About this Research Topic

Background

Recently, genetics and genetic epidemiology have been used successfully in understanding the intricate mechanisms of psychiatric disorders even though they do not normally follow the standard patterns of Mendelian inheritance. With the substantial development and advance in high-throughput sequencing technologies, it is now possible to investigate the genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders at the whole-genome level. Through genome-wide association studies as well as full genome sequence analyses, some variants of potential interest are gradually identified.
Despite that, there are a number of associated variants waiting to be discovered. Additionally, using a single level of genomic data to identify susceptibility loci or therapeutic factors is far from desired, sometimes inducing inevitable bias. The etiology and development of psychiatric disorder is a complex regulatory system that involves gene mutations, epigenetic alterations, abnormal gene expression and dysfunction of signaling pathway. Integrative analysis of multi-omics data in various levels including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics has become a research hotspot and is considered to provide solid and innovative insights on clinical practice, such as early diagnosis, personalized medicine and identification of druggable molecular targets.
The understanding of mutations found through pathway analyses could help us understand the etiology and development of psychiatric disorders. Genetic polymorphism could also be associated with differential methylation in some cases, adding another layer of complexity via the interaction of genetics and environmental factors, thus the derived genetic epidemiology as a new discipline helps to build on the more classical epidemiological studies through understanding how genetic factors may interact with environmental factors in the context of psychiatric disorders in the population.

Given that, the research topic aims to archive several main targets as described below:
1. Further identification of more associated genetic factors for those common psychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BPD), schizophrenia (SCZ), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the other psychiatric disorders or traits;
2. Confirmation of the association or the causality between genetic factors and psychiatric disorders by the combination of the multi-omics data and the advanced bioinformatics algorithms, such as Bayesian Networks and Mendelian Randomization;
3. Investigation of the functional roles and clinical implications of genetic factors using various bioinformatics tools, cell, and animal models, and clinical data;
4. Exploration of the relationship and even the impacting direction for psychiatric disorders with the assumed causes and consequences, e.g. long-term chronic diseases.

This research topic welcomes original articles (Original Research and Brief Research Report) and review articles (Review, Mini Review, Systematic Review and Meta-analysis) on the research of genetics or genetic epidemiology of the common psychiatric disorders, including but not limited to the following disorders or traits:

- Psychiatric disorders (Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety disorders, Epilepsy, etc.)
- Psychiatric traits (Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, etc.)
- Causes and consequences of psychiatric disorders (the emerging COVID-19, Cancer, Allergic diseases and sleeping problem, etc.)

Keywords: Genetics, Genetic epidemiology, Multi-omics data, Functional and clinical role of genetic variants, Psychiatric disorders

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