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Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 (MacTel) is a rare degenerative retinal disease with complex genetic architecture. We performed a genome-wide association study on 1,067 MacTel patients and 3,799 controls, which identified eight novel genome-wide significant loci (p < 5 × 10−8), and confirmed all three previously reported loci. Using MAGMA, eQTL and transcriptome-wide association analysis, we prioritised 48 genes implicated in serine-glycine biosynthesis, metabolite transport, and retinal vasculature and thickness. Mendelian randomization indicated a likely causative role of serine (FDR = 3.9 × 10−47) and glycine depletion (FDR = 0.006) as well as alanine abundance (FDR = 0.009). Polygenic risk scoring achieved an accuracy of 0.74 and was associated in UKBiobank with retinal damage (p = 0.009). This represents the largest genetic study on MacTel to date and further highlights genetically-induced systemic and tissue-specific metabolic dysregulation in MacTel patients, which impinges on retinal health. Melanie Bahlo and colleagues report a genome-wide association study on the retinal degenerative disease Macular Telangiectasia Type 2, identifying 8 new genome-wide significant loci. Further analyses suggest key roles for genes that transport and synthesize the amino acids serine, glycine and alanine, providing a more accurate genomic tool for identifying people at risk of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01972-y [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]