by brain-expressed miRNAs and transcription factors. Sixty six of those NPD genes are known to be druggable. Several topographic parameters of protein-protein interaction networks and the degree of conservation between orthologous genes were identified as significant among NPD genes. CONCLUSION: These results represent one of the first analyses of enrichment of functional categories of genes known to harbor mutations for NPD. These findings could be useful for a future creation of computational tools for prioritization of novel candidate genes for NPD.