1. De novo variants in the RNU4-2 snRNA cause a frequent neurodevelopmental syndrome.
- Author
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Chen, Yuyang, Dawes, Ruebena, Kim, Hyung, Ljungdahl, Alicia, Stenton, Sarah, Walker, Susan, Lord, Jenny, Lemire, Gabrielle, Martin-Geary, Alexandra, Ganesh, Vijay, Ma, Jialan, Ellingford, Jamie, Delage, Erwan, DSouza, Elston, Dong, Shan, Adams, David, Allan, Kirsten, Bakshi, Madhura, Baldwin, Erin, Berger, Seth, Bernstein, Jonathan, Bhatnagar, Ishita, Blair, Ed, Brown, Natasha, Burrage, Lindsay, Chapman, Kimberly, Coman, David, Compton, Alison, Cunningham, Chloe, DSouza, Precilla, Danecek, Petr, Délot, Emmanuèle, Dias, Kerith-Rae, Elias, Ellen, Elmslie, Frances, Evans, Care-Anne, Ewans, Lisa, Ezell, Kimberly, Fraser, Jamie, Gallacher, Lyndon, Genetti, Casie, Goriely, Anne, Grant, Christina, Haack, Tobias, Higgs, Jenny, Hinch, Anjali, Hurles, Matthew, Kuechler, Alma, Lachlan, Katherine, Lalani, Seema, Lecoquierre, François, Leitão, Elsa, Fevre, Anna, Leventer, Richard, Liebelt, Jan, Lindsay, Sarah, Lockhart, Paul, Ma, Alan, Macnamara, Ellen, Mansour, Sahar, Maurer, Taylor, Mendez, Hector, Metcalfe, Kay, Montgomery, Stephen, Moosajee, Mariya, Nassogne, Marie-Cécile, Neumann, Serena, ODonoghue, Michael, OLeary, Melanie, Palmer, Elizabeth, Pattani, Nikhil, Phillips, John, Pitsava, Georgia, Pysar, Ryan, Rehm, Heidi, Reuter, Chloe, Revencu, Nicole, Riess, Angelika, Rius, Rocio, Rodan, Lance, Roscioli, Tony, Rosenfeld, Jill, Sachdev, Rani, Shaw-Smith, Charles, Simons, Cas, Sisodiya, Sanjay, Snell, Penny, St Clair, Laura, Stark, Zornitza, Stewart, Helen, Tan, Tiong, Tan, Natalie, Temple, Suzanna, Thorburn, David, Tifft, Cynthia, Uebergang, Eloise, VanNoy, Grace, Vasudevan, Pradeep, Vilain, Eric, and Viskochil, David
- Subjects
Humans ,RNA ,Small Nuclear ,Neurodevelopmental Disorders ,Female ,Male ,Brain ,Heterozygote ,Alleles ,Syndrome ,Spliceosomes ,Animals - Abstract
Around 60% of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) remain undiagnosed after comprehensive genetic testing, primarily of protein-coding genes1. Large genome-sequenced cohorts are improving our ability to discover new diagnoses in the non-coding genome. Here we identify the non-coding RNA RNU4-2 as a syndromic NDD gene. RNU4-2 encodes the U4 small nuclear RNA (snRNA), which is a critical component of the U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP complex of the major spliceosome2. We identify an 18 base pair region of RNU4-2 mapping to two structural elements in the U4/U6 snRNA duplex (the T-loop and stem III) that is severely depleted of variation in the general population, but in which we identify heterozygous variants in 115 individuals with NDD. Most individuals (77.4%) have the same highly recurrent single base insertion (n.64_65insT). In 54 individuals in whom it could be determined, the de novo variants were all on the maternal allele. We demonstrate that RNU4-2 is highly expressed in the developing human brain, in contrast to RNU4-1 and other U4 homologues. Using RNA sequencing, we show how 5 splice-site use is systematically disrupted in individuals with RNU4-2 variants, consistent with the known role of this region during spliceosome activation. Finally, we estimate that variants in this 18 base pair region explain 0.4% of individuals with NDD. This work underscores the importance of non-coding genes in rare disorders and will provide a diagnosis to thousands of individuals with NDD worldwide.
- Published
- 2024