Author: "Alan H Beggs" / Topic: biology - Searchworks@Jio Institute Digital Library Search Results

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1. Heterozygous loss-of-function variants significantly expand the phenotypes associated with loss of GDF11

Author: Thomas A. Ravenscroft, Jennifer B. Phillips, Elizabeth Fieg, Sameer S. Bajikar, Judy Peirce, Jeremy Wegner, Alia A. Luna, Eric J. Fox, Yi-Lin Yan, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Jonathan Zirin, Oguz Kanca, Maria T. Acosta, Margaret Adam, David R. Adams, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Justin Alvey, Laura Amendola, Ashley Andrews, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanya, Dustin Baldridge, Jim Bale, Michael Bamshad, Deborah Barbouth, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Anita Beck, Alan H. Beggs, Edward Behrens, Gill Bejerano, Jimmy Bennet, Beverly Berg-Rood, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, Stephanie Bivona, Elizabeth Blue, John Bohnsack, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Lorenzo Botto, Brenna Boyd, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Gabrielle Brown, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Manish J. Butte, Peter Byers, William E. Byrd, John Carey, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Sirisak Chanprasert, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, Matthew Coggins, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Andrew B. Crouse, Michael Cunningham, Precilla D’Souza, Hongzheng Dai, Surendra Dasari, Joie Davis, Jyoti G. Dayal, Matthew Deardorff, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Katrina Dipple, Daniel Doherty, Naghmeh Dorrani, Argenia L. Doss, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Laura Duncan, Dawn Earl, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Marni Falk, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Laurie C. Findley, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Laure Fresard, William A. Gahl, Ian Glass, Bernadette Gochuico, Rena A. Godfrey, Katie Golden-Grant, Alica M. Goldman, Madison P. Goldrich, David B. Goldstein, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Irma Gutierrez, Sihoun Hahn, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Kelly Hassey, Nichole Hayes, Frances High, Anne Hing, Fuki M. Hisama, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Martha Horike-Pyne, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Laryssa Huryn, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Gail P. Jarvik, Jeffrey Jarvik, Suman Jayadev, Lefkothea Karaviti, Jennifer Kennedy, Dana Kiley, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Elijah Kravets, Susan Korrick, Mary Koziura, Joel B. Krier, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Christina Lam, Grace L. LaMoure, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, Lea Latham, Kimberly LeBlanc, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Pengfei Liu, Xue Zhong Liu, Nicola Longo, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, John MacDowall, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, Bryan C. Mak, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Rong Mao, Kenneth Maravilla, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Gabor Marth, Beth A. Martin, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Jacob McCauley, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Elisabeth McGee, Heather Mefford, J. Lawrence Merritt, Matthew Might, Ghayda Mirzaa, Eva Morava, Paolo Moretti, Paolo M. Moretti, Deborah Mosbrook-Davis, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Anna Nagy, Mariko Nakano-Okuno, Avi Nath, Stan F. Nelson, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Deborah Nickerson, Shirley Nieves-Rodriguez, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Laura Pace, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Christina GS. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, Lorraine Potocki, Bradley Power, Barbara N. Pusey, Aaron Quinlan, Wendy Raskind, Archana N. Raja, Deepak A. Rao, Genecee Renteria, Chloe M. Reuter, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Natalie Rosenwasser, Francis Rossignol, Maura Ruzhnikov, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, C. Ron Scott, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Kelly Schoch, Daryl A. Scott, Vandana Shashi, Jimann Shin, Rebecca Signer, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Edward C. Smith, Kevin S. Smith, Emily Solem, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Ben Solomon, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Kathleen Sullivan, Angela Sun, Shirley Sutton, David A. Sweetser, Virginia Sybert, Holly K. Tabor, Amelia L.M. Tan, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Audrey Thurm, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Brianna M. Tucker, Tiina K. Urv, Adeline Vanderver, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Stephanie Wallace, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Melissa Walker, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Michael F. Wangler, Patricia A. Ward, Daniel Wegner, Mark Wener, Tara Wenger, Katherine Wesseling Perry, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Jordan Whitlock, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Shinya Yamamoto, John Yang, Muhammad Yousef, Diane B. Zastrow, Wadih Zein, Chunli Zhao, Stephan Zuchner, Paul J. Benke, Eric S. Cameron, Vincent Strehlow, Konrad Platzer, Rami Abou Jamra, Chiara Klöckner, Matthew Osmond, Thomas Licata, Samantha Rojas, David Dyment, Josephine S.C. Chong, Sharyn Lincoln, John H. Postlethwait, Joel Krier, and Hugo J. Bellen
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Craniofacial abnormality, Mutation, Missense, 030105 genetics & heredity, Biology, Article, Frameshift mutation, Craniofacial Abnormalities, 03 medical and health sciences, medicine, Animals, Humans, Missense mutation, Craniofacial, Allele, Zebrafish, Genetics (clinical), Loss function, Genetics, medicine.disease, biology.organism_classification, Phenotype, Spine, Growth Differentiation Factors, 030104 developmental biology, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins
Abstract: Purpose Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) is a key signaling protein required for proper development of many organ systems. Only one prior study has associated an inherited GDF11 variant with a dominant human disease in a family with variable craniofacial and vertebral abnormalities. Here, we expand the phenotypic spectrum associated with GDF11 variants and document the nature of the variants. Methods We present a cohort of six probands with de novo and inherited nonsense/frameshift (4/6 patients) and missense (2/6) variants in GDF11. We generated gdf11 mutant zebrafish to model loss of gdf11 phenotypes and used an overexpression screen in Drosophila to test variant functionality. Results Patients with variants in GDF11 presented with craniofacial (5/6) , vertebral (5/6), neurological (6/6), visual (4/6), cardiac (3/6), auditory (3/6) and connective tissue abnormalities (3/6). gdf11 mutant zebrafish show craniofacial abnormalities and body segmentation defects that match some patient phenotypes. Expression of the patients’ variants in the fly showed that one nonsense variant in GDF11 is a severe loss-of-function (LOF) alleles whereas the missense variants in our cohort are partial LOF variants. Conclusion GDF11 is needed for human development, particularly neuronal development, and LOF GDF11 alleles can affect the development of numerous organs and tissues.
Published: 2021

2. Variants in PRKAR1B cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with autism spectrum disorder, apraxia, and insensitivity to pain

Author: Felix Marbach, Georgi Stoyanov, Florian Erger, Constantine A. Stratakis, Nikolaos Settas, Edra London, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Erin Torti, Chad Haldeman-Englert, Evgenia Sklirou, Elena Kessler, Sophia Ceulemans, Stanley F. Nelson, Julian A. Martinez-Agosto, Christina G.S. Palmer, Rebecca H. Signer, Maria T. Acosta, Margaret Adam, David R. Adams, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Justin Alvey, Laura Amendola, Ashley Andrews, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dustin Baldridge, Jim Bale, Michael Bamshad, Deborah Barbouth, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Anita Beck, Alan H. Beggs, Edward Behrens, Gill Bejerano, Jimmy Bennett, Beverly Berg-Rood, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, Stephanie Bivona, Elizabeth Blue, John Bohnsack, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Lorenzo Botto, Brenna Boyd, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Gabrielle Brown, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Manish J. Butte, Peter Byers, William E. Byrd, John Carey, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Sirisak Chanprasert, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, Matthew Coggins, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Andrew B. Crouse, Michael Cunningham, Precilla D’Souza, Hongzheng Dai, Surendra Dasari, Joie Davis, Jyoti G. Daya, Matthew Deardorff, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Katrina Dipple, Daniel Doherty, Naghmeh Dorrani, Argenia L. Doss, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Laura Duncan, Dawn Earl, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Marni Falk, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Laurie C. Findley, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Laure Fresard, William A. Gahl, Ian Glass, Bernadette Gochuico, Rena A. Godfrey, Katie Golden-Grant, Alica M. Goldman, Madison P. Goldrich, David B. Goldstein, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Irma Gutierrez, Sihoun Hahn, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Kelly Hassey, Nichole Hayes, Frances High, Anne Hing, Fuki M. Hisama, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Martha Horike-Pyne, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Laryssa Huryn, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Gail P. Jarvik, Jeffrey Jarvik, Suman Jayadev, Lefkothea Karaviti, Jennifer Kennedy, Dana Kiley, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Susan Korrick, Mary Kozuira, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Elijah Kravets, Joel B. Krier, Grace L. LaMoure, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Christina Lam, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, Lea Latham, Kimberly LeBlanc, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Pengfei Liu, Xue Zhong Liu, Nicola Longo, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, John MacDowall, Calum A. MacRae, Ellen F. Macnamara, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, Bryan C. Mak, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Rong Mao, Kenneth Maravilla, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Gabor Marth, Beth A. Martin, Martin G. Martin, Shruti Marwaha, Jacob McCauley, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Elisabeth McGee, Heather Mefford, J. Lawrence Merritt, Matthew Might, Ghayda Mirzaa, Eva Morava, Paolo M. Moretti, Paolo Moretti, Deborah Mosbrook-Davis, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Anna Nagy, Mariko Nakano-Okuno, Avi Nath, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Deborah Nickerson, Shirley Nieves-Rodriguez, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Laura Pace, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, Lorraine Potocki, Bradley Power, Barbara N. Pusey, Aaron Quinlan, Archana N. Raja, Deepak A. Rao, Wendy Raskind, Genecee Renteria, Chloe M. Reuter, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Natalie Rosenwasser, Francis Rossignol, Maura Ruzhnikov, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Kelly Schoch, C. Ron Scott, Daryl A. Scott, Vandana Shashi, Jimann Shin, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Edward C. Smith, Kevin S. Smith, Emily Solem, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, null Ben Solomon, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Kathleen Sullivan, Angela Sun, Shirley Sutton, David A. Sweetser, Virginia Sybert, Holly K. Tabor, Amelia L.M. Tan, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Audrey Thurm, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Brianna M. Tucker, Tiina K. Urv, Adeline Vanderver, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Melissa Walker, Stephanie Wallace, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Michael F. Wangler, Patricia A. Ward, Daniel Wegner, Mark Wener, Tara Wenger, Katherine Wesseling Perry, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Jordan Whitlock, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Shinya Yamamoto, John Yang, Muhammad Yousef, Diane B. Zastrow, Wadih Zein, Chunli Zhao, Stephan Zuchner, Marisa V. Andrews, Dorothy K. Grange, Rebecca Willaert, Richard Person, Aida Telegrafi, Aaron Sievers, Magdalena Laugsch, Susanne Theiß, YuZhu Cheng, Olivier Lichtarge, Panagiotis Katsonis, Amber Stocco, and Christian P. Schaaf
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Apraxias, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Pain, Biology, Apraxia, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Neurodevelopmental disorder, Pregnancy, Intellectual Disability, Intellectual disability, medicine, Humans, Missense mutation, Global developmental delay, Genetics (clinical), Genetics, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Human genetics, 030104 developmental biology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Autism spectrum disorder, Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase RIbeta Subunit, Female, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Purpose We characterize the clinical and molecular phenotypes of six unrelated individuals with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder who carry heterozygous missense variants of the PRKAR1B gene, which encodes the R1β subunit of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA). Methods Variants of PRKAR1B were identified by single- or trio-exome analysis. We contacted the families and physicians of the six individuals to collect phenotypic information, performed in vitro analyses of the identified PRKAR1B-variants, and investigated PRKAR1B expression during embryonic development. Results Recent studies of large patient cohorts with neurodevelopmental disorders found significant enrichment of de novo missense variants in PRKAR1B. In our cohort, de novo origin of the PRKAR1B variants could be confirmed in five of six individuals, and four carried the same heterozygous de novo variant c.1003C>T (p.Arg335Trp; NM_001164760). Global developmental delay, autism spectrum disorder, and apraxia/dyspraxia have been reported in all six, and reduced pain sensitivity was found in three individuals carrying the c.1003C>T variant. PRKAR1B expression in the brain was demonstrated during human embryonal development. Additionally, in vitro analyses revealed altered basal PKA activity in cells transfected with variant-harboring PRKAR1B expression constructs. Conclusion Our study provides strong evidence for a PRKAR1B-related neurodevelopmental disorder.
Published: 2021

3. One is the loneliest number: genotypic matchmaking using the electronic health record

Author: Nichole Hayes, Euan A. Ashley, Laura A. Mamounas, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Shirley Sutton, John J.E. Mulvihill, John H. Postlethwait, Richard L. Maas, Jennefer N. Kohler, Dana Kiley, Joel B. Krier, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Xue Zhong Liu, Josh F. Peterson, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Thomas May, Jennifer E. Kyle, David A. Sweetser, Neil H. Parker, Jeanette C. Papp, Manish J. Butte, Calum A. MacRae, Rong Mao, Vandana Shashi, Christopher A. Walsh, Alica M. Goldman, Gabor T. Marth, Sharyn A. Lincoln, David Goldstein, Colleen E. McCormack, Byron L. Lam, Elly Brokamp, Lynette Rives, Lee-kai Wang, Lorraine Potocki, Mary Koziura, Matthew T. Wheeler, Teri A. Manolio, Camille L. Birch, Moretti Paolo, Willa Thorson, Fariha Jamal, Cynthia M. Cooper, Yong Huang, Matt Velinder, Catherine H. Sillari, Archana Raja, Andrea L. Gropman, J. Carl Pallais, Amy K. Robertson, Dave Viskochil, William J. Craigen, Thomas C. Markello, Devin Oglesbee, Olveen Carrasquillo, Precilla D'Souza, Lorenzo D. Botto, Hugo J. Bellen, Susan L. Samson, Jim Bale, Lisa Shakachite, Catherine Groden, Kathleen Shields, Jimann Shin, Carlos Ferreira, Lynne A. Wolfe, Melissa A. Haendel, Brent L. Fogel, Joan M. Stoler, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Roy C. Levitt, Gary D. Clark, Daniel J. Wegner, Gill Bejerano, Deborah Krakow, Ashok Balasubramanyam, J. Scott Newberry, Heidi Cope, Jijun Wan, Sandra K. Loo, Laura Duncan, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Leigh Anne Tang, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Matthew Might, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Patrick Allard, Joseph Loscalzo, Bret L. Bostwick, Lisa Emrick, Sarah K. Nicholas, David R. Murdock, Jeremy D. Woods, Alana L. Grajewski, Eva H. Baker, Lindsay C. Burrage, Stephen Pak, Camilo Toro, Ashley Andrews, James P. Orengo, Shawn Levy, Lance H. Rodan, Kelly Schoch, Jyoti G. Dayal, Thomas O. Metz, Kathy Sisco, Stephanie Bivona, Paolo Moretti, Braden E. Boone, Mahshid S. Azamian, Nicole M. Walley, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Rosario Isasi, Jacinda B. Sampson, F. Sessions Cole, Guoyun Yu, Rena A. Godfrey, John F. Bohnsack, Elizabeth A. Burke, John H. Newman, Alden Y. Huang, Patricia A. Ward, Barbara N. Pusey, Maria T. Acosta, Alan H. Beggs, Melissa A. Walker, Shweta U. Dhar, Edwin K. Silverman, Stephan Züchner, Ian R. Lanza, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Anastasia L. Wise, Angela Jones, Nicholas Stong, Irman Forghani, Matthew H. Brush, Michael F. Wangler, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Aaron R. Quinlan, David D. Draper, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Diane B. Zastrow, Daniel C. Dorset, Anna Bican, David J. Eckstein, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Isaac S. Kohane, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, May Christine V. Malicdan, C. Christopher Lau, Mariska Davids, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Beth A. Martin, Daryl A. Scott, Prashant Sharma, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Lauren C. Briere, Shinya Yamamoto, Devon Bonner, Ralph L. Sacco, Amanda J. Yoon, John Yang, Katrina M. Waters, Carlos A. Bacino, Pengfei Liu, Brendan Lee, Lisa Bastarache, Emily G. Kelley, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Jason Hom, Marta M. Majcherska, Robb Rowley, Liliana Fernandez, Carsten Bonnenmann, Stanley F. Nelson, Colleen E. Wahl, Guney Bademci, Justin Alvey, Naghmeh Dorrani, Hane Lee, Lefkothea P. Karaviti, Monte Westerfield, John A. Phillips, Laurel A. Cobban, Chunli Zhao, Nicola Longo, Donna M. Krasnewich, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Tiina K. Urv, Christine M. Eng, Chloe M. Reuter, Ingrid A. Holm, Jozef Lazar, Emilie D. Douine, Susan A. Korrick, Alexa T. McCray, Richard A. Lewis, Ronit Marom, Kimberly LeBlanc, Cynthia J. Tifft, Cecilia Esteves, David R. Adams, Donna M. Brown, Avi Nath, Rebecca Signer, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martinez-Agosto, Jacob L. McCauley, Alyssa A. Tran, Jennifer A. Sullivan, William A. Gahl, Brendan C. Lanpher, Marie Morimoto, Donna Novacic, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Paul G. Fisher, Fred F. Telischi, Shruti Marwaha, Heather A. Colley, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Seema R. Lalani, Deborah Barbouth, Jennifer E. Posey, Yong-hui Jiang, Jennifer Wambach, Mario Saporta, Jean M. Johnston, Dustin Baldridge, Timothy Schedl, Pace Laura, Ellen Macnamara, Joy D. Cogan, Kevin S. Smith, David M. Koeller, Genecee Renteria, Maura R.Z. Ruzhnikov, Christina G.S. Palmer, Valerie Maduro, Frances A. High, Gerard T. Berry, Holly K. Tabor, Terra R. Coakley, Surendra Dasari, Neil A. Hanchard, David P. Bick, Laure Fresard, Rizwan Hamid, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Gabriel F. Batzli, Judy Schaechter, John C. Carey, Tyra Estwick, and Mustafa Tekin
Subjects: World Wide Web, Electronic health record, Biology, Genetics (clinical)
Published: 2021

4. RCL1 copy number variants are associated with a range of neuropsychiatric phenotypes

Author: Casie A. Genetti, Ferne Pinard, Abhijit S. Rao, Emily A. Garvey, Stephen W. Scherer, Christopher A. Walsh, Dimitri J. Stavropoulos, Mehdi Zarrei, Adam W. Hansen, Eugene J. D'Angelo, Emma A. Deaso, Annmarie Caracansi, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Hesham M. Hamoda, Richard S. Smith, Mark P. Gorman, Alan H. Beggs, Jianqiao Li, Richard A. Gibbs, Devon Carroll, Catherine A. Brownstein, Joseph Gonzalez-Heydrich, Jennifer L. Howe, David C. Glahn, Margaret A. Hojlo, Lance H. Rodan, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Joshua J. Bowen, Kristin Cabral, and Weimin Bi
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Male, Adolescent, DNA Copy Number Variations, Catatonia, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, symbols.namesake, 0302 clinical medicine, Exome Sequencing, medicine, Genetics, Humans, Copy-number variation, Molecular Biology, Index case, Exome sequencing, Mutation, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Psychiatry and Mental health, 030104 developmental biology, Mood, Mendelian inheritance, symbols, Psychiatric disorders, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Mendelian and early-onset severe psychiatric phenotypes often involve genetic variants having a large effect, offering opportunities for genetic discoveries and early therapeutic interventions. Here, the index case is an 18-year-old boy, who at 14 years of age had a decline in cognitive functioning over the course of a year and subsequently presented with catatonia, auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia, aggression, mood dysregulation, and disorganized thoughts. Exome sequencing revealed a stop-gain mutation in RCL1 (NM_005772.4:c.370 C > T, p.Gln124Ter), encoding an RNA 3′-terminal phosphate cyclase-like protein that is highly conserved across eukaryotic species. Subsequent investigations across two academic medical centers identified eleven additional cases of RCL1 copy number variations (CNVs) with varying neurodevelopmental or psychiatric phenotypes. These findings suggest that dosage variation of RCL1 contributes to a range of neurological and clinical phenotypes.
Published: 2021

5. Biallelic MADD variants cause a phenotypic spectrum ranging from developmental delay to a multisystem disorder

Author: Katherine Wesseling Perry, Archana Raja, Emilie D. Douine, Xue Zhong Liu, Brent L. Fogel, Stan F. Nelson, Kenneth R. Maravilla, Eva H. Baker, Dave Viskochil, Kerstin Kutsche, Jordan H. Whitlock, Susan L. Samson, Christine M. Eng, Chloe M. Reuter, Suman Jayadev, David R. Adams, Sihoun Hahn, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Margaret Adam, Heather C Mefford, John C. Carey, Ehsan Ghayoor Karimiani, Donna M. Krasnewich, David Goldstein, Susan A. Korrick, Guoyun Yu, Tomas Honzik, Henry Houlden, Andrea L. Gropman, David A. Sweetser, Anna Bican, Carlos A. Bacino, Liliana Fernandez, Gabrielle Brown, Justin Alvey, Hane Lee, Emanuele G. Coci, Hongzheng Dai, Mario Saporta, Laurel A. Cobban, John F. Bohnsack, Stephanie Fox, Heidi Cope, Tyra Estwick, Lorraine Potocki, Nichole Hayes, Elizabeth A. Burke, Rizwan Hamid, Aaron R. Quinlan, Kelly Hassey, Lindsay C. Burrage, Jane Juusola, Adeline Vanderver, Malik Alawi, Teri A. Manolio, Maja Hempel, Esther M. Maier, Jennifer Kennedy, Bruce D. Gelb, Martha Horike-Pyne, Amarilis Sanchez-Valle, Euan A. Ashley, Surendra Dasari, Elizabeth Blue, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Natalie Rosenwasser, Alan H. Beggs, Bryn D. Webb, Isaac S. Kohane, Kelly Schoch, C. Christopher Lau, Nicole M. Walley, Laura M. Amendola, Genecee Renteria, Catherine H. Sillari, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, R. Frank Kooy, Mariko Nakano-Okuno, Manuela Siekmeyer, Marije E. C. Meuwissen, Stephanie Bivona, Mark Wener, Precilla D'Souza, Olveen Carrasquillo, Paolo Moretti, Diane B. Zastrow, David J. Eckstein, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Holly K. Tabor, William E. Byrd, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Rosario Isasi, Jacinda B. Sampson, Carsten Bonnenmann, J. Lawrence Merritt, Joan M. Stoler, Richard L. Maas, Paul G. Fisher, Jeanette C. Papp, Kimberly LeBlanc, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Mustafa Tekin, Mathias Woidy, Andrew B. Crouse, Katleen Ballon, David Murphy, Matthew T. Wheeler, Joseph Loscalzo, Ellen Macnamara, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Lefkothea P. Karaviti, Chunli Zhao, Ingrid A. Holm, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Alana L. Grajewski, Stephen C. Pak, Ian R. Lanza, Mohammad Doosti, Jennifer E. Posey, Rebecca Signer, Katie Golden-Grant, Christopher A. Walsh, Alica M. Goldman, Jyoti G. Dayal, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Martin G. Martin, Joy D. Cogan, Kevin S. Smith, Deborah A. Nickerson, Elisabeth McGee, Laure Fresard, Rena A. Godfrey, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Kathleen E. Sullivan, Mariska Davids, Melissa A. Walker, Prashant Sharma, Maria Iascone, Neil H. Parker, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Edwin K. Silverman, Michael L. Cunningham, Pengfei Liu, Edward M. Behrens, Sandra K. Loo, David R. Murdock, F. Sessions Cole, C. Ron Scott, Dan Doherty, Elly Brokamp, John H. Newman, Alden Y. Huang, Laura A. Pace, Avi Nath, Jimmy Bennet, Georg Christoph Korenke, Alyssa A. Tran, Gabriel F. Batzli, Jimann Shin, Matthew A. Deardorff, Naghmeh Dorrani, Diane Beysen, Irma Gutierrez, Stanislav Kmoch, Majid Alfadhel, Fred F. Telischi, Jennifer A. Sullivan, William A. Gahl, María Palomares-Bralo, Gerard T. Berry, Colleen E. McCormack, Lance H. Rodan, Reza Maroofian, Lenka Nosková, Judy Schaechter, Lynne A. Wolfe, Deborah Krakow, Daryl A. Scott, Tara Wenger, Jason Hom, Dustin Baldridge, Lynette Rives, Lee-kai Wang, Dawn L. Earl, Ralph L. Sacco, Fernando Santos-Simarro, Irman Forghani, Fuki M. Hisama, Terra R. Coakley, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Jeremy D. Woods, Emily G. Kelley, Jean M. Johnston, Neil A. Hanchard, Amy K. Robertson, Matt Velinder, Byron L. Lam, Wendy H. Raskind, William J. Craigen, Stephan Züchner, Guney Bademci, Julian A. Martinez-Agosto, Mary Koziura, Beth A. Martin, Angela Sun, John A. Phillips, Seema R. Lalani, Daniela Buhas, Emily Solem, Gary D. Clark, Gill Bejerano, Ingo Kurth, Deborah Barbouth, Tiina K. Urv, Fanny Kortüm, Ian A. Glass, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Yong Huang, Roy C. Levitt, Paola Francesca Ajmone, Brenna Boyd, René Santer, Tim Schedl, David D. Draper, Ghayda M. Mirzaa, Aroa Rodríguez Alonso, Stephanie Wallace, Colleen E. Wahl, Calum A. MacRae, Gail P. Jarvik, Jacob L. McCauley, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Ronit Marom, Monte Westerfield, Matthew Might, Poupak Javaher-Haghighi, Brendan C. Lanpher, Devon Bonner, Cynthia J. Tifft, Cecilia Esteves, May Christine V. Malicdan, Jim Bale, Fariha Jamal, Nicola Longo, Christina G.S. Palmer, Lisa Emrick, Peter H. Byers, Vandana Shashi, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Richard A. Lewis, Jijun Wan, Barbara N. Pusey, Maria T. Acosta, Jaak Jaeken, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Shirley Sutton, John Yang, Lorenzo D. Botto, Hilde Peeters, Rong Mao, Catherine Groden, Brendan Lee, Marta M. Majcherska, Rami Abou Jamra, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Joel B. Krier, Majid Mojarrad, Maria Francesca Bedeschi, Mahshid S. Azamian, Shruti Marwaha, Heather A. Colley, Katrina M. Dipple, Sirisak Chanprasert, Alexa T. McCray, Nicholas Stong, Anne V. Hing, Laura A. Mamounas, Edward C. Smith, Lauren C. Briere, John J.E. Mulvihill, Virginia P. Sybert, Maura R.Z. Ruzhnikov, Valerie Maduro, Frances A. High, Manish J. Butte, Willa Thorson, J. Carl Pallais, Jennefer N. Kohler, Dana Kiley, Raphael Bernier, Christina Lam, Michael J. Bamshad, Patricia A. Ward, Michael F. Wangler, Anita E. Beck, Shinya Yamamoto, Beverly Berg-Rood, Robb Rowley, Gabor T. Marth, Cynthia M. Cooper, Jeffrey G. Jarvik, Thomas C. Markello, Saskia Biskup, Devin Oglesbee, Laura Duncan, Elijah Kravets, Daniel J. Wegner, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Sarah K. Nicholas, Jennifer A. Wambach, Marni J. Falk, Brianna M. Tucker, Marie Morimoto, Corina Heller, Donna Novacic, Camilo Toro, Ashley Andrews, James P. Orengo, Shweta U. Dhar, and Pauline E. Schneeberger
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, MAPK/ERK pathway, Death Domain Receptor Signaling Adaptor Proteins, Programmed cell death, Developmental Disabilities, Biology, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Epidermal growth factor, medicine, Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors, Humans, Death domain, Kinase, Original Articles, Phenotype, Hypotonia, Protein Transport, 030104 developmental biology, Mutation, Cancer research, Human medicine, Neurology (clinical), Nervous System Diseases, Signal transduction, medicine.symptom, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Signal Transduction
Abstract: In pleiotropic diseases, multiple organ systems are affected causing a variety of clinical manifestations. Here, we report a pleiotropic disorder with a unique constellation of neurological, endocrine, exocrine, and haematological findings that is caused by biallelic MADD variants. MADD, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activating death domain protein, regulates various cellular functions, such as vesicle trafficking, activity of the Rab3 and Rab27 small GTPases, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced signalling and prevention of cell death. Through national collaboration and GeneMatcher, we collected 23 patients with 21 different pathogenic MADD variants identified by next-generation sequencing. We clinically evaluated the series of patients and categorized the phenotypes in two groups. Group 1 consists of 14 patients with severe developmental delay, endo- and exocrine dysfunction, impairment of the sensory and autonomic nervous system, and haematological anomalies. The clinical course during the first years of life can be potentially fatal. The nine patients in Group 2 have a predominant neurological phenotype comprising mild-to-severe developmental delay, hypotonia, speech impairment, and seizures. Analysis of mRNA revealed multiple aberrant MADD transcripts in two patient-derived fibroblast cell lines. Relative quantification of MADD mRNA and protein in fibroblasts of five affected individuals showed a drastic reduction or loss of MADD. We conducted functional tests to determine the impact of the variants on different pathways. Treatment of patient-derived fibroblasts with TNF-α resulted in reduced phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2, enhanced activation of the pro-apoptotic enzymes caspase-3 and -7 and increased apoptosis compared to control cells. We analysed internalization of epidermal growth factor in patient cells and identified a defect in endocytosis of epidermal growth factor. We conclude that MADD deficiency underlies multiple cellular defects that can be attributed to alterations of TNF-α-dependent signalling pathways and defects in vesicular trafficking. Our data highlight the multifaceted role of MADD as a signalling molecule in different organs and reveal its physiological role in regulating the function of the sensory and autonomic nervous system and endo- and exocrine glands.
Published: 2020

6. De novo EIF2AK1 and EIF2AK2 Variants Are Associated with Developmental Delay, Leukoencephalopathy, and Neurologic Decompensation

Author: Dongxue Mao, Chloe M. Reuter, Maura R.Z. Ruzhnikov, Anita E. Beck, Emily G. Farrow, Lisa T. Emrick, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Katherine M. Mackenzie, Laurie Robak, Matthew T. Wheeler, Lindsay C. Burrage, Mahim Jain, Pengfei Liu, Daniel Calame, Sébastien Küry, Martin Sillesen, Klaus Schmitz-Abe, Davide Tonduti, Luigina Spaccini, Maria Iascone, Casie A. Genetti, Mary K. Koenig, Madeline Graf, Alyssa Tran, Mercedes Alejandro, Brendan H. Lee, Isabelle Thiffault, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Hugo J. Bellen, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Maria T. Acosta, Margaret Adam, David R. Adams, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Justin Alvey, Laura Amendola, Ashley Andrews, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dustin Baldridge, Jim Bale, Michael Bamshad, Deborah Barbouth, Gabriel F. Batzli, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Anita Beck, Alan H. Beggs, Gill Bejerano, Jimmy Bennet, Beverly Berg-Rood, Raphael Bernier, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, Stephanie Bivona, Elizabeth Blue, John Bohnsack, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Lorenzo Botto, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Elizabeth A. Burke, Manish J. Butte, Peter Byers, John Carey, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Sirisak Chanprasert, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Michael Cunningham, Precilla D’Souza, Hongzheng Dai, Surendra Dasari, Mariska Davids, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Katrina Dipple, Daniel Doherty, Naghmeh Dorrani, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Laura Duncan, Dawn Earl, David J. Eckstein, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Laure Fresard, William A. Gahl, Ian Glass, Rena A. Godfrey, Katie Golden-Grant, Alica M. Goldman, David B. Goldstein, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Sihoun Hahn, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Nichole Hayes, Frances High, Anne Hing, Fuki M. Hisama, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Martha Horike-Pyne, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Gail P. Jarvik, Jeffrey Jarvik, Suman Jayadev, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Lefkothea Karaviti, Emily G. Kelley, Dana Kiley, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Susan Korrick, Mary Koziura, Joel B. Krier, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Christina Lam, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, C. Christopher Lau, Kimberly LeBlanc, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Xue Zhong Liu, Nicola Longo, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Rong Mao, Kenneth Maravilla, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Gabor Marth, Beth A. Martin, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Jacob McCauley, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Heather Mefford, J. Lawrence Merritt, Matthew Might, Ghayda Mirzaa, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Avi Nath, Stan F. Nelson, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Deborah Nickerson, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Laura Pace, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Aaron Quinlan, Wendy Raskind, Archana N. Raja, Genecee Renteria, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Robb K. Rowley, Maura Ruzhnikov, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, C. Ron Scott, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Kelly Schoch, Daryl A. Scott, Lisa Shakachite, Prashant Sharma, Vandana Shashi, Jimann Shin, Rebecca Signer, Catherine H. Sillari, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Kevin S. Smith, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Nicholas Stong, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Angela Sun, Shirley Sutton, David A. Sweetser, Virginia Sybert, Holly K. Tabor, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Stephanie Wallace, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Melissa Walker, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Michael F. Wangler, Patricia A. Ward, Daniel Wegner, Mark Wener, Monte Westerfield, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Shinya Yamamoto, John Yang, Amanda J. Yoon, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, Chunli Zhao, and Stephan Zuchner
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, Proband, Ataxia, Adolescent, Developmental Disabilities, Nervous System Malformations, Leukoencephalopathy, eIF-2 Kinase, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Leukoencephalopathies, Report, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Missense mutation, Kinase activity, Child, Genetics (clinical), biology, Leukodystrophy, Genetic Variation, Infant, medicine.disease, White Matter, Hypotonia, Hereditary Central Nervous System Demyelinating Diseases, 030104 developmental biology, Child, Preschool, eIF2B, Immunology, biology.protein, Female, medicine.symptom, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: EIF2AK1 and EIF2AK2 encode members of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase (EIF2AK) family that inhibits protein synthesis in response to physiologic stress conditions. EIF2AK2 is also involved in innate immune response and the regulation of signal transduction, apoptosis, cell proliferation, and differentiation. Despite these findings, human disorders associated with deleterious variants in EIF2AK1 and EIF2AK2 have not been reported. Here, we describe the identification of nine unrelated individuals with heterozygous de novo missense variants in EIF2AK1 (1/9) or EIF2AK2 (8/9). Features seen in these nine individuals include white matter alterations (9/9), developmental delay (9/9), impaired language (9/9), cognitive impairment (8/9), ataxia (6/9), dysarthria in probands with verbal ability (6/9), hypotonia (7/9), hypertonia (6/9), and involuntary movements (3/9). Individuals with EIF2AK2 variants also exhibit neurological regression in the setting of febrile illness or infection. We use mammalian cell lines and proband-derived fibroblasts to further confirm the pathogenicity of variants in these genes and found reduced kinase activity. EIF2AKs phosphorylate eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 subunit 1 (EIF2S1, also known as EIF2α), which then inhibits EIF2B activity. Deleterious variants in genes encoding EIF2B proteins cause childhood ataxia with central nervous system hypomyelination/vanishing white matter (CACH/VWM), a leukodystrophy characterized by neurologic regression in the setting of febrile illness and other stressors. Our findings indicate that EIF2AK2 missense variants cause a neurodevelopmental syndrome that may share phenotypic and pathogenic mechanisms with CACH/VWM.
Published: 2020

7. Artificial intelligence enables comprehensive genome interpretation and nomination of candidate diagnoses for rare genetic diseases

Author: Narayanan Veeraraghavan, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Paul Billings, Keri Ramsey, Casie A. Genetti, Martin G. Reese, Jeanette McCarthy, Terence C. Wong, Marcus Naymik, Catherine A. Brownstein, Vinodh Narayanan, Barry Moore, Britt Sabina Löscher, Mark Yandell, Francisco M. De La Vega, Edgar Javier Hernandez, Kiely N. James, Matthew J. Huentelman, Braden E. Boone, Shawn Levy, Stephen F. Kingsmore, Lucia Guidugli, Andre Franke, Erwin Frise, Shimul Chowdhury, Sander Pajusalu, Alan H. Beggs, and Katrin Õunap
Subjects: Male, Candidate gene, Genotype, Context (language use), Disease, QH426-470, Biology, Clinical decision support system, Genome, Rare Diseases, Artificial Intelligence, Databases, Genetic, Exome Sequencing, Genetics, Humans, Medical diagnosis, Molecular Biology, Exome sequencing, Genetics (clinical), Retrospective Studies, Whole genome sequencing, business.industry, Research, Retrospective cohort study, Genomics, Human genetics, Phenotype, Medicine, Molecular Medicine, Female, Artificial intelligence, business
Abstract: Background Clinical interpretation of genetic variants in the context of the patient’s phenotype is becoming the largest component of cost and time expenditure for genome-based diagnosis of rare genetic diseases. Artificial intelligence (AI) holds promise to greatly simplify and speed genome interpretation by integrating predictive methods with the growing knowledge of genetic disease. Here we assess the diagnostic performance of Fabric GEM, a new, AI-based, clinical decision support tool for expediting genome interpretation. Methods We benchmarked GEM in a retrospective cohort of 119 probands, mostly NICU infants, diagnosed with rare genetic diseases, who received whole-genome or whole-exome sequencing (WGS, WES). We replicated our analyses in a separate cohort of 60 cases collected from five academic medical centers. For comparison, we also analyzed these cases with current state-of-the-art variant prioritization tools. Included in the comparisons were trio, duo, and singleton cases. Variants underpinning diagnoses spanned diverse modes of inheritance and types, including structural variants (SVs). Patient phenotypes were extracted from clinical notes by two means: manually and using an automated clinical natural language processing (CNLP) tool. Finally, 14 previously unsolved cases were reanalyzed. Results GEM ranked over 90% of the causal genes among the top or second candidate and prioritized for review a median of 3 candidate genes per case, using either manually curated or CNLP-derived phenotype descriptions. Ranking of trios and duos was unchanged when analyzed as singletons. In 17 of 20 cases with diagnostic SVs, GEM identified the causal SVs as the top candidate and in 19/20 within the top five, irrespective of whether SV calls were provided or inferred ab initio by GEM using its own internal SV detection algorithm. GEM showed similar performance in absence of parental genotypes. Analysis of 14 previously unsolved cases resulted in a novel finding for one case, candidates ultimately not advanced upon manual review for 3 cases, and no new findings for 10 cases. Conclusions GEM enabled diagnostic interpretation inclusive of all variant types through automated nomination of a very short list of candidate genes and disorders for final review and reporting. In combination with deep phenotyping by CNLP, GEM enables substantial automation of genetic disease diagnosis, potentially decreasing cost and expediting case review.
Published: 2021

8. Lysosomal Storage and Albinism Due to Effects of a De Novo CLCN7 Variant on Lysosomal Acidification

Author: Elena-Raluca Nicoli, Mary R. Weston, Mary Hackbarth, Alissa Becerril, Austin Larson, Wadih M. Zein, Peter R. Baker, John Douglas Burke, Heidi Dorward, Mariska Davids, Yan Huang, David R. Adams, Patricia M. Zerfas, Dong Chen, Thomas C. Markello, Camilo Toro, Tim Wood, Gene Elliott, Mylinh Vu, Wei Zheng, Lisa J. Garrett, Cynthia J. Tifft, William A. Gahl, Debra L. Day-Salvatore, Joseph A. Mindell, May Christine V. Malicdan, Maria T. Acosta, Pankaj Agrawal, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Justin Alvey, Ashley Andrews, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dustin Baldridge, Jim Bale, Deborah Barbouth, Gabriel F. Batzli, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Alan H. Beggs, Gill Bejerano, Hugo J. Bellen, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Stephanie Bivona, John Bohnsack, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Braden E. Boone, Bret L. Bostwick, Lorenzo Botto, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Manish J. Butte, John Carey, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Precilla D'Souza, Surendra Dasari, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Laura Duncan, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Laure Fresard, Rena A. Godfrey, Alica M. Goldman, David B. Goldstein, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Nichole Hayes, Frances High, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Lefkothea Karaviti, Emily G. Kelley, Dana Kiley, David M. Koeller, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Susan Korrick, Mary Koziura, Joel B. Krier, Jennifer E. Kyle, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Kimberly LeBlanc, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Shawn E. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Pengfei Liu, Xue Zhong Liu, Nicola Longo, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Rong Mao, Ronit Marom, Gabor Marth, Beth A. Martin, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Thomas May, Jacob McCauley, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Thomas O. Metz, Matthew Might, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Avi Nath, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Laura Pace, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Aaron Quinlan, Archana N. Raja, Genecee Renteria, Chloe M. Reuter, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Robb K. Rowley, Maura Ruzhnikov, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Kelly Schoch, Daryl A. Scott, Lisa Shakachite, Prashant Sharma, Vandana Shashi, Kathleen Shields, Jimann Shin, Rebecca Signer, Catherine H. Sillari, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Kevin S. Smith, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Nicholas Stong, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Shirley Sutton, David A. Sweetser, Holly K. Tabor, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Melissa Walker, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Michael F. Wangler, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Daniel Wegner, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Shinya Yamamoto, John Yang, Amanda J. Yoon, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, Chunli Zhao, and Stephan Zuchner
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, Albinism, Antiporter, Vacuole, Article, Organomegaly, Mice, Xenopus laevis, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Chloride Channels, Lysosome, Genetics, medicine, Lysosomal storage disease, Animals, Humans, Genetics (clinical), Hypopigmentation, biology, Chemistry, Genetic Variation, Infant, Fibroblasts, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, medicine.disease, Molecular biology, Lysosomal Storage Diseases, 030104 developmental biology, medicine.anatomical_structure, Oocytes, biology.protein, Female, CLCN7, medicine.symptom, Lysosomes, Acids, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Intracellular
Abstract: Optimal lysosome function requires maintenance of an acidic pH maintained by proton pumps in combination with a counterion transporter such as the Cl(−)/H(+) exchanger, CLCN7 (ClC-7), encoded by CLCN7. The role of ClC-7 in maintaining lysosomal pH has been controversial. In this paper, we performed clinical and genetic evaluations of two children of different ethnicities. Both children had delayed myelination and development, organomegaly, and hypopigmentation, but neither had osteopetrosis. Whole-exome and -genome sequencing revealed a de novo c.2144A>G variant in CLCN7 in both affected children. This p.Tyr715Cys variant, located in the C-terminal domain of ClC-7, resulted in increased outward currents when it was heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Fibroblasts from probands displayed a lysosomal pH approximately 0.2 units lower than that of control cells, and treatment with chloroquine normalized the pH. Primary fibroblasts from both probands also exhibited markedly enlarged intracellular vacuoles; this finding was recapitulated by the overexpression of human p.Tyr715Cys CLCN7 in control fibroblasts, reflecting the dominant, gain-of-function nature of the variant. A mouse harboring the knock-in Clcn7 variant exhibited hypopigmentation, hepatomegaly resulting from abnormal storage, and enlarged vacuoles in cultured fibroblasts. Our results show that p.Tyr715Cys is a gain-of-function CLCN7 variant associated with developmental delay, organomegaly, and hypopigmentation resulting from lysosomal hyperacidity, abnormal storage, and enlarged intracellular vacuoles. Our data supports the hypothesis that the ClC-7 antiporter plays a critical role in maintaining lysosomal pH.
Published: 2019

9. Expanding the Spectrum of BAF-Related Disorders: De Novo Variants in SMARCC2 Cause a Syndrome with Intellectual Disability and Developmental Delay

Author: Keren Machol, Justine Rousseau, Sophie Ehresmann, Thomas Garcia, Thi Tuyet Mai Nguyen, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Vandana Shashi, Yong-hui Jiang, Nicholas Stong, Elise Fiala, Marcia Willing, Rolph Pfundt, Tjitske Kleefstra, Megan T. Cho, Heather McLaughlin, Monica Rosello Piera, Carmen Orellana, Francisco Martínez, Alfonso Caro-Llopis, Sandra Monfort, Tony Roscioli, Cheng Yee Nixon, Michael F. Buckley, Anne Turner, Wendy D. Jones, Peter M. van Hasselt, Floris C. Hofstede, Koen L.I. van Gassen, Alice S. Brooks, Marjon A. van Slegtenhorst, Katherine Lachlan, Jessica Sebastian, Suneeta Madan-Khetarpal, Desai Sonal, Naidu Sakkubai, Julien Thevenon, Laurence Faivre, Alice Maurel, Slavé Petrovski, Ian D. Krantz, Jennifer M. Tarpinian, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Brendan H. Lee, Philippe M. Campeau, David R. Adams, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Hayk Barseghyan, Gabriel F. Batzli, Alan H. Beggs, Babak Behnam, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Devon Bonner, Braden E. Boone, Bret L. Bostwick, Lauren C. Briere, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Shan Chen, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Joy D. Cogan, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Precilla D’Souza, Mariska Davids, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Ani Dillon, Katrina M. Dipple, Laurel A. Donnell-Fink, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Ascia Eskin, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Carlos Ferreira, Brent L. Fogel, Noah D. Friedman, William A. Gahl, Emily Glanton, Rena A. Godfrey, David B. Goldstein, Sarah E. Gould, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Lori H. Handley, Matthew R. Herzog, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Ellen M. Howerton, Yong Huang, Howard J. Jacob, Mahim Jain, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Isaac S. Kohane, Donna M. Krasnewich, Elizabeth L. Krieg, Joel B. Krier, Seema R. Lalani, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Hane Lee, Shawn E. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Allen Lipson, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Thomas May, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Matthew Might, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, Jennifer L. Murphy, Donna M. Muzny, Michele E. Nehrebecky, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Jordan S. Orange, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, Loren D.M. Pena, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Chloe M. Reuter, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Kelly Schoch, Molly C. Schroeder, Daryl A. Scott, Prashant Sharma, Rebecca Signer, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kevin S. Smith, Kimberly Splinter, Joan M. Stoler, David A. Sweetser, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Zaheer M. Valivullah, Eric Vilain, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Monte Westerfield, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Shinya Yamamoto, Yaping Yang, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, Allison Zheng, and Clinical Genetics
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, Hypertrichosis, speech delay, Bafopathy, Developmental Disabilities, CACNB4, 0302 clinical medicine, Neurodevelopmental disorder, Intellectual disability, Bafopathy, developmental delay, dysmorphisms, genotype-phenotype correlation, intellectual disability, neurodevelopmental disorder, speech delay, transcriptome, Genetics(clinical), Child, Genetics (clinical), Genetics, Syndrome, Hypotonia, DNA-Binding Proteins, developmental delay, Corticogenesis, intellectual disability, Child, Preschool, Speech delay, Female, medicine.symptom, Hand Deformities, Congenital, dysmorphisms, Adolescent, Micrognathism, genotype-phenotype correlation, Biology, Chromatin remodeling, 03 medical and health sciences, Journal Article, medicine, Humans, Abnormalities, Multiple, Neurodevelopmental disorders Donders Center for Medical Neuroscience [Radboudumc 7], medicine.disease, neurodevelopmental disorder, Reelin Protein, Renal disorders Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 11], 030104 developmental biology, Face, Mutation, biology.protein, transcriptome, Neck, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Transcription Factors
Abstract: Contains fulltext : 202800.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) SMARCC2 (BAF170) is one of the invariable core subunits of the ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling BAF (BRG1-associated factor) complex and plays a crucial role in embryogenesis and corticogenesis. Pathogenic variants in genes encoding other components of the BAF complex have been associated with intellectual disability syndromes. Despite its significant biological role, variants in SMARCC2 have not been directly associated with human disease previously. Using whole-exome sequencing and a web-based gene-matching program, we identified 15 individuals with variable degrees of neurodevelopmental delay and growth retardation harboring one of 13 heterozygous variants in SMARCC2, most of them novel and proven de novo. The clinical presentation overlaps with intellectual disability syndromes associated with other BAF subunits, such as Coffin-Siris and Nicolaides-Baraitser syndromes and includes prominent speech impairment, hypotonia, feeding difficulties, behavioral abnormalities, and dysmorphic features such as hypertrichosis, thick eyebrows, thin upper lip vermilion, and upturned nose. Nine out of the fifteen individuals harbor variants in the highly conserved SMARCC2 DNA-interacting domains (SANT and SWIRM) and present with a more severe phenotype. Two of these individuals present cardiac abnormalities. Transcriptomic analysis of fibroblasts from affected individuals highlights a group of differentially expressed genes with possible roles in regulation of neuronal development and function, namely H19, SCRG1, RELN, and CACNB4. Our findings suggest a novel SMARCC2-related syndrome that overlaps with neurodevelopmental disorders associated with variants in BAF-complex subunits.
Published: 2019

10. An autosomal dominant neurological disorder caused by de novo variants in FAR1 resulting in uncontrolled synthesis of ether lipids

Author: Sacha Ferdinandusse, Kirsty McWalter, Heleen te Brinke, Lodewijk IJlst, Petra M. Mooijer, Jos P.N. Ruiter, Alida E.M. van Lint, Mia Pras-Raves, Eric Wever, Francisca Millan, Maria J. Guillen Sacoto, Amber Begtrup, Mark Tarnopolsky, Lauren Brady, Roger L. Ladda, Susan L. Sell, Catherine B. Nowak, Jessica Douglas, Cuixia Tian, Elizabeth Ulm, Seth Perlman, Arlene V. Drack, Karen Chong, Nicole Martin, Jennifer Brault, Elly Brokamp, Camilo Toro, William A. Gahl, Ellen F. Macnamara, Lynne Wolfe, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Lindsay C. Burrage, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, William J. Craigen, Hongzheng Dai, Shweta U. Dhar, Lisa T. Emrick, Alica M. Goldman, Neil A. Hanchard, Fariha Jamal, Lefkothea Karaviti, Seema R. Lalani, Brendan H. Lee, Richard A. Lewis, Ronit Marom, Paolo M. Moretti, David R. Murdock, Sarah K. Nicholas, James P. Orengo, Jennifer E. Posey, Lorraine Potocki, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Susan L. Samson, Daryl A. Scott, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Michael F. Wangler, Shinya Yamamoto, Christine M. Eng, Pengfei Liu, Patricia A. Ward, Edward Behrens, Matthew Deardorff, Marni Falk, Kelly Hassey, Kathleen Sullivan, Adeline Vanderver, David B. Goldstein, Heidi Cope, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Kelly Schoch, Vandana Shashi, Edward C. Smith, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Nicole M. Walley, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Alan H. Beggs, Gerard T. Berry, Lauren C. Briere, Laurel A. Cobban, Matthew Coggins, Cynthia M. Cooper, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Frances High, Ingrid A. Holm, Susan Korrick, Joel B. Krier, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Calum A. MacRae, J. Carl Pallais, Deepak A. Rao, Lance H. Rodan, Edwin K. Silverman, Joan M. Stoler, David A. Sweetser, Melissa Walker, Chris A. Walsh, Cecilia Esteves, Emily G. Kelley, Isaac S. Kohane, Kimberly LeBlanc, Alexa T. McCray, Anna Nagy, Surendra Dasari, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, Eva Morava, Devin Oglesbee, Guney Bademci, Deborah Barbouth, Stephanie Bivona, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Irman Forghani, Alana Grajewski, Rosario Isasi, Byron Lam, Roy Levitt, Xue Zhong Liu, Jacob McCauley, Ralph Sacco, Mario Saporta, Judy Schaechter, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Stephan Zuchner, Heather A. Colley, Jyoti G. Dayal, David J. Eckstein, Laurie C. Findley, Donna M. Krasnewich, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, John J. Mulvihill, Grace L. LaMoure, Madison P. Goldrich, Tiina K. Urv, Argenia L. Doss, Maria T. Acosta, Carsten Bonnenmann, Precilla D’Souza, David D. Draper, Carlos Ferreira, Rena A. Godfrey, Catherine A. Groden, Valerie V. Maduro, Thomas C. Markello, Avi Nath, Donna Novacic, Barbara N. Pusey, Colleen E. Wahl, Eva Baker, Elizabeth A. Burke, David R. Adams, May Christine V. Malicdan, Cynthia J. Tifft, Lynne A. Wolfe, John Yang, Bradley Power, Bernadette Gochuico, Laryssa Huryn, Lea Latham, Joie Davis, Deborah Mosbrook-Davis, Francis Rossignol, Ben Solomon, John MacDowall, Audrey Thurm, Wadih Zein, Muhammad Yousef, Margaret Adam, Laura Amendola, Michael Bamshad, Anita Beck, Jimmy Bennett, Beverly Berg-Rood, Elizabeth Blue, Brenna Boyd, Peter Byers, Sirisak Chanprasert, Michael Cunningham, Katrina Dipple, Daniel Doherty, Dawn Earl, Ian Glass, Katie Golden-Grant, Sihoun Hahn, Anne Hing, Fuki M. Hisama, Martha Horike-Pyne, Gail P. Jarvik, Jeffrey Jarvik, Suman Jayadev, Christina Lam, Kenneth Maravilla, Heather Mefford, J. Lawrence Merritt, Ghayda Mirzaa, Deborah Nickerson, Wendy Raskind, Natalie Rosenwasser, C. Ron Scott, Angela Sun, Virginia Sybert, Stephanie Wallace, Mark Wener, Tara Wenger, Euan A. Ashley, Gill Bejerano, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Devon Bonner, Terra R. Coakley, Liliana Fernandez, Paul G. Fisher, Laure Fresard, Jason Hom, Yong Huang, Jennefer N. Kohler, Elijah Kravets, Marta M. Majcherska, Beth A. Martin, Shruti Marwaha, Colleen E. McCormack, Archana N. Raja, Chloe M. Reuter, Maura Ruzhnikov, Jacinda B. Sampson, Kevin S. Smith, Shirley Sutton, Holly K. Tabor, Brianna M. Tucker, Matthew T. Wheeler, Diane B. Zastrow, Chunli Zhao, William E. Byrd, Andrew B. Crouse, Matthew Might, Mariko Nakano-Okuno, Jordan Whitlock, Gabrielle Brown, Manish J. Butte, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Naghmeh Dorrani, Emilie D. Douine, Brent L. Fogel, Irma Gutierrez, Alden Huang, Deborah Krakow, Hane Lee, Sandra K. Loo, Bryan C. Mak, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Elisabeth McGee, Stanley F. Nelson, Shirley Nieves-Rodriguez, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, Genecee Renteria, Rebecca H. Signer, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Katherine Wesseling Perry, Jeremy D. Woods, Justin Alvey, Ashley Andrews, Jim Bale, John Bohnsack, Lorenzo Botto, John Carey, Laura Pace, Nicola Longo, Gabor Marth, Paolo Moretti, Aaron Quinlan, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Rong Mao, Monte Westerfield, Anna Bican, Laura Duncan, Rizwan Hamid, Jennifer Kennedy, Mary Kozuira, John H. Newman, John A. Phillips, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Emily Solem, Joy D. Cogan, F. Sessions Cole, Nichole Hayes, Dana Kiley, Kathy Sisco, Jennifer Wambach, Daniel Wegner, Dustin Baldridge, Stephen Pak, Timothy Schedl, Jimann Shin, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Quinten Waisfisz, Petra J.G. Zwijnenburg, Alban Ziegler, Magalie Barth, Rosemarie Smith, Sara Ellingwood, Deborah Gaebler-Spira, Somayeh Bakhtiari, Michael C. Kruer, Antoine H.C. van Kampen, Ronald J.A. Wanders, Hans R. Waterham, David Cassiman, Frédéric M. Vaz, Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, AGEM - Amsterdam Gastroenterology Endocrinology Metabolism, APH - Methodology, Epidemiology and Data Science, APH - Personalized Medicine, Laboratory for General Clinical Chemistry, ARD - Amsterdam Reproduction and Development, Human genetics, ACS - Atherosclerosis & ischemic syndromes, and Amsterdam Reproduction & Development (AR&D)
Subjects: Candidate gene, Hereditary spastic paraplegia, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Neurological disorder, Biology, medicine.disease, Molecular biology, Article, Biochemical phenotype, Bilateral Cataracts, Gene panel, medicine, Ether lipid synthesis, In patient, Genetics (clinical)
Abstract: Author(s): Ferdinandusse, Sacha; McWalter, Kirsty; Te Brinke, Heleen; IJlst, Lodewijk; Mooijer, Petra M; Ruiter, Jos PN; van Lint, Alida EM; Pras-Raves, Mia; Wever, Eric; Millan, Francisca; Guillen Sacoto, Maria J; Begtrup, Amber; Tarnopolsky, Mark; Brady, Lauren; Ladda, Roger L; Sell, Susan L; Nowak, Catherine B; Douglas, Jessica; Tian, Cuixia; Ulm, Elizabeth; Perlman, Seth; Drack, Arlene V; Chong, Karen; Martin, Nicole; Brault, Jennifer; Brokamp, Elly; Toro, Camilo; Gahl, William A; Macnamara, Ellen F; Wolfe, Lynne; Undiagnosed Diseases Network; Waisfisz, Quinten; Zwijnenburg, Petra JG; Ziegler, Alban; Barth, Magalie; Smith, Rosemarie; Ellingwood, Sara; Gaebler-Spira, Deborah; Bakhtiari, Somayeh; Kruer, Michael C; van Kampen, Antoine HC; Wanders, Ronald JA; Waterham, Hans R; Cassiman, David; Vaz, Frederic M | Abstract: PurposeIn this study we investigate the disease etiology in 12 patients with de novo variants in FAR1 all resulting in an amino acid change at position 480 (p.Arg480Cys/His/Leu).MethodsFollowing next-generation sequencing and clinical phenotyping, functional characterization was performed in patients' fibroblasts using FAR1 enzyme analysis, FAR1 immunoblotting/immunofluorescence, and lipidomics.ResultsAll patients had spastic paraparesis and bilateral congenital/juvenile cataracts, in most combined with speech and gross motor developmental delay and truncal hypotonia. FAR1 deficiency caused by biallelic variants results in defective ether lipid synthesis and plasmalogen deficiency. In contrast, patients' fibroblasts with the de novo FAR1 variants showed elevated plasmalogen levels. Further functional studies in fibroblasts showed that these variants cause a disruption of the plasmalogen-dependent feedback regulation of FAR1 protein levels leading to uncontrolled ether lipid production.ConclusionHeterozygous de novo variants affecting the Arg480 residue of FAR1 lead to an autosomal dominant disorder with a different disease mechanism than that of recessive FAR1 deficiency and a diametrically opposed biochemical phenotype. Our findings show that for patients with spastic paraparesis and bilateral cataracts, FAR1 should be considered as a candidate gene and added to gene panels for hereditary spastic paraplegia, cerebral palsy, and juvenile cataracts.
Published: 2021

11. Host genome analysis of structural variations by Optical Genome Mapping provides clinically valuable insights into genes implicated in critical immune, viral infection, and viral replication pathways in patients with severe COVID-19

Author: Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Nikhil Shri Sahajpal, Michael C. Zody, Brynn Levy, Alex Hastie, Amyn M. Rojiani, Alan H. Beggs, Ashis K. Mondal, Cas van der Made, Alka Chaubey, Sawan Jalnapurkar, Catherine A. Brownstein, Ravindra Kolhe, Alexander Hoischen, Erich D. Jarvis, Olivier Fedrigo, Siavash R. Dehkordi, Chi-Yu Jill Lai, Farooq Al-Ajli, Silviu-Alin Bacanu, and Vineet Bafna
Subjects: education.field_of_study, Gene mapping, Intensive care, Population, Human genome, Genome-wide association study, Computational biology, Copy-number variation, Biology, education, Genome, Genetic association
Abstract: BackgroundThe varied clinical manifestations and outcomes in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections implicate a role of host-genetics in the predisposition to disease severity. This is supported by evidence that is now emerging, where initial reports identify common risk factors and rare genetic variants associated with high risk for severe/ life-threatening COVID-19. Impressive global efforts have focused on either identifying common genetic factors utilizing short-read sequencing data in Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) or whole-exome and genome studies to interrogate the human genome at the level of detecting single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and short indels. However, these studies lack the sensitivity to accurately detect several classes of variants, especially large structural variants (SVs) including copy number variants (CNVs), which account for a substantial proportion of variation among individuals. Thus, we investigated the host genomes of individuals with severe/life-threatening COVID-19 at the level of large SVs (500bp-Mb level) to identify events that might provide insight into the inter-individual clinical variability in clinical course and outcomes of COVID-19 patients.MethodsOptical genome mapping using Bionano’s Saphyr® system was performed on thirty-seven severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU). To extract candidate SVs, three distinct analyses were undertaken. First, an unbiased whole-genome analysis of SVs was performed to identify rare/unique genic SVs in these patients that did not appear in population datasets to determine candidate loci as decisive predisposing factors associated with severe COVID-19. Second, common SVs with a population frequency filter was interrogated for possible association with severe COVID-19 based on literature surveys. Third, genome-wide SV enrichment in severely ill patients versus the general population was investigated by calculating odds ratios to identify top-ranked genes/loci. Candidate SVs were confirmed using qPCR and an independent bioinformatics tool (FaNDOM).ResultsOur patient-centric investigation identified 11 SVs involving 38 genes implicated in three key host-viral interaction pathways: (1) innate immunity and inflammatory response, (2) airway resistance to pathogens, and (3) viral replication, spread, and RNA editing. These included seven rare/unique SVs (not present in the control dataset), identified in 24.3% (9/37) of patients, impacting up to 31 genes, of whichSTK26andDPP4are the most promising candidates. A duplication partially overlappingSTK26was corroborated with data showing upregulation of this gene in severely ill patients. Further, using a population frequency filter of less than 20% in the Bionano control dataset, four SVs involving seven genes were identified in 56.7% (21/37) of patients.ConclusionThis study is the first to systematically assess and highlight SVs’ potential role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 severity. The genes implicated here identify novel SVs, especiallySTK26, and extend previous reports involving innate immunity and type I interferon response in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Our study also shows that optical genome mapping can be a powerful tool to identify large SVs impacting disease outcomes with split survival and add valuable genomic information to the existing sequencing-based technology databases to understand the inter-individual variability associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 mortality.
Published: 2021

12. Alternative genomic diagnoses for individuals with a clinical diagnosis of Dubowitz syndrome

Author: Sixto Garcia Minaur, Pankaj B. Agrawal, A. Micheil Innes, Catherine A. Brownstein, David S. Wargowski, Brenda McInnes, Isaac Wong, Albert E. Chudley, Jennifer E. Posey, Francesc López-Giráldez, Ping-Yee B Au, Alper Gezdirici, Kyrieckos A. Aleck, Eric Boerwinkle, Paolo Prontera, Bilgen Bilge Geçkinli, Yeting Zhang, An Nguyen, David A. Dyment, Jukka S. Moilanen, Alan H. Beggs, Nara Sobreira, Hatip Aydin, Elizabeth E. Blue, Kathryn Dunn, Gerald F. Cox, Bernard N. Chodirker, Harrison Brand, Jinchuan Xing, Hind Al Sharhan, Bert B.A. de Vries, Maria Juliana Rodovalho Doriqui, Davut Pehlivan, Shalini N. Jhangiani, Centers for Mendelian Genomics, Katrin Õunap, Cheryl R. Greenberg, Kaya Bilguvar, Carol L. Clericuzio, Cynthia J. Curry, Taila Hartley, Julie Lauzon, Michael J. Bamshad, Timothy Poterba, R. Brian Lowry, Jill A. Fahrner, Cullen M. Dutmer, M. E. Suzanne Lewis, Steve Buyske, Ender Karaca, Aziz Mhanni, William T. Gibson, Valentina Stanley, April Hall, Elke de Boer, Kristin D. Kernohan, Joseph G. Gleeson, P. Dane Witmer, Jungmin Choi, Danny Antaki, Małgorzata J.M. Nowaczyk, Sander Pajusalu, Anne H. O’Donnell-Luria, Sarah L. Sawyer, Zeynep Coban Akdemir, Tara C. Matise, Jennifer McEvoy-Venneri, Casie A. Genetti, Kym M. Boycott, Lynette S. Penney, Ada Hamosh, Eleina M. England, Deniz Torun, Maha S. Zaki, Deborah A. Nickerson, Dyment, David A., O'Donnell-Luria, Anne, Agrawal, Pankaj B., Coban Akdemir, Zeynep, Aleck, Kyrieckos A., Antaki, Danny, Al Sharhan, Hind, Au, Ping-Yee B., Aydin, Hatip, Beggs, Alan H., Bilguvar, Kaya, Boerwinkle, Eric, Brand, Harrison, Brownstein, Catherine A., Buyske, Steve, Chodirker, Bernard, Choi, Jungmin, Chudley, Albert E., Clericuzio, Carol L., Cox, Gerald F., Curry, Cynthia, de Boer, Elke, de Vries, Bert B. A., Dunn, Kathryn, Dutmer, Cullen M., England, Eleina M., Fahrner, Jill A., Geckinli, Bilgen B., Genetti, Casie A., Gezdirici, Alper, Gibson, William T., Gleeson, Joseph G., Greenberg, Cheryl R., Hall, April, Hamosh, Ada, Hartley, Taila, Jhangiani, Shalini N., Karaca, Ender, Kernohan, Kristin, Lauzon, Julie L., Lewis, M. E. Suzanne, Lowry, R. Brian, Lopez-Giraldez, Francesc, Matise, Tara C., McEvoy-Venneri, Jennifer, McInnes, Brenda, Mhanni, Aziz, Garcia Minaur, Sixto, Moilanen, Jukka, Nguyen, An, Nowaczyk, Malgorzata J. M., Posey, Jennifer E., Ounap, Katrin, Pehlivan, Davut, Pajusalu, Sander, Penney, Lynette S., Poterba, Timothy, Prontera, Paolo, Doriqui, Maria Juliana Rodovalho, Sawyer, Sarah L., Sobreira, Nara, Stanley, Valentina, Torun, Deniz, Wargowski, David, Witmer, P. Dane, Wong, Isaac, Xing, Jinchuan, Zaki, Maha S., Zhang, Yeting, Boycott, Kym M., Bamshad, Michael J., Nickerson, Deborah A., Blue, Elizabeth E., and Innes, A. Micheil
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Male, ANOMALIES, INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY, Eczema, 030105 genetics & heredity, PHENOTYPE, genetic heterogeneity, Locus heterogeneity, Dubowitz syndrome, Exome, Child, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, Growth Disorders, Genetics, FRAMESHIFT, Genomics, 3. Good health, VPS13B, genome sequencing, LOSS-OF-FUNCTION, Child, Preschool, symbols, Microcephaly, Female, microarray, Adolescent, DNA Copy Number Variations, Biology, NSUN2, PATIENT, DNA sequencing, Histone Deacetylases, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, symbols.namesake, medicine, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, ANEMIA, Genetic heterogeneity, Genome, Human, MUTATIONS, Facies, Infant, PLATFORM, medicine.disease, Repressor Proteins, 030104 developmental biology, Mendelian inheritance, exome sequencing
Abstract: Dubowitz syndrome (DubS) is considered a recognizable syndrome characterized by a distinctive facial appearance and deficits in growth and development. There have been over 200 individuals reported with Dubowitz or a "Dubowitz-like" condition, although no single gene has been implicated as responsible for its cause. We have performed exome (ES) or genome sequencing (GS) for 31 individuals clinically diagnosed with DubS. After genome-wide sequencing, rare variant filtering and computational and Mendelian genomic analyses, a presumptive molecular diagnosis was made in 13/27 (48%) families. The molecular diagnoses included biallelic variants in SKIV2L, SLC35C1, BRCA1, NSUN2; de novo variants in ARID1B, ARID1A, CREBBP, POGZ, TAF1, HDAC8, and copy-number variation at1p36.11(ARID1A), 8q22.2(VPS13B), Xp22, and Xq13(HDAC8). Variants of unknown significance in known disease genes, and also in genes of uncertain significance, were observed in 7/27 (26%) additional families. Only one gene, HDAC8, could explain the phenotype in more than one family (N = 2). All but two of the genomic diagnoses were for genes discovered, or for conditions recognized, since the introduction of next-generation sequencing. Overall, the DubS-like clinical phenotype is associated with extensive locus heterogeneity and the molecular diagnoses made are for emerging clinical conditions sharing characteristic features that overlap the DubS phenotype.
Published: 2021

13. Disruption of RFX family transcription factors causes autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, and dysregulated behavior

Author: Tomi L. Toler, Timothy W. Yu, William B. Dobyns, Marcia C. Willing, Karen W. Gripp, Rolph Pfundt, Muhammad Iqbal, Xiadong Wang, Lance H. Rodan, Ada Hamosh, Cynthia S. Gubbels, Janice Baker, Thatjana Gardeitchik, Jenny Lai, André Reis, Fleur Vansenne, Jennifer E. Posey, Paranchai Boonsawat, Mathilde Nizon, Sébastien Küry, Jill R. Murrell, Julian L. Ambrus, Yunhong Wu, Laura A. Baker, Aubrie Soucy, Severine Audebert-Bellanger, Ellen van Binsbergen, Thomas Courtin, Guiseppe Zampino, Caleb P. Bupp, Holly K. Harris, Alan H. Beggs, Giulia Pascolini, Catharina (Nienke) M.L. Volker-Touw, Bert B.A. de Vries, Casie A. Genetti, La Donna L. Immken, Paola Grammatico, Martin Jakob Larsen, Sylvia Redon, Kévin Uguen, Reza Asadollahi, Madeleine Fannemel, Catherine Buchanan, Boris Keren, George E. Tiller, Lilian L. Cohen, Tojo Nakayama, Laurence E. Walsh, Iqra Ghulam Rasool, Audrey Labalme, Koen L.I. van Gassen, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Boxun Zhao, Gaetan Lesca, Steffan Syrbe, Kimberly A. Aldinger, Emanuele Agolini, Maria Kibaek, Muhammad Yasir Zahoor, Peter D. Turnpenny, Antonio Novelli, Ines Brösse, Claude Férec, Jorune Balciuniene, Nikoleta Argyrou, Victoria Suslovitch, Alice Poisson, Anita Rauch, Katelyn Payne, Christina Fagerberg, Cyril Mignot, Christopher Gray, Anne Blomhoff, Carolyn D. Applegate, Cornelia Kraus, Rami Abou Jamra, Marleen Simon, Martin Broly, Cara M. Skraban, and Emily Fassi
Subjects: Adult, 0301 basic medicine, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Regulatory Factor X Transcription Factors, 030105 genetics & heredity, Biology, Article, FRX, autism, intellectual disability, 03 medical and health sciences, Intellectual Disability, Ciliogenesis, Intellectual disability, mental disorders, medicine, Humans, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Autistic Disorder, Gene, Genetics (clinical), Genetics, Neurodevelopmental disorders Donders Center for Medical Neuroscience [Radboudumc 7], Metabolic Disorders Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 6], medicine.disease, Phenotype, Renal disorders Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 11], 030104 developmental biology, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Autism spectrum disorder, Autism, RFX3, Transcription Factors
Abstract: Contains fulltext : 234024.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) PURPOSE: We describe a novel neurobehavioral phenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with de novo or inherited deleterious variants in members of the RFX family of genes. RFX genes are evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that act as master regulators of central nervous system development and ciliogenesis. METHODS: We assembled a cohort of 38 individuals (from 33 unrelated families) with de novo variants in RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7. We describe their common clinical phenotypes and present bioinformatic analyses of expression patterns and downstream targets of these genes as they relate to other neurodevelopmental risk genes. RESULTS: These individuals share neurobehavioral features including ASD, intellectual disability, and/or ADHD; other frequent features include hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli and sleep problems. RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7 are strongly expressed in developing and adult human brain, and X-box binding motifs as well as RFX ChIP-seq peaks are enriched in the cis-regulatory regions of known ASD risk genes. CONCLUSION: These results establish a likely role of deleterious variation in RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7 in cases of monogenic intellectual disability, ADHD and ASD, and position these genes as potentially critical transcriptional regulators of neurobiological pathways associated with neurodevelopmental disease pathogenesis.
Published: 2021

14. Acute and chronic tirasemtiv treatment improves in vivo and in vitro muscle performance in actin-based nemaline myopathy mice

Author: Lorenza Brocca, Roberto Bottinelli, Julien Gondin, Fady I. Malik, Alan H. Beggs, David Bendahan, Charlotte Gineste, Maria Antonietta Pellegrino, Josine M. de Winter, Darren T. Hwee, Tamara C. Borsboom, Elisa Minardi, Maira Rossi, Monique Bernard, Coen A.C. Ottenheijm, GONDIN, JULIEN, Amsterdam UMC - Amsterdam University Medical Center, Centre de résonance magnétique biologique et médicale (CRMBM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille (APHM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Pavia = University of Pavia (UNIPV), Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS), Cytokinetics Inc, Institut NeuroMyoGène (INMG), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Amsterdam UMC, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille (APHM)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Pavia, Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Physiology, ACS - Pulmonary hypertension & thrombosis, and VU University medical center
Subjects: AcademicSubjects/SCI01140, Inotrope, medicine.medical_specialty, [SDV.IB.IMA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Bioengineering/Imaging, Biology, Myopathies, Nemaline, Mice, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Nemaline myopathy, Internal medicine, Genetics, medicine, Animals, Humans, Respiratory system, Muscle, Skeletal, Molecular Biology, Genetics (clinical), Actin, 030304 developmental biology, 0303 health sciences, [SDV.MHEP] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology, Imidazoles, Skeletal muscle, Muscle weakness, General Medicine, medicine.disease, Congenital myopathy, Troponin, Actins, 3. Good health, Endocrinology, medicine.anatomical_structure, Pyrazines, Mutation, biology.protein, General Article, medicine.symptom, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, [SDV.MHEP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology
Abstract: Nemaline myopathy, a disease of the actin-based thin filament, is one of the most frequent congenital myopathies. To date, no specific therapy is available to treat muscle weakness in nemaline myopathy. We tested the ability of tirasemtiv, a fast skeletal troponin activator that targets the thin filament, to augment muscle force—both in vivo and in vitro—in a nemaline myopathy mouse model with a mutation (H40Y) in Acta1. In Acta1H40Y mice, treatment with tirasemtiv increased the force response of muscles to submaximal stimulation frequencies. This resulted in a reduced energetic cost of force generation, which increases the force production during a fatigue protocol. The inotropic effects of tirasemtiv were present in locomotor muscles and, albeit to a lesser extent, in respiratory muscles, and they persisted during chronic treatment, an important finding as respiratory failure is the main cause of death in patients with congenital myopathy. Finally, translational studies on permeabilized muscle fibers isolated from a biopsy of a patient with the ACTA1H40Y mutation revealed that at physiological Ca2+ concentrations, tirasemtiv increased force generation to values that were close to those generated in muscle fibers of healthy subjects. These findings indicate the therapeutic potential of fast skeletal muscle troponin activators to improve muscle function in nemaline myopathy due to the ACTA1H40Y mutation, and future studies should assess their merit for other forms of nemaline myopathy and for other congenital myopathies.
Published: 2021

15. Sarcomeres regulate murine cardiomyocyte maturation through MRTF-SRF signaling

Author: Guo-Cheng Yuan, Yuxuan Guo, Eric M. Small, Qing Ma, Michael A. Trembley, Alan H. Beggs, Behzad Moghadaszadeh, Emily C Troiano, Blake D. Jardin, Yangpo Cao, Isha Sethi, Neil Mazumdar, and William T. Pu
Subjects: Sarcomeres, Serum Response Factor, Mutant, Mitochondrion, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, Sarcomere, Mice, Serum response factor, medicine, Morphogenesis, Animals, Actinin, Myocytes, Cardiac, Sarcomere organization, Transcription factor, Cytoskeleton, Cell Nucleus, Mutation, Multidisciplinary, Biological Sciences, Cell biology, Mitochondria, Gene Expression Regulation, Trans-Activators, Signal transduction, Signal Transduction, Transcription Factors
Abstract: The paucity of knowledge about cardiomyocyte maturation is a major bottleneck in cardiac regenerative medicine. In development, cardiomyocyte maturation is characterized by orchestrated structural, transcriptional, and functional specializations that occur mainly at the perinatal stage. Sarcomeres are the key cytoskeletal structures that regulate the ultrastructural maturation of other organelles, but whether sarcomeres modulate the signal transduction pathways that are essential for cardiomyocyte maturation remains unclear. To address this question, here we generated mice with cardiomyocyte-specific, mosaic, and hypomorphic mutations of α-actinin-2 (Actn2) to study the cell-autonomous roles of sarcomeres in postnatal cardiomyocyte maturation. Actn2 mutation resulted in defective structural maturation of transverse-tubules and mitochondria. In addition, Actn2 mutation triggered transcriptional dysregulation, including abnormal expression of key sarcomeric and mitochondrial genes, and profound impairment of the normal progression of maturational gene expression. Mechanistically, the transcriptional changes in Actn2 mutant cardiomyocytes strongly correlated with those in cardiomyocytes deleted of serum response factor (SRF), a critical transcription factor that regulates cardiomyocyte maturation. Actn2 mutation increased the monomeric form of cardiac α-actin, which interacted with the SRF cofactor MRTFA and perturbed its nuclear localization. Overexpression of a dominant-negative MRTFA mutant was sufficient to recapitulate the morphological and transcriptional defects in Actn2 and Srf mutant cardiomyocytes. Together, these data indicate that Actn2-based sarcomere organization regulates structural and transcriptional maturation of cardiomyocytes through MRTF-SRF signaling.
Published: 2020

16. Directed evolution of a family of AAV capsid variants enabling potent muscle-directed gene delivery across species

Author: Jeffrey J. Widrick, Alexandra C. Stanton, Behzad Moghadaszadeh, Amy J. Wagers, Naftali Horwitz, Emily C Troiano, Bryan L Peacker, Mohammadsharif Tabebordbar, Emily M King, Krystynne A Leacock, Pardis C. Sabeti, Simon Ye, Sahar Tavakoli, Kim A. Lagerborg, Kathleen A. Messemer, Alan H. Beggs, Liana Tellez, and Allison Krunnfusz
Subjects: Integrins, viruses, Integrin, Muscle Fibers, Skeletal, Gene delivery, Biology, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Transduction (genetics), Capsid, Species Specificity, In vivo, medicine, Animals, Humans, Amino Acid Sequence, Transgenes, Muscle, Skeletal, Cells, Cultured, Recombination, Genetic, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Myogenesis, Gene Transfer Techniques, Skeletal muscle, Dependovirus, Directed evolution, Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, Non-Receptor, Cell biology, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne, Disease Models, Animal, Macaca fascicularis, medicine.anatomical_structure, HEK293 Cells, biology.protein, Directed Molecular Evolution, Protein Multimerization, Myopathies, Structural, Congenital, RNA, Guide, Kinetoplastida
Abstract: Replacing or editing disease-causing mutations holds great promise for treating many human diseases. Yet, delivering therapeutic genetic modifiers to specific cells in vivo has been challenging, particularly in large, anatomically distributed tissues such as skeletal muscle. Here, we establish an in vivo strategy to evolve and stringently select capsid variants of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) that enable potent delivery to desired tissues. Using this method, we identify a class of RGD motif-containing capsids that transduces muscle with superior efficiency and selectivity after intravenous injection in mice and non-human primates. We demonstrate substantially enhanced potency and therapeutic efficacy of these engineered vectors compared to naturally occurring AAV capsids in two mouse models of genetic muscle disease. The top capsid variants from our selection approach show conserved potency for delivery across a variety of inbred mouse strains, and in cynomolgus macaques and human primary myotubes, with transduction dependent on target cell expressed integrin heterodimers.
Published: 2020

17. Partial Loss of USP9X Function Leads to a Male Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Disorder Converging on Transforming Growth Factor beta Signaling

Author: Brett V. Johnson, Raman Kumar, Sabrina Oishi, Suzy Alexander, Maria Kasherman, Michelle Sanchez Vega, Atma Ivancevic, Alison Gardner, Deepti Domingo, Mark Corbett, Euan Parnell, Sehyoun Yoon, Tracey Oh, Matthew Lines, Henrietta Lefroy, Usha Kini, Margot Van Allen, Sabine Grønborg, Sandra Mercier, Sébastien Küry, Stéphane Bézieau, Laurent Pasquier, Martine Raynaud, Alexandra Afenjar, Thierry Billette de Villemeur, Boris Keren, Julie Désir, Lionel Van Maldergem, Martina Marangoni, Nicola Dikow, David A. Koolen, Peter M. VanHasselt, Marjan Weiss, Petra Zwijnenburg, Joaquim Sa, Claudia Falcao Reis, Carlos López-Otín, Olaya Santiago-Fernández, Alberto Fernández-Jaén, Anita Rauch, Katharina Steindl, Pascal Joset, Amy Goldstein, Suneeta Madan-Khetarpal, Elena Infante, Elaine Zackai, Carey Mcdougall, Vinodh Narayanan, Keri Ramsey, Saadet Mercimek-Andrews, Loren Pena, Vandana Shashi, Kelly Schoch, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Filippo Pinto e Vairo, Pavel N. Pichurin, Sarah A. Ewing, Sarah S. Barnett, Eric W. Klee, M. Scott Perry, Mary Kay Koenig, Catherine E. Keegan, Jane L. Schuette, Stephanie Asher, Yezmin Perilla-Young, Laurie D. Smith, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Elizabeth Bhoj, Paige Kaplan, Dong Li, Renske Oegema, Ellen van Binsbergen, Bert van der Zwaag, Marie Falkenberg Smeland, Ioana Cutcutache, Matthew Page, Martin Armstrong, Angela E. Lin, Marcie A. Steeves, Nicolette den Hollander, Mariëtte J.V. Hoffer, Margot R.F. Reijnders, Serwet Demirdas, Daniel C. Koboldt, Dennis Bartholomew, Theresa Mihalic Mosher, Scott E. Hickey, Christine Shieh, Pedro A. Sanchez-Lara, John M. Graham, Kamer Tezcan, G.B. Schaefer, Noelle R. Danylchuk, Alexander Asamoah, Kelly E. Jackson, Naomi Yachelevich, Margaret Au, Luis A. Pérez-Jurado, Tjitske Kleefstra, Peter Penzes, Stephen A. Wood, Thomas Burne, Tyler Mark Pierson, Michael Piper, Jozef Gécz, Lachlan A. Jolly, Maria T. Acosta, David R. Adams, Aaron Aday, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dustin Baldridge, Deborah Barbouth, Gabriel F. Batzli, Alan H. Beggs, Hugo J. Bellen, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Stephanie Bivona, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Braden E. Boone, Bret L. Bostwick, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Manish J. Butte, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Precilla D'Souza, Surendra Dasari, Mariska Davids, Jean M. Davidson, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Annika M. Dries, Laura Duncan, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Gregory M. Enns, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Noah D. Friedman, William A. Gahl, Rena A. Godfrey, Alica M. Goldman, David B. Goldstein, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Frances High, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Lefkothea Karaviti, Emily G. Kelley, David M. Koeller, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Susan Korrick, Mary Koziura, Joel B. Krier, Jennifer E. Kyle, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Kimberly LeBlanc, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Shawn E. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Pengfei Liu, Xue Zhong Liu, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Thomas May, Jacob McCauley, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Jason D. Merker, Thomas O. Metz, Matthew Might, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Avi Nath, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Christina GS. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Genecee Renteri, Chloe M. Reuter, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Robb K. Rowley, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Daryl A. Scott, Lisa Shakachite, Prashant Sharma, Kathleen Shields, Jimann Shin, Rebecca Signer, Catherine H. Sillari, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kevin S. Smith, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Nicholas Stong, David A. Sweetser, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Daryl M. Waggott, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Melissa Walker, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Michael F. Wangler, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Daniel Wegner, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Shinya Yamamoto, John Yang, Amanda J. Yoon, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, Chunli Zhao, Stephan Zuchner, William Gahl, Clinical Genetics, Human genetics, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development (AR&D), ACS - Atherosclerosis & ischemic syndromes, MUMC+: DA KG Polikliniek (9), and RS: FHML non-thematic output
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, Brain malformation, Developmental Disabilities, INTERACTS, USP9X, Haploinsufficiency, in-vitro, CELL-MIGRATION, Deubiquitylating enzyme, Biology, Hippocampus, of-function mutations, Article, liquid facets, TGFβ, Mice, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Neurodevelopmental disorder, TGF beta, Transforming Growth Factor beta, Intellectual Disability, Intellectual disability, medicine, Animals, Humans, Missense mutation, deubiquitinating enzyme, Biological Psychiatry, fam/usp9x, Neurodevelopmental disorders Donders Center for Medical Neuroscience [Radboudumc 7], Male Phenotype, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Hypotonia, 030104 developmental biology, Female, medicine.symptom, Ubiquitin Thiolesterase, Neuroscience, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Signal Transduction, Rare cancers Radboud Institute for Health Sciences [Radboudumc 9], Transforming growth factor
Abstract: Contains fulltext : 218305.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) BACKGROUND: The X-chromosome gene USP9X encodes a deubiquitylating enzyme that has been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders primarily in female subjects. USP9X escapes X inactivation, and in female subjects de novo heterozygous copy number loss or truncating mutations cause haploinsufficiency culminating in a recognizable syndrome with intellectual disability and signature brain and congenital abnormalities. In contrast, the involvement of USP9X in male neurodevelopmental disorders remains tentative. METHODS: We used clinically recommended guidelines to collect and interrogate the pathogenicity of 44 USP9X variants associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in males. Functional studies in patient-derived cell lines and mice were used to determine mechanisms of pathology. RESULTS: Twelve missense variants showed strong evidence of pathogenicity. We define a characteristic phenotype of the central nervous system (white matter disturbances, thin corpus callosum, and widened ventricles); global delay with significant alteration of speech, language, and behavior; hypotonia; joint hypermobility; visual system defects; and other common congenital and dysmorphic features. Comparison of in silico and phenotypical features align additional variants of unknown significance with likely pathogenicity. In support of partial loss-of-function mechanisms, using patient-derived cell lines, we show loss of only specific USP9X substrates that regulate neurodevelopmental signaling pathways and a united defect in transforming growth factor beta signaling. In addition, we find correlates of the male phenotype in Usp9x brain-specific knockout mice, and further resolve loss of hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate the involvement of USP9X variants in a distinctive neurodevelopmental and behavioral syndrome in male subjects and identify plausible mechanisms of pathogenesis centered on disrupted transforming growth factor beta signaling and hippocampal function.
Published: 2020

18. KBTBD13 is an actin-binding protein that modulates muscle kinetics

Author: Leonardo Nogara, Saskia Lassche, Jonne Doorduin, Norma B. Romero, Benno Küsters, Tamar E. Sztal, Baziel G.M. van Engelen, Balázs Kiss, Stefan Conijn, Josine M. de Winter, Coen A.C. Ottenheijm, Weikang Ma, Georg Ramm, Viola Oorschot, Joery P. Molenaar, Shengyi Shen, Christopher N. Johnson, Richard J. Rodenburg, Bert Blaauw, Robbert van der Pijl, Henk Granzier, Thomas E. Hall, Ken Campbell, Frank Li, Thomas C. Irving, Alan H. Beggs, Michaela Yuen, Reinier A. Boon, Manuela Marabita, Menne van Willigenburg, Esmee S.B. Van Kleef, Noelia Lozano-Vidal, Sylvia J. P. Bogaards, Robert J. Bryson-Richardson, Avnika A. Ruparelia, Dilson E. Rassier, Martijn van de Locht, Edoardo Malfatti, Malin Persson, Zherui Xiong, Nicol C. Voermans, Handicap neuromusculaire : Physiopathologie, Biothérapie et Pharmacologies appliquées (END-ICAP), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), VIDI 016.126.319 645648, H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 W.OR17-08 National Institutes of Health, NIH: R01 HD075802 U.S. Department of Energy, USDOE National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIGMS: 1S10OD018090-01 National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIAMS: HL133359, R01 AR053897 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NICHD Muscular Dystrophy Association, MDA: MDA602235 Office of Science, SC Argonne National Laboratory, ANL: 9 P41 GM103622 Advanced Photon Sciences, APS: DE-AC02-06CH11357 National Health and Medical Research Council, NHMRC: APP1121651 Vetenskapsrådet, VR: 2015-00385, This work was supported by the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (VIDI 016.126.319 to CACO), the Princess Beatrix Muscle Foundation (W.OR17-08 to CACO, NCV, and BGMVE), H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 (645648 Muscle Stress Relief to CACO), the Advanced Photon Source (DE-AC02-06CH11357), A Foundation Building Strength for Nemaline Myopathy (to CACO), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellowship (APP1121651 to MY), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH R01 HD075802 to AHB), the Muscular Dystrophy Association (USA) (MDA602235 to AHB), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIH R01 AR053897 to HG), the NIH (HL133359 to KC). This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This project was supported by grant 9 P41 GM103622 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH. Use of the Pilatus 3 1M detector was provided by grant 1S10OD018090-01 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the official views of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences or the NIH. MP was funded by a postdoctoral grant from the Swedish Research Council (2015-00385)., Physiology, ACS - Pulmonary hypertension & thrombosis, ACS - Microcirculation, ACS - Atherosclerosis & ischemic syndromes, ACS - Heart failure & arrhythmias, and Academic Medical Center
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Sarcomeres, Muscle Relaxation, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], Kinetics, Muscle Proteins, Skeletal muscle, Myopathies, Nemaline, Contractility, 03 medical and health sciences, Mice, 0302 clinical medicine, Nemaline myopathy, All institutes and research themes of the Radboud University Medical Center, medicine, Animals, Humans, Actin-binding protein, Actin, Zebrafish, Mice, Knockout, biology, Relaxation (psychology), Chemistry, Other Research Radboud Institute for Health Sciences [Radboudumc 0], Metabolic Disorders Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 6], General Medicine, Zebrafish Proteins, Neuromuscular disease, medicine.disease, Disorders of movement Donders Center for Medical Neuroscience [Radboudumc 3], 030104 developmental biology, medicine.anatomical_structure, Muscle relaxation, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Biophysics, biology.protein, Commentary, Genetic diseases, Muscle Biology
Abstract: International audience; The mechanisms that modulate the kinetics of muscle relaxation are critically important for muscle function. A prime example of the impact of impaired relaxation kinetics is nemaline myopathy caused by mutations in KBTBD13 (NEM6). In addition to weakness, NEM6 patients have slow muscle relaxation, compromising contractility and daily life activities. The role of KBTBD13 in muscle is unknown, and the pathomechanism underlying NEM6 is undetermined. A combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced muscle relaxation, muscle fiber- and sarcomere-contractility assays, low-angle x-ray diffraction, and superresolution microscopy revealed that the impaired muscle-relaxation kinetics in NEM6 patients are caused by structural changes in the thin filament, a sarcomeric microstructure. Using homology modeling and binding and contractility assays with recombinant KBTBD13, Kbtbd13-knockout and Kbtbd13R408C-knockin mouse models, and a GFPlabeled Kbtbd13-transgenic zebrafish model, we discovered that KBTBD13 binds to actin - a major constituent of the thin filament - and that mutations in KBTBD13 cause structural changes impairing muscle-relaxation kinetics. We propose that this actin-based impaired relaxation is central to NEM6 pathology.
Published: 2020

19. Sarcomeric and nonmuscle α-actinin isoforms exhibit differential dynamics at skeletal muscle Z-lines

Author: Alan H. Beggs, John H. Hartwig, Cynthia P. Hsu, and Behzad Moghadaszadeh
Subjects: Sarcomeres, 0301 basic medicine, Gene isoform, macromolecular substances, Biology, Article, Mice, 03 medical and health sciences, Structural Biology, medicine, Animals, Protein Isoforms, Myocyte, Actinin, Muscle, Skeletal, Cytoskeleton, Actin, 030102 biochemistry & molecular biology, EF hand, Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, Skeletal muscle, Cell Biology, musculoskeletal system, Fusion protein, Cell biology, Actin Cytoskeleton, 030104 developmental biology, medicine.anatomical_structure
Abstract: The α-actinin proteins are a highly conserved family of actin crosslinkers that mediate interactions between several cytoskeletal and sarcomeric proteins. Non-sarcomeric α-actinin-1 and α-actinin-4 crosslink actin filaments in the cytoskeleton, while sarcomeric α-actinin-2 and α-actinin-3 serve a crucial role in anchoring actin filaments to the muscle Z-line. To assess the difference in turnover dynamics and structure/function properties between the α-actinin isoforms at the sarcomeric Z-line, we used Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) in primary myofiber cultures. We found that the recovery kinetics of these proteins followed three distinct patterns: α-actinin-2/α-actinin-3 had the slowest turn over, α-actinin-1 recovered to an intermediate degree, and α-actinin-4 had the fastest recovery. Interestingly, the isoforms’ patterns of recovery were reversed at adhesion plaques in fibroblasts. This disparity suggests that the different α-actinin isoforms have unique association kinetics in myofibers and that non-muscle isoform interactions are more dynamic at the sarcomeric Z-line. Protein domain-specific investigations using α-actinin-2/4 chimeric proteins showed that differential dynamics between sarcomeric and non-muscle isoforms are regulated by cooperative interactions between the N-terminal actin-binding domain, the spectrin-like linker region and the C-terminal calmodulin-like EF hand domain. Together, these findings demonstrate that α-actinin isoforms are unique in binding dynamics at the Z-line and suggest differentially evolved interactive and Z-line association capabilities of each functional domain.
Published: 2018

20. SPEG-deficient skeletal muscles exhibit abnormal triad and defective calcium handling

Author: Xiaoli Liu, Candice Kutchukian, Samantha M. Rosen, Alan H. Beggs, Colline Sanchez, Christopher R. Pierson, Virginia Huntoon, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Mark A. Perrella, Siqi Cao, Jeffrey J. Widrick, and Vincent Jacquemond
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, medicine.medical_specialty, Muscle Proteins, Biology, Mice, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Internal medicine, Gene expression, Genetics, medicine, Animals, Calcium Signaling, Muscle, Skeletal, Myosin-Light-Chain Kinase, Molecular Biology, Genetics (clinical), Calcium signaling, Calcium metabolism, Skeletal muscle, Triad (anatomy), Dilated cardiomyopathy, Articles, General Medicine, medicine.disease, In vitro, 030104 developmental biology, Endocrinology, medicine.anatomical_structure, In utero, Calcium, Female, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Myopathies, Structural, Congenital
Abstract: Centronuclear myopathies (CNM) are a subtype of congenital myopathies (CM) characterized by skeletal muscle weakness and an increase in the number of central myonuclei. We have previously identified three CNM probands, two with associated dilated cardiomyopathy, carrying striated preferentially expressed gene (SPEG) mutations. Currently, the role of SPEG in skeletal muscle function is unclear as constitutive SPEG-deficient mice developed severe dilated cardiomyopathy and died in utero. We have generated a conditional Speg-KO mouse model and excised Speg by crosses with striated muscle-specific cre-expressing mice (MCK-Cre). The resulting litters had a delay in Speg excision consistent with cre expression starting in early postnatal life and, therefore, an extended lifespan up to a few months. KO mice were significantly smaller and weaker than their littermate-matched controls. Histopathological skeletal muscle analysis revealed smaller myofibers, marked fiber-size variability, and poor integrity and low number of triads. Further, SPEG-deficient muscle fibers were weaker by physiological and in vitro studies and exhibited abnormal Ca(2+) handling and excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling. Overall, SPEG deficiency in skeletal muscle is associated with fewer and abnormal triads, and defective calcium handling and excitation-contraction coupling, suggesting that therapies targeting calcium signaling may be beneficial in such patients.
Published: 2018

21. Homozygous EEF1A2 mutation causes dilated cardiomyopathy, failure to thrive, global developmental delay, epilepsy and early death

Author: Brandon S. Guida, Elizabeth D. Blume, Michael C. Kruer, Jiahai Shi, Sergio Padilla-Lopez, Siqi Cao, Catherine A. Brownstein, Laura L. Smith, Sarah U. Morton, Alan H. Beggs, and Pankaj B. Agrawal
Subjects: Cardiomyopathy, Dilated, 0301 basic medicine, Morpholino, Developmental Disabilities, Mutation, Missense, Cardiomyopathy, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, medicine.disease_cause, 03 medical and health sciences, Peptide Elongation Factor 1, 0302 clinical medicine, Genetics, medicine, Animals, Humans, Protein Isoforms, Missense mutation, Global developmental delay, Molecular Biology, Zebrafish, Genetics (clinical), Mutation, Epilepsy, biology, Homozygote, Morphant, Genomics, Articles, General Medicine, biology.organism_classification, medicine.disease, Failure to Thrive, 030104 developmental biology, Models, Animal, Failure to thrive, medicine.symptom, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Eukaryotic elongation factor 1A (EEF1A), is encoded by two distinct isoforms, EEF1A1 and EEF1A2; whereas EEF1A1 is expressed almost ubiquitously, EEF1A2 expression is limited such that it is only detectable in skeletal muscle, heart, brain and spinal cord. Currently, the role of EEF1A2 in normal cardiac development and function is unclear. There have been several reports linking de novo dominant EEF1A2 mutations to neurological issues in humans. We report a pair of siblings carrying a homozygous missense mutation p.P333L in EEF1A2 who exhibited global developmental delay, failure to thrive, dilated cardiomyopathy and epilepsy, ultimately leading to death in early childhood. A third sibling also died of a similar presentation, but DNA was unavailable to confirm the mutation. Functional genomic analysis was performed in S. cerevisiae and zebrafish. In S. cerevisiae, there was no evidence for a dominant-negative effect. Previously identified putative de novo mutations failed to complement yeast strains lacking the EEF1A ortholog showing a major growth defect. In contrast, the introduction of the mutation seen in our family led to a milder growth defect. To evaluate its function in zebrafish, we knocked down eef1a2 expression using translation blocking and splice-site interfering morpholinos. EEF1A2-deficient zebrafish had skeletal muscle weakness, cardiac failure and small heads. Human EEF1A2 wild-type mRNA successfully rescued the morphant phenotype, but mutant RNA did not. Overall, EEF1A2 appears to be critical for normal heart function in humans, and its deficiency results in clinical abnormalities in neurologic function as well as in skeletal and cardiac muscle defects.
Published: 2017

22. Novel mutation inCNTNAP1results in congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy

Author: Tejus A. Bale, Michael Wegner, Meghan C. Towne, Catherine A. Brownstein, Alan H. Beggs, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Paulomi Mehta, Umberto De Girolami, Melanie Küspert, Basil T. Darras, Xianhua Piao, and Jiahai Shi
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Proband, Genetics, Nerve biopsy, medicine.diagnostic_test, Physiology, Biology, Frameshift mutation, 03 medical and health sciences, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, 030104 developmental biology, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine.anatomical_structure, Congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy, Physiology (medical), medicine, Missense mutation, Neurology (clinical), Gene, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Exome sequencing, Sensory nerve
Abstract: Introduction: Congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy is a rare congenital neuropathy that presents in the neonatal period and has been linked previously to mutations in a number of genes associated with myelination. A recent study has linked 4 homozygous frameshift mutations in the CNTNAP1 gene with this condition. We report a neonate with congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy who was found to have absent sensory nerve and compound muscle action potentials and hypomyelination on nerve biopsy. Methods/Results: On whole exome sequencing we identified a novel CNTNAP1 homozygous missense mutation (p.Arg388Pro) in the proband, and both parents were carriers. Molecular modeling suggests that this variant disrupts a β-strand to cause an unstable structure and likely significant changes in protein function. Discussion: This report links a missense CNTNAP1 variant to the disease phenotype previously associated only with frameshift mutations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Published: 2017

23. A Recurrent De Novo Variant in NACC1 Causes a Syndrome Characterized by Infantile Epilepsy, Cataracts, and Profound Developmental Delay

Author: Kelly Schoch, Linyan Meng, Szabolcs Szelinger, David R. Bearden, Asbjorg Stray-Pedersen, Oyvind L. Busk, Nicholas Stong, Eriskay Liston, Ronald D. Cohn, Fernando Scaglia, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Jennifer Tarpinian, Cara M. Skraban, Matthew A. Deardorff, Jeremy N. Friedman, Zeynep Coban Akdemir, Nicole Walley, Mohamad A. Mikati, Peter G. Kranz, Joan Jasien, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Marie McDonald, Stephanie Burns Wechsler, Michael Freemark, Sujay Kansagra, Sharon Freedman, Deeksha Bali, Francisca Millan, Sherri Bale, Stanley F. Nelson, Hane Lee, Naghmeh Dorrani, David B. Goldstein, Rui Xiao, Yaping Yang, Jennifer E. Posey, Julian A. Martinez-Agosto, James R. Lupski, Michael F. Wangler, Vandana Shashi, Wayne W. Grody, Samuel P. Strom, Eric Vilain, Joshua Deignan, Fabiola Quintero-Rivera, Sibel Kantarci, Sureni Mullegama, Sung-Hae Kang, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Lindsay C. Burrage, Gary D. Clark, William J. Craigen, Shweta U. Dhar, Lisa T. Emrick, Brett H. Graham, Neil A. Hanchard, Mahim Jain, Seema R. Lalani, Brendan H. Lee, Richard A. Lewis, Azamian S. Mashid, Paolo M. Moretti, Sarah K. Nicholas, Jordan S. Orange, Lorraine Potocki, Daryl A. Scott, Alyssa A. Tran, Hugo J. Bellen, Shinya Yamamoto, Christine M. Eng, Donna M. Muzny, Patricia A. Ward, Andrea L. Gropman, Yong-hui Jiang, Loren D.M. Pena, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Nicole M. Walley, Alan H. Beggs, Lauren C. Briere, Cynthia M. Cooper, Laurel A. Donnell-Fink, Elizabeth L. Krieg, Joel B. Krier, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Calum A. MacRae, J. Carl Pallais, Lance H. Rodan, Edwin K. Silverman, Joan M. Stoler, David A. Sweetser, Chris A. Walsh, Cecilia Esteves, Ingrid A. Holm, Isaac S. Kohane, Paul Mazur, Alexa T. McCray, Matthew Might, Rachel B. Ramoni, Kimberly Splinter, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Braden E. Boone, Donna M. Brown, Dan C. Dorset, Lori H. Handley, Howard J. Jacob, Angela L. Jones, Jozef Lazar, Shawn E. Levy, J. Scott Newberry, Molly C. Schroeder, Kimberly A. Strong, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Jyoti G. Dayal, David J. Eckstein, Sarah E. Gould, Ellen M. Howerton, Donna M. Krasnewich, Carson R. Loomis, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, John J. Mulvihill, Anastasia L. Wise, Ariane G. Soldatos, Matthew Brush, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Melissa Haendel, David M. Koeller, Jennifer E. Kyle, Thomas O. Metz, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Euan A. Ashley, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Annika M. Dries, Paul G. Fisher, Jennefer N. Kohler, Daryl M. Waggott, Matt T. Wheeler, Patricia A. Zornio, Patrick Allard, Hayk Barseghyan, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Katrina M. Dipple, Matthew R. Herzog, Stan F. Nelson, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Christopher J. Adams, Elizabeth A. Burke, Katherine R. Chao, Mariska Davids, David D. Draper, Tyra Estwick, Trevor S. Frisby, Kate Frost, Valerie Gartner, Rena A. Godfrey, Mitchell Goheen, Gretchen A. Golas, Mary 'Gracie' G. Gordon, Catherine A. Groden, Mary E. Hackbarth, Isabel Hardee, Jean M. Johnston, Alanna E. Koehler, Lea Latham, Yvonne L. Latour, C. Christopher Lau, Denise J. Levy, Adam P. Liebendorder, Ellen F. Macnamara, Valerie V. Maduro, Thomas C. Markello, Alexandra J. McCarty, Jennifer L. Murphy, Michele E. Nehrebecky, Donna Novacic, Barbara N. Pusey, Sarah Sadozai, Katherine E. Schaffer, Prashant Sharma, Sara P. Thomas, Nathanial J. Tolman, Camilo Toro, Zaheer M. Valivullah, Colleen E. Wahl, Mike Warburton, Alec A. Weech, Guoyun Yu, David R. Adams, William A. Gahl, May Christine V. Malicdan, Cynthia J. Tifft, Lynne A. Wolfe, Paul R. Lee, John H. Postlethwait, Monte Westerfield, Anna Bican, Rizwan Hamid, John H. Newman, John A. Phillips, Amy K. Robertson, and Joy D. Cogan
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, Microcephaly, Mutation, Missense, Biology, Cataract, Germline, 03 medical and health sciences, Neurodevelopmental disorder, Cataracts, Report, Intellectual Disability, Intellectual disability, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Missense mutation, Amino Acid Sequence, Child, Alleles, Genetics (clinical), Cerebral atrophy, Brain, Genetic Variation, Infant, medicine.disease, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neoplasm Proteins, Pedigree, 3. Good health, Repressor Proteins, Phenotype, 030104 developmental biology, Child, Preschool, Failure to thrive, Female, medicine.symptom, Spasms, Infantile, Genome-Wide Association Study
Abstract: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) has increasingly enabled new pathogenic gene variant identification for undiagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders and provided insights into both gene function and disease biology. Here, we describe seven children with a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by microcephaly, profound developmental delays and/or intellectual disability, cataracts, severe epilepsy including infantile spasms, irritability, failure to thrive, and stereotypic hand movements. Brain imaging in these individuals reveals delay in myelination and cerebral atrophy. We observe an identical recurrent de novo heterozygous c.892C>T (p.Arg298Trp) variant in the nucleus accumbens associated 1 ( NACC1 ) gene in seven affected individuals. One of the seven individuals is mosaic for this variant. NACC1 encodes a transcriptional repressor implicated in gene expression and has not previously been associated with germline disorders. The probability of finding the same missense NACC1 variant by chance in 7 out of 17,228 individuals who underwent WES for diagnoses of neurodevelopmental phenotypes is extremely small and achieves genome-wide significance (p = 1.25 × 10 −14 ). Selective constraint against missense variants in NACC1 makes this excess of an identical missense variant in all seven individuals more remarkable. Our findings are consistent with a germline recurrent mutational hotspot associated with an allele-specific neurodevelopmental phenotype in NACC1 .
Published: 2017

24. A Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder Caused by De Novo Variants in EBF3

Author: Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Mariska Davids, Elizabeth Burke, John G. Pappas, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Alexandra J. McCarty, Taylor Davis, Lynne Wolfe, Camilo Toro, Cynthia Tifft, Fan Xia, Nicholas Stong, Travis K. Johnson, Coral G. Warr, Shinya Yamamoto, David R. Adams, Thomas C. Markello, William A. Gahl, Hugo J. Bellen, Michael F. Wangler, May Christine V. Malicdan, Christopher J. Adams, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Euan A. Ashley, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Hayk Barseghyan, Alan H. Beggs, Jonathan A. Bernstein, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Braden E. Boone, Lauren C. Briere, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Lindsay C. Burrage, Katherine R. Chao, Gary D. Clark, Joy D. Cogan, Cynthia M. Cooper, William J. Craigen, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Katrina M. Dipple, Laurel A. Donnell-Fink, Naghmeh Dorrani, Dan C. Dorset, David D. Draper, Annika M. Dries, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Paul G. Fisher, Trevor S. Frisby, Kate Frost, Valerie Gartner, Rena A. Godfrey, Mitchell Goheen, Gretchen A. Golas, David B. Goldstein, Mary 'Gracie' G. Gordon, Sarah E. Gould, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Brett H. Graham, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Mary E. Hackbarth, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Lori H. Handley, Isabel Hardee, Matthew R. Herzog, Ingrid A. Holm, Ellen M. Howerton, Howard J. Jacob, Mahim Jain, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Alanna E. Koehler, David M. Koeller, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Donna M. Krasnewich, Elizabeth L. Krieg, Joel B. Krier, Jennifer E. Kyle, Seema R. Lalani, Lea Latham, Yvonne L. Latour, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Paul R. Lee, Shawn E. Levy, Denise J. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Adam P. Liebendorder, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Carson R. Loomis, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Azamian S. Mashid, Paul Mazur, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Alexa T. McCray, Thomas O. Metz, Matthew Might, Paolo M. Moretti, John J. Mulvihill, Jennifer L. Murphy, Donna M. Muzny, Michele E. Nehrebecky, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Jordan S. Orange, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Loren D.M. Pena, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Rachel B. Ramoni, Lance H. Rodan, Sarah Sadozai, Katherine E. Schaffer, Kelly Schoch, Molly C. Schroeder, Daryl A. Scott, Prashant Sharma, Vandana Shashi, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Ariane G. Soldatos, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Kimberly Splinter, Joan M. Stoler, Kimberly A. Strong, Jennifer A. Sullivan, David A. Sweetser, Sara P. Thomas, Cynthia J. Tift, Nathanial J. Tolman, Alyssa A. Tran, Zaheer M. Valivullah, Eric Vilain, Daryl M. Waggott, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Mike Warburton, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Alec A. Weech, Monte Westerfield, Matt T. Wheeler, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Worthe, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Yaping Yang, Guoyun Yu, and Patricia A. Zornio
Subjects: Central Nervous System, Male, 0301 basic medicine, Ataxia, Developmental Disabilities, Biology, Speech Disorders, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Neurodevelopmental disorder, Intellectual Disability, Report, Intellectual disability, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Abnormalities, Multiple, Genitalia, Global developmental delay, Child, Transcription factor, Genetics (clinical), Zinc finger, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Zinc Fingers, Syndrome, medicine.disease, Hypotonia, 030104 developmental biology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Child, Preschool, Mutation, Muscle Hypotonia, Homeobox, Female, medicine.symptom, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Transcription Factors
Abstract: Early B cell factor 3 (EBF3) is a member of the highly evolutionarily conserved Collier/Olf/EBF (COE) family of transcription factors. Prior studies on invertebrate and vertebrate animals have shown that EBF3 homologs are essential for survival and that loss-of-function mutations are associated with a range of nervous system developmental defects, including perturbation of neuronal development and migration. Interestingly, aristaless-related homeobox (ARX), a homeobox-containing transcription factor critical for the regulation of nervous system development, transcriptionally represses EBF3 expression. However, human neurodevelopmental disorders related to EBF3 have not been reported. Here, we describe three individuals who are affected by global developmental delay, intellectual disability, and expressive speech disorder and carry de novo variants in EBF3. Associated features seen in these individuals include congenital hypotonia, structural CNS malformations, ataxia, and genitourinary abnormalities. The de novo variants affect a single conserved residue in a zinc finger motif crucial for DNA binding and are deleterious in a fly model. Our findings indicate that mutations in EBF3 cause a genetic neurodevelopmental syndrome and suggest that loss of EBF3 function might mediate a subset of neurologic phenotypes shared by ARX-related disorders, including intellectual disability, abnormal genitalia, and structural CNS malformations.
Published: 2017

25. Sarcomeres regulate cardiomyocyte maturation through MRTF-SRF signaling

Author: Blake D. Jardin, Emily C Troiano, Behzad Moghadaszadeh, Yuxuan Guo, Isha Sethi, William T. Pu, Michael A. Trembley, Eric M. Small, Guo-Cheng Yuan, Qing Ma, and Alan H. Beggs
Subjects: 0303 health sciences, Mutation, Mutant, Regulator, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, Sarcomere, Cell biology, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Serum response factor, medicine, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Actin, Nuclear localization sequence, 030304 developmental biology
Abstract: Cardiomyocyte maturation is essential for robust heart contraction throughout life. The signaling networks governing cardiomyocyte maturation remain poorly defined. Our prior studies established the transcription factor SRF as a key regulator of the assembly of sarcomeres, the contractile unit of cardiomyocytes. Whether sarcomeres regulate other aspects of maturation remains unclear. Here we generated mice with cardiomyocyte specific, mosaic mutation of α-actinin-2 (Actn2), a key organizer of sarcomeres, to study its cell-autonomous role in cardiomyocyte maturation. In addition to the expected structural defects,Actn2mutation triggered dramatic transcriptional dysregulation, which strongly correlated with transcriptional changes observed in SRF-depleted cardiomyocytes.Actn2mutation increased monomeric actin, which perturbed the nuclear localization of the SRF cofactor MRTFA. Overexpression of a dominant-negative MRTFA mutant was sufficient to recapitulate the transcriptional and morphological defects inActn2andSrfmutant cardiomyocytes. Together, we demonstrate that ACTN2-based sarcomere assembly and MRTF-SRF signaling establish a positive feedback loop that promotes cardiomyocyte maturation.
Published: 2019

26. De Novo Pathogenic Variants in N-cadherin Cause a Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder with Corpus Callosum, Axon, Cardiac, Ocular, and Genital Defects

Author: Andrea Accogli, Sara Calabretta, Judith St-Onge, Nassima Boudrahem-Addour, Alexandre Dionne-Laporte, Pascal Joset, Silvia Azzarello-Burri, Anita Rauch, Joel Krier, Elizabeth Fieg, Juan C. Pallais, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Marie McDonald, Sharon F. Freedman, Jean-Baptiste Rivière, Joël Lafond-Lapalme, Brittany N. Simpson, Robert J. Hopkin, Aurélien Trimouille, Julien Van-Gils, Amber Begtrup, Kirsty McWalter, Heron Delphine, Boris Keren, David Genevieve, Emanuela Argilli, Elliott H. Sherr, Mariasavina Severino, Guy A. Rouleau, Patricia T. Yam, Frédéric Charron, Myriam Srour, Maria T. Acosta, David R. Adams, Pankaj Agrawal, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Justin Alvey, Ashley Andrews, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dustin Baldridge, Jim Bale, Deborah Barbouth, Gabriel F. Batzli, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Alan H. Beggs, Gill Bejerano, Hugo J. Bellen, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Stephanie Bivona, John Bohnsack, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Braden E. Boone, Bret L. Bostwick, Lorenzo Botto, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Manish J. Butte, John Carey, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Precilla D’Souza, Surendra Dasari, Mariska Davids, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Laura Duncan, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Laure Fresard, William A. Gahl, Rena A. Godfrey, Alica M. Goldman, David B. Goldstein, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Nichole Hayes, Frances High, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Lefkothea Karaviti, Emily G. Kelley, Dana Kiley, David M. Koeller, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Susan Korrick, Mary Koziura, Joel B. Krier, Jennifer E. Kyle, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Kimberly LeBlanc, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Shawn E. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Pengfei Liu, Xue Zhong Liu, Nicola Longo, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Rong Mao, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Gabor Marth, Beth A. Martin, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Thomas May, Jacob McCauley, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Thomas O. Metz, Matthew Might, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Avi Nath, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Laura Pace, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Aaron Quinlan, Archana N. Raja, Genecee Renteria, Chloe M. Reuter, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Robb K. Rowley, Maura Ruzhnikov, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Kelly Schoch, Daryl A. Scott, Lisa Shakachite, Prashant Sharma, Vandana Shashi, Kathleen Shields, Jimann Shin, Rebecca Signer, Catherine H. Sillari, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Kevin S. Smith, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Nicholas Stong, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Shirley Sutton, David A. Sweetser, Holly K. Tabor, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Melissa Walker, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Michael F. Wangler, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Daniel Wegner, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Shinya Yamamoto, John Yang, Amanda J. Yoon, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, Chunli Zhao, Stephan Zuchner, McGill University Health Center [Montreal] (MUHC), Istituto di ricovero e cura a carattere scientifico Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria 'San Martino' (IRCCS AOU San Martino), Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), Université de Montréal (UdeM), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada], University hospital of Zurich [Zurich], Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich (UZH), Brigham & Women’s Hospital [Boston] (BWH), Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS), Duke University [Durham], Duke University Medical Center, Génétique des Anomalies du Développement (GAD), IFR100 - Structure fédérative de recherche Santé-STIC-Université de Bourgogne (UB), University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Laboratoire Maladies Rares: Génétique et Métabolisme (Bordeaux) (U1211 INSERM/MRGM), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Groupe hospitalier Pellegrin-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Université de Bordeaux (UB), GeneDx [Gaithersburg, MD, USA], Service de Génétique Cytogénétique et Embryologie [CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière], CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU), Cellules Souches, Plasticité Cellulaire, Médecine Régénératrice et Immunothérapies (IRMB), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire [Montpellier] (CHRU Montpellier), University of California [San Francisco] (UCSF), University of California, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Fondazione 'Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino', Hôpital Bicêtre, Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Hôpital Bicêtre, Institute of Physics, Saink School Post, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-IPG PARIS-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Genomics Program and Division of Genetics, Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS)-Boston Children's Hospital-The Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Représentations musicales (Repmus), Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son (STMS), Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Drapper, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology [Huntsville, AL], Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Institute of Child Health, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics (Baylor College of Medicine), Baylor College of Medecine, Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Mayo Clinic, Facultat de Fisica, Departament Universitari d'Optica, Universitat de València (UV), Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham [ Birmingham] (UAB), Center for Neuroscience Research (CNMC), Center for Neuroscience Research, Oregon Health and Science University [Portland] (OHSU), Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Baylor University, Stanford University School of Medicine [CA, USA], Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California [Los Angeles] (UCLA), University of California-University of California-Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Human Genetics, Department of Mathematics [Sussex], University of Sussex, Genomics Program and Division of Genetics [Boston, USA], Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique (LaBRI), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, Informatique et Radiocommunications de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB), Bioinformatics Research Center, North Carolina State University [Raleigh] (NC State), University of North Carolina System (UNC)-University of North Carolina System (UNC), Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Departament de Fisica i Enginyeria Nuclear (DEPARTAMENT DI FISICA), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya [Barcelona] (UPC), Institute of Human Genetics, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, National University of Singapore (NUS), Institute of Neuroscience [Eugene, OR, États-Unis], University of Oregon [Eugene], Boston Children's Hospital, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics [Houston, USA], Metacohorts Consortium, Department of Biological Sciences [Nashville], Vanderbilt University [Nashville], Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), Columbia University [New York], School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and Linguistics, University College Dublin [Dublin] (UCD), Stanford School of Medicine [Stanford], Stanford Medicine, Stanford University-Stanford University, Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami [Coral Gables], ZFIN, Graduate School of Information Systems, University of Electro-Communications [Tokyo] (UEC), John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-IFR100 - Structure fédérative de recherche Santé-STIC, Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire [Montpellier] (CHRU Montpellier)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Montpellier (UM), and Université de Bordeaux (UB)-École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, Informatique et Radiocommunications de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Heart Defects, Congenital, Heterozygote, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], [SDV.BC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Cellular Biology, Biology, CDH2, Eye, Frameshift mutation, genital defects, corpus callosum, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Report, Genetics, medicine, Missense mutation, Humans, Genitalia, Axon, Frameshift Mutation, Genetics (clinical), N-cadherin, Corpus Callosum Agenesis, Cadherin, eye defects, Cadherins, Molecular biology, Axons, cardiac defects, 030104 developmental biology, medicine.anatomical_structure, ACOG, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, cell-cell adhesion, intellectual disability, Axon guidance, Neural development, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, [SDV.MHEP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology
Abstract: International audience; Cadherins constitute a family of transmembrane proteins that mediate calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion. The extracellular domain of cadherins consists of extracellular cadherin (EC) domains, separated by calcium binding sites. The EC interacts with other cadherin molecules in cis and in trans to mechanically hold apposing cell surfaces together. CDH2 encodes N-cadherin, whose essential roles in neural development include neuronal migration and axon pathfinding. However, CDH2 has not yet been linked to a Mendelian neurodevelopmental disorder. Here, we report de novo heterozygous pathogenic variants (seven missense, two frameshift) in CDH2 in nine individuals with a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay and/or intellectual disability, variable axon pathfinding defects (corpus callosum agenesis or hypoplasia, mirror movements, Duane anomaly), and ocular, cardiac, and genital anomalies. All seven missense variants (c.1057G>A [p.Asp353Asn]; c.1789G>A [p.Asp597Asn]; c.1789G>T [p.Asp597Tyr]; c.1802A>C [p.Asn601Thr]; c.1839C>G [p.Cys613Trp]; c.1880A>G [p.Asp627Gly]; c.2027A>G [p.Tyr676Cys]) result in substitution of highly conserved residues, and six of seven cluster within EC domains 4 and 5. Four of the substitutions affect the calcium-binding site in the EC4-EC5 interdomain. We show that cells expressing these variants in the EC4-EC5 domains have a defect in cell-cell adhesion; this defect includes impaired binding in trans with N-cadherin-WT expressed on apposing cells. The two frameshift variants (c.2563_2564delCT [p.Leu855Valfs∗4]; c.2564_2567dupTGTT [p.Leu856Phefs∗5]) are predicted to lead to a truncated cytoplasmic domain. Our study demonstrates that de novo heterozygous variants in CDH2 impair the adhesive activity of N-cadherin, resulting in a multisystemic developmental disorder, that could be named ACOG syndrome (agenesis of corpus callosum, axon pathfinding, cardiac, ocular, and genital defects).
Published: 2019

27. De Novo Variants in WDR37 Are Associated with Epilepsy, Colobomas, Dysmorphism, Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability, and Cerebellar Hypoplasia

Author: Oguz Kanca, Jonathan C. Andrews, Pei-Tseng Lee, Chirag Patel, Stephen R. Braddock, Anne M. Slavotinek, Julie S. Cohen, Cynthia S. Gubbels, Kimberly A. Aldinger, Judy Williams, Maanasa Indaram, Ali Fatemi, Timothy W. Yu, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Gilbert Vezina, Cas Simons, Joanna Crawford, C. Christopher Lau, Wendy K. Chung, Thomas C. Markello, William B. Dobyns, David R. Adams, William A. Gahl, Michael F. Wangler, Shinya Yamamoto, Hugo J. Bellen, May Christine V. Malicdan, Maria T. Acosta, Pankaj Agrawal, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Justin Alvey, Ashley Andrews, Euan A. Ashley, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Guney Bademci, Eva Baker, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dustin Baldridge, Jim Bale, Deborah Barbouth, Gabriel F. Batzli, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Alan H. Beggs, Gill Bejerano, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Gerard T. Berry, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Stephanie Bivona, John Bohnsack, Carsten Bonnenmann, Devon Bonner, Braden E. Boone, Bret L. Bostwick, Lorenzo Botto, Lauren C. Briere, Elly Brokamp, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Manish J. Butte, John Carey, Olveen Carrasquillo, Ta Chen Peter Chang, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Laurel A. Cobban, Joy D. Cogan, F. Sessions Cole, Heather A. Colley, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Precilla D'Souza, Surendra Dasari, Mariska Davids, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, Laura Duncan, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Liliana Fernandez, Carlos Ferreira, Elizabeth L. Fieg, Paul G. Fisher, Brent L. Fogel, Irman Forghani, Laure Fresard, Rena A. Godfrey, Alica M. Goldman, David B. Goldstein, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Alana Grajewski, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Nichole Hayes, Frances High, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Alden Huang, Yong Huang, Rosario Isasi, Fariha Jamal, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Lefkothea Karaviti, Emily G. Kelley, Dana Kiley, David M. Koeller, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Deborah Krakow, Donna M. Krasnewich, Susan Korrick, Mary Koziura, Joel B. Krier, Jennifer E. Kyle, Seema R. Lalani, Byron Lam, Brendan C. Lanpher, Ian R. Lanza, Jozef Lazar, Kimberly LeBlanc, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Roy Levitt, Shawn E. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Pengfei Liu, Xue Zhong Liu, Nicola Longo, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Rong Mao, Ronit Marom, Gabor Marth, Beth A. Martin, Martin G. Martin, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Thomas May, Jacob McCauley, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Thomas O. Metz, Matthew Might, Eva Morava-Kozicz, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, David R. Murdock, Avi Nath, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Devin Oglesbee, James P. Orengo, Laura Pace, Stephen Pak, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Aaron Quinlan, Archana N. Raja, Genecee Renteria, Chloe M. Reuter, Lynette Rives, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Robb K. Rowley, Maura Ruzhnikov, Ralph Sacco, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Mario Saporta, Judy Schaechter, Timothy Schedl, Kelly Schoch, Daryl A. Scott, Lisa Shakachite, Prashant Sharma, Vandana Shashi, Kathleen Shields, Jimann Shin, Rebecca Signer, Catherine H. Sillari, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kathy Sisco, Kevin S. Smith, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Joan M. Stoler, Nicholas Stong, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Shirley Sutton, David A. Sweetser, Holly K. Tabor, Cecelia P. Tamburro, Queenie K.-G. Tan, Mustafa Tekin, Fred Telischi, Willa Thorson, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Matt Velinder, Dave Viskochil, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Melissa Walker, Jennifer Wambach, Jijun Wan, Lee-kai Wang, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Daniel Wegner, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Jeremy D. Woods, Elizabeth A. Worthey, John Yang, Amanda J. Yoon, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, Chunli Zhao, and Stephan Zuchner
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, Pediatrics, WD40 Repeats, Developmental Disabilities, Sequence Homology, 030105 genetics & heredity, Epilepsy, CHARGE syndrome, 0302 clinical medicine, Cerebellum, Intellectual disability, Child, Cerebellar hypoplasia, Genetics (clinical), Genetics, Microfilament Proteins, Body Dysmorphic Disorders, Null allele, Phenotype, Coloboma, Drosophila melanogaster, Female, Adult, medicine.medical_specialty, Protein family, Allele name, Locus (genetics), Biology, Nervous System Malformations, Young Adult, 03 medical and health sciences, WD40 repeat, Intellectual Disability, Report, medicine, Animals, Humans, Amino Acid Sequence, Allele, Gene, business.industry, Infant, Newborn, Correction, Infant, Regret, medicine.disease, Human genetics, 030104 developmental biology, Mutation, business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: WD40 repeat-containing proteins form a large family of proteins present in all eukaryotes. Here, we identified five pediatric probands with de novo variants in WDR37, which encodes a member of the WD40 repeat protein family. Two probands shared one variant and the others have variants in nearby amino acids outside the WD40 repeats. The probands exhibited shared phenotypes of epilepsy, colobomas, facial dysmorphology reminiscent of CHARGE syndrome, developmental delay and intellectual disability, and cerebellar hypoplasia. The WDR37 protein is highly conserved in vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms and is currently not associated with a human disease. We generated a null allele of the single Drosophila ortholog to gain functional insights and replaced the coding region of the fly gene CG12333/wdr37 with GAL4. These flies are homozygous viable but display severe bang sensitivity, a phenotype associated with seizures in flies. Additionally, the mutant flies fall when climbing the walls of the vials, suggesting a defect in grip strength, and repeat the cycle of climbing and falling. Similar to wall clinging defect, mutant males often lose grip of the female abdomen during copulation. These phenotypes are rescued by using the GAL4 in the CG12333/wdr37 locus to drive the UAS-human reference WDR37 cDNA. The two variants found in three human subjects failed to rescue these phenotypes, suggesting that these alleles severely affect the function of this protein. Taken together, our data suggest that variants in WDR37 underlie a novel syndromic neurological disorder.
Published: 2019

28. Discovery of Novel Therapeutics for Muscular Dystrophies using Zebrafish Phenotypic Screens

Author: Alan H. Beggs, Jeffrey J. Widrick, Louis M. Kunkel, Genri Kawahara, and Matthew S. Alexander
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Drug Evaluation, Preclinical, Computational biology, Muscular Dystrophies, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, Animals, drug screening, Muscular dystrophy, Zebrafish, Danio rerio, biology, Drug discovery, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, preclinical drug evaluation, Research opportunities, Muscular Dystrophy, Animal, biology.organism_classification, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Disease Models, Animal, 030104 developmental biology, Neurology, Drug development, Neurology (clinical), 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy
Abstract: The recent availability and development of mutant and transgenic zebrafish strains that model human muscular dystrophies has created new research opportunities for therapeutic development. Not only do these models mimic many pathological aspects of human dystrophies, but their small size, large clutch sizes, rapid ex utero development, body transparency, and genetic tractability enable research approaches that would be inconceivable with mammalian model systems. Here we discuss the use of zebrafish models of muscular dystrophy to rapidly screen hundreds to thousands of bioactive compounds in order to identify novel therapeutic candidates that modulate pathologic phenotypes. We review the justification and rationale behind this unbiased approach, including how zebrafish screens have identified FDA-approved drugs that are candidates for treating Duchenne and limb girdle muscular dystrophies. Not only can these drugs be re-purposed for treating dystrophies in a fraction of the time and cost of new drug development, but their identification has revealed novel, unexpected directions for future therapy development. Phenotype-driven zebrafish drug screens are an important compliment to the more established mammalian, target-based approaches for rapidly developing and validating therapeutics for muscular dystrophies.
Published: 2019

29. Aberrant regulation of epigenetic modifiers contributes to the pathogenesis in patients with selenoprotein N-related myopathies

Author: Primo Schär, Nicol C. Voermans, Francesco Zorzato, Johanna M. Fock, Casie A. Genetti, Faiza Noreen, John Vissing, Giovanni Meola, Heinz Jungbluth, Alan H. Beggs, Francesco Muntoni, Susan Treves, Rosanna Cardani, Steven A. Moore, Saskia Bulk, Benno Küsters, Megan Meyer, Emma Mathews, Katherine D. Mathews, and Christoph Bachmann
Subjects: Methyltransferase, Muscle Proteins, Epigenesis, Genetic, congenital myopathies, Gene expression, DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases, Child, Selenoproteins, Genetics (clinical), Cells, Cultured, Genetics, 0303 health sciences, education.field_of_study, Cultured, Selenoprotein N, 030305 genetics & heredity, excitation–contraction coupling, Disorders of movement Donders Center for Medical Neuroscience [Radboudumc 3], Histone Code, Histone, Child, Preschool, DNA methylation, Adolescent, Cells, Biology, Article, Histone Deacetylases, NO, 03 medical and health sciences, All institutes and research themes of the Radboud University Medical Center, Genetic, Muscular Diseases, congenital myopathies, epigenetics, excitation–contraction coupling, gene expression, ryanodine receptor, Adolescent, Cells, Cultured, Child, Preschool, CpG Islands, DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases, Epigenesis, Genetic, Histone Code, Histone Deacetylases, Muscle Proteins, Muscular Diseases, Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel, Selenoproteins, Whole Genome Sequencing, DNA Methylation, ryanodine receptor, Humans, Epigenetics, education, Preschool, Gene, 030304 developmental biology, RYR1, epigenetics, Whole Genome Sequencing, Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel, DNA Methylation, biology.protein, gene expression, CpG Islands, Epigenesis
Abstract: Congenital myopathies are early onset, slowly progressive neuromuscular disorders of variable severity. They are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous and caused by pathogenic variants in several genes. Multi-minicore Disease, one of the more common congenital myopathies, is frequently caused by recessive variants in either SELENON, encoding the endoplasmic reticulum glycoprotein selenoprotein N or RYR1, encoding a protein involved in calcium homeostasis and excitation–contraction coupling. The mechanism by which recessive SELENON variants cause Multi-minicore Disease is unclear. Here, we extensively investigated muscle physiological, biochemical and epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNA expression, to understand the pathomechanism of Multi-minicore Disease. We identified biochemical changes that are common in patients harbouring recessive RYR1 and SELENON variants, including depletion of transcripts encoding proteins involved in skeletal muscle calcium homeostasis, increased levels of class II HDACs and DNA methyltransferases. CpG methylation analysis of genomic DNA of patients with RYR1 and SELENON variants identified more than 3500 common aberrantly methylated genes, many of which are involved in calcium signalling. These results provide the proof of concept for the potential use of drugs targeting HDACs and DNA methyltransferases to treat patients with specific forms of congenital myopathies.
Published: 2019

30. MYL2-associated congenital fiber-type disproportion and cardiomyopathy with variants in additional neuromuscular disease genes; the dilemma of panel testing

Author: M. Marttila, David Lacomis, Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Fouad Al-Ghamdi, Wathone Win, and Alan H. Beggs
Subjects: Proband, Research Report, Neuromuscular disease, Nonsense mutation, Cardiomyopathy, Biology, generalized neonatal hypotonia, Frameshift mutation, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Nemaline myopathy, medicine, generalized muscle weakness, Gene, 030304 developmental biology, Genetics, 0303 health sciences, skeletal myopathy, type 1 fibers relatively smaller than type 2 fibers, polyhydramnios, General Medicine, Congenital fiber type disproportion, medicine.disease, 3. Good health, abnormality of the musculature of the limbs, dilated cardiomyopathy, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Next-generation sequencing has led to transformative advances in our ability to diagnose rare diseases by simultaneously sequencing dozens, hundreds, or even entire genomes worth of genes to efficiently identify pathogenic mutations. These studies amount to multiple hypothesis testing on a massive scale and not infrequently lead to discovery of multiple genetic variants whose relative contributions to a patient's disease are unclear. Panel testing, in particular, can be problematic because each of the many genes being sequenced might represent a plausible explanation for a given case. We performed targeted gene panel analysis of 43 established neuromuscular disease genes in a patient with congenital fiber-type disproportion (CFTD) and fatal infantile cardiomyopathy. Initial review of variants identified changes in four genes that could be considered relevant candidates to cause this child's disease. Further analysis revealed that two of these are likely benign, but a homozygous frameshift variant in the myosin light chain 2 gene, MYL2, and a heterozygous nonsense mutation in the nebulin gene, NEB, met criteria to be classified as likely pathogenic or pathogenic. Recessive MYL2 mutations are a rare cause of CFTD associated with both skeletal and cardiomyopathy, whereas recessive NEB mutations cause nemaline myopathy. Although the proband's phenotype is likely largely explained by the MYL2 variant, the heterozygous pathogenic NEB variant cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor. This case illustrates the complexity when analyzing large numbers of variants from targeted gene panels in which each of the genes might plausibly contribute to the patient's clinical presentation.
Published: 2019

31. Novel variants in SPTAN1 without epilepsy: An expansion of the phenotype

Author: Cynthia J. Tifft, William A. Gahl, Paul R. Lee, Lisa Joseph, Valerie Gartner, Thomas C. Markello, Alan H. Beggs, Irina Anselm, Emma Boslet, Audrey Thurm, Jeremy D. Schmahmann, Andrea De Biase, Ellen Macnamara, and Gerard T. Berry
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, media_common.quotation_subject, Nonsense, Neuroimaging, Neuropsychological Tests, Biology, Multimodal Imaging, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, 03 medical and health sciences, Exon, Epilepsy, 0302 clinical medicine, Exome Sequencing, Leukocytes, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Coding region, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Child, Gene, Genetic Association Studies, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, media_common, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, Microfilament Proteins, Facies, Genetic Variation, Electroencephalography, Fibroblasts, medicine.disease, SPTAN1, Immunohistochemistry, Phenotype, 030104 developmental biology, Carrier Proteins, Biomarkers, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: We describe two unrelated children with de novo variants in the non-erythrocytic alpha-II-spectrin (SPTAN1) gene who have hypoplastic brain structures, intellectual disability, and both fine and gross motor impairments. Using agnostic exome sequencing, we identified a nonsense variant creating a premature stop codon in exon 21 of SPTAN1, and in a second patient we identified an intronic substitution in SPTAN1 prior to exon 50 creating a new donor acceptor site. Neither of these variants has been described previously. Although some of these patients' features are consistent with the known SPTAN1 encephalopathy phenotype, these two children do not have epilepsy, in contrast to reports about nearly every other patient with heterozygous SPTAN1 variants and in all patients with a variant near the C-terminal coding region. Moreover, both children have abnormal thyroid function, which has not been previously reported in association with SPTAN1 variant. We present a detailed discussion of the clinical manifestations of these two unique SPTAN1 variants and provide evidence that both variants result in reduced mRNA expression despite different locations within the gene and clinical phenotypes. These findings expand the motor, cognitive, and behavioral spectrum of the SPTAN1-associated phenotype and invite speculation about underlying pathophysiologies.
Published: 2018

32. The Genetic Landscape of Diamond-Blackfan Anemia

Author: Aaron Cheng, David J. Amor, Colin A. Sieff, Nour J. Abdulhay, Claudia Fiorini, David G. Nathan, Beryl B. Cummings, Bertil Glader, Leif S. Ludwig, Peter E. Newburger, Stacey Gabriel, Giulio Genovese, Anupama Narla, Daniel G. MacArthur, Shideh Kazerounian, Alan H. Beggs, Edyta Niewiadomska, Namrata Gupta, Elaine T. Lim, Ron Do, Adrianna Vlachos, Casie A. Genetti, Katherine R. Chao, Pierre-Emmanuel Gleizes, Jeffrey M. Verboon, Jeffrey M. Lipton, Hanna T. Gazda, Lydie Da Costa, Jacob C. Ulirsch, Andrei A. Korostelev, Robert E. Handsaker, Eric S. Lander, Daniel Yuan, Steven A. McCarroll, Michał Matysiak, Vijay G. Sankaran, Monkol Lek, Michael H. Guo, Eva Atsidaftos, Anne H. O’Donnell-Luria, Marie-Françoise O'Donohue, Nathalie Montel-Lehry, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (BROAD INSTITUTE), Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS)-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Massachusetts General Hospital [Boston], Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS), Duke University [Durham], Boston Children's Hospital, Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Laboratoire de biologie moléculaire eucaryote (LBME), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS)-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Massachusetts General Hospital [Boston]-Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS)-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Massachusetts General Hospital [Boston], Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, AP-HP, Service d'Hématologie Biologique, Hôpital Robert-Debré, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], Cohort Studies, Exon, 0302 clinical medicine, Exome, Diamond–Blackfan anemia, Child, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, Anemia, Diamond-Blackfan, Genetics, 0303 health sciences, education.field_of_study, Exons, 3. Good health, Phenotype, Child, Preschool, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Female, Ribosomal Proteins, Adolescent, Sequence analysis, Population, Biology, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Exome Sequencing, medicine, Humans, education, Gene, Genetic Association Studies, Loss function, 030304 developmental biology, Phenocopy, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Genetic heterogeneity, Correction, medicine.disease, Human genetics, 030104 developmental biology, Mutation, Ribosomes, Gene Deletion, [SDV.MHEP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology
Abstract: Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a rare bone marrow failure disorder that affects 1 in 100,000 to 200,000 live births and has been associated with mutations in components of the ribosome. In order to characterize the genetic landscape of this genetically heterogeneous disorder, we recruited a cohort of 472 individuals with a clinical diagnosis of DBA and performed whole exome sequencing (WES). Overall, we identified rare and predicted damaging mutations in likely causal genes for 78% of individuals. The majority of mutations were singletons, absent from population databases, predicted to cause loss of function, and in one of 19 previously reported genes encoding for a diverse set of ribosomal proteins (RPs). Using WES exon coverage estimates, we were able to identify and validate 31 deletions in DBA associated genes. We also observed an enrichment for extended splice site mutations and validated the diverse effects of these mutations using RNA sequencing in patientderived cell lines. Leveraging the size of our cohort, we observed several robust genotype-phenotype associations with congenital abnormalities and treatment outcomes. In addition to comprehensively identifying mutations in known genes, we further identified rare mutations in 7 previously unreported RP genes that may cause DBA. We also identified several distinct disorders that appear to phenocopy DBA, including 9 individuals with biallelicCECR1mutations that result in deficiency of ADA2. However, no new genes were identified at exome-wide significance, suggesting that there are no unidentified genes containing mutations readily identified by WES that explain > 5% of DBA cases. Overall, this comprehensive report should not only inform clinical practice for DBA patients, but also the design and analysis of future rare variant studies for heterogeneous Mendelian disorders.
Published: 2018

33. More than a fancy exome: unique capabilities of genome sequencing for pediatric rare disease diagnosis

Author: Lynn Pais, Samantha Baxter, Vijay S. Ganesh, Ben Weisburd, Heidi L. Rehm, Stephanie DiTroia, Julia K. Goodrich, Anne H. O’Donnell-Luria, Emily O'Heir, Katrin Õunap, Alan H. Beggs, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Daniel G. MacArthur, Monica H. Wojcik, Sander Pajusalu, and Katherine R. Chao
Subjects: Endocrinology, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Genetics, Computational biology, Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Exome, DNA sequencing, Rare disease
Published: 2021

34. Treatment with ActRIIB-mFc Produces Myofiber Growth and Improves Lifespan in the Acta1 H40Y Murine Model of Nemaline Myopathy

Author: Lin Yang, Fujun Liu, Mahua Dasgupta, R. Scott Pearsall, Michael W. Lawlor, Raymond G. Hoffmann, Kenneth P. Allen, Robert H. Fitts, Alan H. Beggs, Jennifer Tinklenberg, Edna C. Hardeman, and Hui Meng
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, medicine.medical_specialty, Activin Receptors, Type II, Blotting, Western, Inflammation, Myostatin, Biology, Myopathies, Nemaline, Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Muscle hypertrophy, Mice, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Nemaline myopathy, Myofibrils, Internal medicine, medicine, Animals, Myocyte, Muscle, Skeletal, Muscle biopsy, medicine.diagnostic_test, Regular Article, Activin receptor, Anatomy, medicine.disease, Mice, Mutant Strains, 3. Good health, Disease Models, Animal, 030104 developmental biology, Endocrinology, biology.protein, medicine.symptom, Myofibril, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Nemaline myopathies (NMs) are a group of congenital muscle diseases caused by mutations in at least 10 genes and associated with a range of clinical symptoms. NM is defined on muscle biopsy by the presence of cytoplasmic rod-like structures (nemaline rods) composed of cytoskeletal material. Myofiber smallness is also found in many cases of NM and may represent a cause of weakness that can be counteracted by treatment. We have used i.p. injection of activin type IIB receptor (ActRIIB)–mFc (an inhibitor of myostatin signaling) to promote hypertrophy and increase strength in our prior murine work; we therefore tested whether ActRIIB-mFc could improve weakness in NM mice through myofiber hypertrophy. We report a study of ActRIIB-mFc treatment in the Acta1 H40Y mouse model of NM. Treatment of Acta1 H40Y mice produced significant increases in body mass, muscle mass, quadriceps myofiber size, and survival, but other measurements of strength (forelimb grip strength, ex vivo measurements of contractile function) did not improve. Our studies also identified that the complications of urethral obstruction are associated with mortality in male hemizygote Acta1 H40Y mice. The incidence of urethral obstruction and histologic evidence of chronic obstruction (inflammation) were significantly lower in Acta1 H40Y mice that had been treated with ActRIIB-mFc. ActRIIB-mFc treatment produces a mild benefit to the disease phenotype in Acta1 H40Y mice.
Published: 2016

35. Mutation-specific effects on thin filament length in thin filament myopathy

Author: Nicol C. Voermans, Balázs Kiss, Eun Jeong Lee, Alan H. Beggs, Christopher T. Pappas, Carina Wallgren-Pettersson, Michaela Yuen, Sandra Donkervoort, Vandana Gupta, Nigel F. Clarke, Edoardo Malfatti, Ger J.M. Stienen, Barbara Joureau, Katarina Pelin, Norma B. Romero, Henk Granzier, Josine M. de Winter, Carol C. Gregorio, Carsten G. Bönnemann, Baziel G.M. van Engelen, Simon Edvardson, Vilma Lotta Lehtokari, and Coen A.C. Ottenheijm
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, biology, Chemistry, Skeletal muscle, macromolecular substances, Anatomy, Sarcomere, TPM2, 03 medical and health sciences, Nebulin, 030104 developmental biology, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine.anatomical_structure, Neurology, Myosin, biology.protein, medicine, Biophysics, Neurology (clinical), medicine.symptom, Myopathy, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Actin, Muscle contraction
Abstract: Nemaline myopathy and congenital fiber type disproportion are among the most common nondystrophic congenital muscular disorders.1 Genes that are implicated in these myopathies encode proteins that are either components of the skeletal muscle thin filament, including nebulin (NEB), skeletal muscle alpha-actin1 (ACTA1), beta-tropomyosin 2 (TPM2), alpha-tropomyosin 3 (TPM3), troponin T type 1 (TNNT1), cofilin-2 (CFL2), and leiomodin-3 (LMOD3), or are thought to contribute to stability or turnover of thin filament proteins, such as kelch repeat and BTB (POZ) domain containing 13 (KBTBD13), and kelchlike family members 40 (KLHL40) and 41 (KLHL41).2–6 Hence, muscle diseases caused by mutations in these genes are here referred to as thin filament myopathies. For a schematic of the thin filament and its associated proteins, see Figure 1. Patients with thin filament myopathy suffer from muscle weakness, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. FIGURE 1 Schematic of the skeletal muscle thin filament. The thin filament is an essential structure in the sarcomere, the smallest contractile unit in skeletal muscle. The actin-based backbone of the thin filament is decorated with proteins that are involved ... The thin filament is a major constituent of the sarcomere, the smallest contractile unit in muscle, and is essential for force generation; its length determines the overlap between the thin and thick filament, and thereby the number of force-generating interactions that can be formed between actin and myosin. In healthy human muscle, the length of the thick filament is 1.6μm and that of the thin filament is regulated at 1.1 to 1.3μm.7 Accordingly, force depends on sarcomere length, with increasing force as the overlap between thick and thin filaments increases (up to a sarcomere length of ~2.6μm; ie, the ascending limb of the force–sarcomere length relation), and decreasing force at longer sarcomere lengths as the overlap between thick and thin filaments decreases (ie, the descending limb; Fig 2A8,9). Hence, appropriate length of the thin filament is important for muscle fiber strength; a shorter length causes lower force generation by shifting the descending limb of the force–sarcomere length relation downward. FIGURE 2 The force–sarcomere length relation in muscle fibers from thin filament myopathy patients and control (CTRL) subjects. (A) The shape of the force–sarcomere length relation is determined by the amount of overlap between the thick and thin ... Whether mutations in genes implicated in thin filament myopathy contribute to force loss by affecting thin filament length is unclear. Mouse models with mutations in Neb exhibit a shorter thin filament length associated with lower force generation that becomes more prominent as sarcomere length increases.10–12 Preliminary studies on a small number of human biopsies were largely in agreement with this observation.13,14 Whether these findings translate to a large group of patients, and whether shorter thin filament length is a general mechanism underlying force loss in thin filament myopathies with a variety of different gene defects, is unknown. Therefore, we studied muscle fibers from 51 patients with thin filament myopathy caused by mutations in NEB, ACTA1, TPM2, TPM3, TNNT1, KBTBD13, KLHL40, and KLHL41. In these fibers, we determined the sarcomere length-dependence of force, a functional assay that provides insight into the contractile strength of muscle fibers as well as the length of the thin filaments. In a novel, conditional Neb knockout mouse model that recapitulates thin filament myopathy—including shorter thin filament length—we studied whether muscle possesses mechanisms that compensate for shorter thin filament length, and we specifically focused on the addition of sarcomeres in series.
Published: 2016

36. IRF2BPL Is Associated with Neurological Phenotypes

Author: Paul C. Marcogliese, Vandana Shashi, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Nicholas Stong, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Mary Kay Koenig, Julián A. Martínez-Agosto, Matthew Herzog, Agnes H. Chen, Patricia I. Dickson, Henry J. Lin, Moin U. Vera, Noriko Salamon, John M. Graham, Damara Ortiz, Elena Infante, Wouter Steyaert, Bart Dermaut, Bruce Poppe, Hyung-Lok Chung, Zhongyuan Zuo, Pei-Tseng Lee, Oguz Kanca, Fan Xia, Yaping Yang, Edward C. Smith, Joan Jasien, Sujay Kansagra, Gail Spiridigliozzi, Mays El-Dairi, Robert Lark, Kacie Riley, Dwight D. Koeberl, Katie Golden-Grant, Shinya Yamamoto, Michael F. Wangler, Ghayda Mirzaa, Dimitri Hemelsoet, Brendan Lee, Stanley F. Nelson, David B. Goldstein, Hugo J. Bellen, Loren D.M. Pena, Steven Callens, Paul Coucke, Wim Terryn, Rudy Van Coster, David R. Adams, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Mahshid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Hayk Barseghyan, Gabriel F. Batzli, Alan H. Beggs, Babak Behnam, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Devon Bonner, Braden E. Boone, Bret L. Bostwick, Lauren C. Briere, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Shan Chen, Gary D. Clark, Terra R. Coakley, Joy D. Cogan, Cynthia M. Cooper, Heidi Cope, William J. Craigen, Precilla D’Souza, Mariska Davids, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Ani Dillon, Katrina M. Dipple, Laurel A. Donnell-Fink, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, Emilie D. Douine, David D. Draper, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Ascia Eskin, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Carlos Ferreira, Brent L. Fogel, Noah D. Friedman, William A. Gahl, Emily Glanton, Rena A. Godfrey, Sarah E. Gould, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Lori H. Handley, Matthew R. Herzog, Ingrid A. Holm, Jason Hom, Ellen M. Howerton, Yong Huang, Howard J. Jacob, Mahim Jain, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Isaac S. Kohane, Donna M. Krasnewich, Elizabeth L. Krieg, Joel B. Krier, Seema R. Lalani, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Shawn E. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Allen Lipson, Sandra K. Loo, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, Marta M. Majcherska, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Thomas C. Markello, Ronit Marom, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Shruti Marwaha, Thomas May, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Colleen E. McCormack, Alexa T. McCray, Matthew Might, Paolo M. Moretti, Marie Morimoto, John J. Mulvihill, Jennifer L. Murphy, Donna M. Muzny, Michele E. Nehrebecky, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Jordan S. Orange, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Chloe M. Reuter, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Jacinda B. Sampson, Susan L. Samson, Kelly Schoch, Molly C. Schroeder, Daryl A. Scott, Prashant Sharma, Rebecca Signer, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Kevin S. Smith, Kimberly Splinter, Joan M. Stoler, Jennifer A. Sullivan, David A. Sweetser, Cynthia J. Tifft, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiina K. Urv, Zaheer M. Valivullah, Eric Vilain, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Monte Westerfield, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Guoyun Yu, Diane B. Zastrow, and Allison Zheng
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Genetics, Ataxia, Correction, Biology, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Hypotonia, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 030104 developmental biology, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, Missense mutation, Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, Ectopic expression, medicine.symptom, Allele, Gene, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Genetics (clinical)
Abstract: Interferon regulatory factor 2 binding protein-like (IRF2BPL) encodes a member of the IRF2BP family of transcriptional regulators. Currently the biological function of this gene is obscure, and the gene has not been associated with a Mendelian disease. Here we describe seven individuals who carry damaging heterozygous variants in IRF2BPL and are affected with neurological symptoms. Five individuals who carry IRF2BPL nonsense variants resulting in a premature stop codon display severe neurodevelopmental regression, hypotonia, progressive ataxia, seizures, and a lack of coordination. Two additional individuals, both with missense variants, display global developmental delay and seizures and a relatively milder phenotype than those with nonsense alleles. The IRF2BPL bioinformatics signature based on population genomics is consistent with a gene that is intolerant to variation. We show that the fruit-fly IRF2BPL ortholog, called pits (protein interacting with Ttk69 and Sin3A), is broadly detected, including in the nervous system. Complete loss of pits is lethal early in development, whereas partial knockdown with RNA interference in neurons leads to neurodegeneration, revealing a requirement for this gene in proper neuronal function and maintenance. The identified IRF2BPL nonsense variants behave as severe loss-of-function alleles in this model organism, and ectopic expression of the missense variants leads to a range of phenotypes. Taken together, our results show that IRF2BPL and pits are required in the nervous system in humans and flies, and their loss leads to a range of neurological phenotypes in both species.
Published: 2018

37. RNA helicase, DDX27 regulates skeletal muscle growth and regeneration by modulation of translational processes

Author: Stacey R. Gundry, Leonard I. Zon, Marie-Françoise O'Donohue, Anirban Chakraborty, Alexis H Bennett, Jeffrey J. Widrick, Yi Zhou, Alan H. Beggs, Vandana Gupta, Pierre-Emmanuel Gleizes, Isabelle Draper, Aye T. Chan, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Harvard University [Cambridge], Laboratoire de biologie moléculaire eucaryote (LBME), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Boston Children's Hospital
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Cancer Research, Embryo, Nonmammalian, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], Immunofluorescence, Ribosome biogenesis, Muscle Development, Ribosome, Biochemistry, Myoblasts, Animals, Genetically Modified, DEAD-box RNA Helicases, Mice, 0302 clinical medicine, Animal Cells, Gene expression, Translational regulation, Protein biosynthesis, Medicine and Health Sciences, Morphogenesis, Musculoskeletal System, Genetics (clinical), ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, Zebrafish, 0303 health sciences, Myogenesis, Muscles, Stem Cells, Eukaryota, Translation (biology), Animal Models, Non-coding RNA, Muscle Differentiation, RNA Helicase A, 3. Good health, Cell biology, Nucleic acids, Experimental Organism Systems, Ribosomal RNA, Osteichthyes, Vertebrates, Anatomy, Cellular Types, Muscle Regeneration, Cell Nucleolus, Research Article, Cellular structures and organelles, lcsh:QH426-470, Biology, Research and Analysis Methods, Cell Line, 03 medical and health sciences, Model Organisms, Genetics, Animals, Regeneration, Immunoassays, Muscle, Skeletal, Molecular Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, 030304 developmental biology, Cell Proliferation, PAX2 Transcription Factor, Organisms, Biology and Life Sciences, Zebrafish Proteins, lcsh:Genetics, 030104 developmental biology, Fish, Skeletal Muscles, RNA, Ribosomal, Protein Biosynthesis, Immunologic Techniques, RNA, Ribosomes, Organism Development, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Developmental Biology
Abstract: Gene expression in a tissue-specific context depends on the combined efforts of epigenetic, transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes that lead to the production of specific proteins that are important determinants of cellular identity. Ribosomes are a central component of the protein biosynthesis machinery in cells; however, their regulatory roles in the translational control of gene expression in skeletal muscle remain to be defined. In a genetic screen to identify critical regulators of myogenesis, we identified a DEAD-Box RNA helicase, DDX27, that is required for skeletal muscle growth and regeneration. We demonstrate that DDX27 regulates ribosomal RNA (rRNA) maturation, and thereby the ribosome biogenesis and the translation of specific transcripts during myogenesis. These findings provide insight into the translational regulation of gene expression in myogenesis and suggest novel functions for ribosomes in regulating gene expression in skeletal muscles., Author summary Inherited skeletal muscle diseases are the most common form of genetic disorders with primary abnormalities in the structure and function of skeletal muscle resulting in the impaired locomotion in affected patients. A major hindrance to the development of effective therapies is a lack of understanding of biological processes that promote skeletal muscle growth. By performing a forward genetic screen in zebrafish we have identified mutation in a RNA helicase that leads to perturbations of ribosomal biogenesis pathway and impairs skeletal muscle growth and regeneration. Therefore, our studies have identified novel ribosome-based disease processes that may be therapeutic modulated to restore muscle function in skeletal muscle diseases.
Published: 2018

38. Expanding the phenotypic spectrum associated with OPHN1 variants

Author: Ingrid A. Holm, Meghan C. Towne, Talia S. Schwartz, Alan H. Beggs, Jonathan Picker, Renee C. Pelletier, Heather L. Edward, Monica H. Wojcik, and Pankaj B. Agrawal
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Adult, Male, Developmental Disabilities, 030105 genetics & heredity, Article, Craniofacial Abnormalities, Diagnosis, Differential, 03 medical and health sciences, Genetics, Medicine, Humans, Genetic Testing, Child, Gene, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, biology, business.industry, GTPase-Activating Proteins, Nuclear Proteins, General Medicine, Syndrome, biology.organism_classification, Phenotype, Hypotonia, Cytoskeletal Proteins, 030104 developmental biology, Otitis, Child, Preschool, Microphallus, Mutation, Identification (biology), medicine.symptom, business, Rare disease
Abstract: Genomic sequencing has allowed for the characterization of new gene-to-disease relationships, as well as the identification of variants in established disease genes in patients who do not fit the classically-described phenotype. This is especially true in rare syndromes where the clinical spectrum is not fully known. After a lengthy and costly diagnostic odyssey, patients with atypical presentations may be left with many questions even after a genetic diagnosis is identified. We present a 22-year old male with hypotonia, developmental delay, seizure disorder, and dysmorphic facial features who enrolled in our rare disease research center at 18 years of age, where exome sequencing revealed a novel, likely pathogenic variant in the OPHN1 gene. Through efforts by the study team and collaborations with the larger genetics community, contacts with other families with OPHN1 variants were eventually made, and outreach by these families expanded the patient network. This partnership between families and researchers facilitated the gathering of phenotypic information, allowing for comparison of clinical presentations among three new patients and those previously reported in the literature. These comparisons found previously unreported commonalities between the newly identified patients, such as the presence of otitis media and the lack of genitourinary abnormalities (i.e. hypoplastic scrotum, microphallus, cryptorchidism), which had been noted to be classic features of patients with OPHN1 variants. As genomic sequencing becomes more common, connecting patients with novel variants in the same gene will facilitate phenotypic analysis and continue to refine the clinical spectrum associated with that gene.
Published: 2018

39. An open source microcontroller based flume for evaluating swimming performance of larval, juvenile, and adult zebrafish

Author: Vandana Gupta, Benjamin Sanchez, Anna Pakula, Devin E. Gibbs, Christian Lawrence, Louis M. Kunkel, Alan H. Beggs, and Jeffrey J. Widrick
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Life Cycles, Physiology, lcsh:Medicine, 030105 genetics & heredity, Computer Architecture, Larvae, Medicine and Health Sciences, lcsh:Science, Zebrafish, Flow Rate, Animal Management, Larva, Multidisciplinary, biology, Physics, Eukaryota, Classical Mechanics, Agriculture, Animal Models, Flume, Experimental Organism Systems, Osteichthyes, Vertebrates, Physical Sciences, Research Article, Marine engineering, Computer and Information Sciences, animal structures, Fish Biology, Fluid Mechanics, Research and Analysis Methods, Slow Flow, Models, Biological, Continuum Mechanics, 03 medical and health sciences, Model Organisms, Fish Physiology, Animals, Animal Physiology, Juvenile, 14. Life underwater, Microprocessors, Swimming, Animal Performance, Biological Locomotion, lcsh:R, Organisms, Biology and Life Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Computer Hardware, biology.organism_classification, Vertebrate Physiology, Microcontroller, Fish, 030104 developmental biology, Open source, Personal computer, lcsh:Q, Zoology, Software, Developmental Biology
Abstract: Zebrafish are a preferred vertebrate model for delineating genotype-phenotype relationships. One of the most studied features of zebrafish is their exceptional swimming ability. By 7 days postfertilization (dpf), zebrafish spend over two-thirds of their time engaged in spontaneous swimming activity and several months later they are capable of attaining some of the fastest swimming velocities relative to body length ever recorded in the laboratory. However, laboratory-assembled flumes capable of achieving the slow flow velocities characteristics of larvae as well as the relatively fast maximal velocities of adults have not been described in sufficient detail to allow easy replication. Here we describe an easily assembled, open-source zebrafish-scaled flume for assessing swimming performance. The flume uses two independent spherical-impeller pumps modulated by a microcontroller to achieve flow velocities ranging from 1 to 70 cm s−1. The microcontroller also monitors water temperature and flow velocity and sends these data to a personal computer for real-time display and storage. Incremental protocols for assessing maximal swimming speed (Umax) were developed, stored in custom software, and then uploaded to the microcontroller in order to assess performance of larval (14, 21, 28 dpf), juvenile (35, 42 dpf), and adult (8, 22 month) zebrafish. The flume had sufficient range and sensitivity to detect developmental changes in Umax of larvae and juveniles, an 18–24% faster Umax of adult males vs. females, and a 14–20% age-related reduction in Umax for the oldest zebrafish. Detailed information is provided to assemble and operate this low-cost, versatile, and reliable tool for assessing zebrafish swimming performance.
Published: 2018

40. Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals DYSF, FKTN, and ISPD Mutations in Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Without Brain or Eye Involvement

Author: Mert Karakaya, Alan H. Beggs, Haluk Topaloglu, Michelle A. Graff, Lindsay C. Swanson, Ozge Ceyhan-Birsoy, and Beril Talim
Subjects: Dysferlinopathy, Weakness, medicine.disease_cause, Bioinformatics, Dysferlin, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, Gene, Exome sequencing, 030304 developmental biology, Genetic testing, Genetics, 0303 health sciences, Mutation, medicine.diagnostic_test, biology, business.industry, medicine.disease, 3. Good health, Neurology, Congenital muscular dystrophy, biology.protein, Neurology (clinical), medicine.symptom, business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Background—Congenital muscular dystrophies (CMDs) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of neuromuscular disorders. Several genes encoding extracellular matrix, nuclear envelope, sarcolemmal proteins and glycosylation enzymes have been implicated in CMDs. The large overlap of clinical presentations due to mutations in different genes poses a challenge for clinicians in determining disease etiology for each patient. Objective—We investigated the use of whole exome sequencing (WES) in identifying the genetic cause of disease in 5 CMD patients from 3 families who presented with highly similar clinical features, including early-onset rapidly progressive weakness without brain or eye abnormalities. Methods—Whole exome sequencing was performed on DNA from affected individuals. Potential functional impacts of mutations were investigated by immunostaining on available muscle biopsies. Results—Pathogenic mutations in 3 different genes, DYSF, FKTN, and ISPD were identified in each family. Mutation in DYSF led to absence of dysferlin protein in patient muscle. Mutations in ISPD led to impaired ISDP function, as demonstrated by deficiency of α-dystroglycan glycosylation in patient muscle.
Published: 2015

41. Long-term effects of systemic gene therapy in a canine model of myotubular myopathy

Author: Alan H. Beggs, Robert W. Grange, Ana Buj-Bello, Valerie E. Kelly, Matthew Elverman, Michael W. Lawlor, Martin K. Childers, Melissa A. Goddard, Anthony P. Marsh, Jessica M. Snyder, David L. Mack, Karine Poulard, Hui Meng, Approches génétiques intégrées et nouvelles thérapies pour les maladies rares (INTEGRARE), École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne (UEVE)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Généthon, Genomics Program and Division of Genetics, Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS)-Boston Children's Hospital-The Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Généthon, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES), Wake Forest University, École pratique des hautes études (EPHE)-Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne (UEVE)-GENETHON 3-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Généthon, Evry, and École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE)
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Pathology, Physiology, Myotubularin, muscle, Genetic enhancement, viruses, medicine.disease_cause, 0302 clinical medicine, Transduction, Genetic, Longitudinal Studies, Respiratory system, Adeno-associated virus, myotubular myopathy, Glucuronidase, Adenosine Triphosphatases, Neurologic Examination, [SDV.BA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology, Dependovirus, Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, Non-Receptor, gene therapy, 3. Good health, Female, medicine.symptom, Myopathies, Structural, Congenital, medicine.medical_specialty, Neuromuscular disease, Transgene, canine, adeno-associated virus, Biology, gait, Virus, 03 medical and health sciences, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Dogs, Physiology (medical), medicine, Animals, Humans, Muscle, Skeletal, Gait Disorders, Neurologic, [SDV.GEN]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Genetics, Muscle weakness, Genetic Therapy, neuromuscular disease, medicine.disease, NAD, Respiration Disorders, Disease Models, Animal, Microscopy, Electron, 030104 developmental biology, Mutation, Neurology (clinical), 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Introduction X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM), a devastating pediatric disease caused by the absence of the protein myotubularin, results from mutations in the MTM1 gene. While there is no cure for XLMTM, we previously reported effects of MTM1 gene therapy using adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector on muscle weakness and pathology in MTM1-mutant dogs. Here, we followed 2 AAV-infused dogs over 4 years. Methods We evaluated gait, strength, respiration, neurological function, muscle pathology, AAV vector copy number (VCN), and transgene expression. Results Four years following AAV-mediated gene therapy, gait, respiratory performance, neurological function and pathology in AAV-infused XLMTM dogs remained comparable to their healthy littermate controls despite a decline in VCN and muscle strength. Conclusions AAV-mediated gene transfer of MTM1 in young XLMTM dogs results in long-term expression of myotubularin transgene with normal muscular performance and neurological function in the absence of muscle pathology. These findings support a clinical trial in patients. Muscle Nerve 56: 943–953, 2017
Published: 2017

42. Looking beyond the exome: a phenotype-first approach to molecular diagnostic resolution in rare and undiagnosed diseases

Author: Loren D.M. Pena, Yong-Hui Jiang, Kelly Schoch, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Nicole Walley, Nicholas Stong, Sarah Rapisardo Horn, Jennifer A. Sullivan, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Sujay Kansagra, Edward C. Smith, Mays El-Dairi, Jane Bellet, Martha Ann Keels, Joan Jasien, Peter G. Kranz, Richard Noel, Shashi K. Nagaraj, Robert K. Lark, Daniel S.G. Wechsler, Daniela del Gaudio, Marco L. Leung, Laura G. Hendon, Collette C. Parker, Kelly L. Jones, David B. Goldstein, Vandana Shashi, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Bret L. Bostwick, Lindsay C. Burrage, Shan Chen, Gary D. Clark, William J. Craigen, Shweta U. Dhar, Lisa T. Emrick, Brett H. Graham, Neil A. Hanchard, Mahim Jain, Seema R. Lalani, Brendan H. Lee, Richard A. Lewis, Mashid S. Azamian, Paolo M. Moretti, Sarah K. Nicholas, Jordan S. Orange, Jennifer E. Posey, Lorraine Potocki, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Susan L. Samson, Daryl A. Scott, Alyssa A. Tran, Tiphanie P. Vogel, Jing Zhang, Hugo J. Bellen, Michael F. Wangler, Shinya Yamamoto, Christine M. Eng, Donna M. Muzny, Patricia A. Ward, Yaping Yang, Yong-hui Jiang, Nicole M. Walley, Alan H. Beggs, Lauren C. Briere, Cynthia M. Cooper, Laurel A. Donnell-Fink, Elizabeth L. Krieg, Joel B. Krier, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Calum A. MacRae, J. Carl Pallais, Lance H. Rodan, Edwin K. Silverman, Joan M. Stoler, David A. Sweetser, Chris A. Walsh, Cecilia Esteves, Ingrid A. Holm, Isaac S. Kohane, Paul Mazur, Alexa T. McCray, Matthew Might, Rachel B. Ramoni, Kimberly Splinter, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Braden E. Boone, Donna M. Brown, Daniel C. Dorset, Lori H. Handley, Howard J. Jacob, Angela L. Jones, Jozef Lazar, Shawn E. Levy, J. Scott Newberry, Molly C. Schroeder, Kimberly A. Strong, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Jyoti G. Dayal, David J. Eckstein, Sarah E. Gould, Ellen M. Howerton, Donna M. Krasnewich, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, John J. Mulvihill, Tiina K. Urv, Anastasia L. Wise, Ariane G. Soldatos, Matthew Brush, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Melissa Haendel, David M. Koeller, Jennifer E. Kyle, Thomas O. Metz, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Euan A. Ashley, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Annika M. Dries, Paul G. Fisher, Jennefer N. Kohler, Daryl M. Waggott, Matthew T. Wheeler, Patricia A. Zornio, Patrick Allard, Hayk Barseghyan, Esteban C. Dell'Angelica, Ani Dillon, Katrina M. Dipple, Naghmeh Dorrani, Emilie D. Douine, Ascia Eskin, Brent L. Fogel, Matthew R. Herzog, Hane Lee, Allen Lipson, Sandra K. Loo, Julian A. Martínez-Agosto, Stan F. Nelson, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Neil H. Parker, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Eric Vilain, Allison Zheng, Christopher J. Adams, Elizabeth A. Burke, Katherine R. Chao, Mariska Davids, David D. Draper, Tyra Estwick, Trevor S. Frisby, Kate Frost, Valerie Gartner, Rena A. Godfrey, Mitchell Goheen, Gretchen A. Golas, Mary G. Gordon, Catherine A. Groden, Mary E. Hackbarth, Isabel Hardee, Jean M. Johnston, Alanna E. Koehler, Lea Latham, Yvonne L. Latour, C. Christopher Lau, Denise J. Levy, Adam P. Liebendorfer, Ellen F. Macnamara, Valerie V. Maduro, Thomas C. Markello, Alexandra J. McCarty, Jennifer L. Murphy, Michele E. Nehrebecky, Donna Novacic, Barbara N. Pusey, Sarah Sadozai, Katherine E. Schaffer, Prashant Sharma, Sara P. Thomas, Nathanial J. Tolman, Camilo Toro, Zaheer M. Valivullah, Colleen E. Wahl, Mike Warburton, Alec A. Weech, Guoyun Yu, Andrea L. Gropman, David R. Adams, William A. Gahl, May Christine V. Malicdan, Cynthia J. Tifft, Lynne A. Wolfe, Paul R. Lee, John H. Postlethwait, Monte Westerfield, Anna Bican, Joy D. Cogan, Rizwan Hamid, John H. Newman, John A. Phillips, and Amy K. Robertson
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Genotype, Biopsy, Infantile systemic hyalinosis, infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy, Biology, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, PLA2G6, Article, Frameshift mutation, whole exome sequencing, Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy, 03 medical and health sciences, symbols.namesake, Rare Diseases, Exome Sequencing, medicine, Humans, Exome, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Indel, Child, leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, Alleles, Genetic Association Studies, Genetics, Sanger sequencing, Whole genome sequencing, Whole Genome Sequencing, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Infant, medicine.disease, ANTXR2, undiagnosed diseases network, 3. Good health, 030104 developmental biology, Phenotype, Molecular Diagnostic Techniques, Child, Preschool, EIF2B5, symbols, Female, infantile systemic hyalinosis
Abstract: PurposeTo describe examples of missed pathogenic variants on whole-exome sequencing (WES) and the importance of deep phenotyping for further diagnostic testing.MethodsGuided by phenotypic information, three children with negative WES underwent targeted single-gene testing.ResultsIndividual 1 had a clinical diagnosis consistent with infantile systemic hyalinosis, although WES and a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based ANTXR2 test were negative. Sanger sequencing of ANTXR2 revealed a homozygous single base pair insertion, previously missed by the WES variant caller software. Individual 2 had neurodevelopmental regression and cerebellar atrophy, with no diagnosis on WES. New clinical findings prompted Sanger sequencing and copy number testing of PLA2G6. A novel homozygous deletion of the noncoding exon 1 (not included in the WES capture kit) was detected, with extension into the promoter, confirming the clinical suspicion of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy. Individual 3 had progressive ataxia, spasticity, and magnetic resonance image changes of vanishing white matter leukoencephalopathy. An NGS leukodystrophy gene panel and WES showed a heterozygous pathogenic variant in EIF2B5; no deletions/duplications were detected. Sanger sequencing of EIF2B5 showed a frameshift indel, probably missed owing to failure of alignment.ConclusionThese cases illustrate potential pitfalls of WES/NGS testing and the importance of phenotype-guided molecular testing in yielding diagnoses.
Published: 2017

43. MARRVEL: Integration of Human and Model Organism Genetic Resources to Facilitate Functional Annotation of the Human Genome

Author: Julia Wang, Rami Al-Ouran, Yanhui Hu, Seon-Young Kim, Ying-Wooi Wan, Michael F. Wangler, Shinya Yamamoto, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Aram Comjean, Stephanie E. Mohr, Norbert Perrimon, Zhandong Liu, Hugo J. Bellen, Christopher J. Adams, David R. Adams, Mercedes E. Alejandro, Patrick Allard, Euan A. Ashley, Mashid S. Azamian, Carlos A. Bacino, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Hayk Barseghyan, Alan H. Beggs, Jonathan A. Bernstein, Anna Bican, David P. Bick, Camille L. Birch, Braden E. Boone, Lauren C. Briere, Donna M. Brown, Matthew Brush, Elizabeth A. Burke, Lindsay C. Burrage, Katherine R. Chao, Gary D. Clark, Joy D. Cogan, Cynthia M. Cooper, William J. Craigen, Mariska Davids, Jyoti G. Dayal, Esteban C. Dell’Angelica, Shweta U. Dhar, Katrina M. Dipple, Laurel A. Donnell-Fink, Naghmeh Dorrani, Daniel C. Dorset, David D. Draper, Annika M. Dries, David J. Eckstein, Lisa T. Emrick, Christine M. Eng, Cecilia Esteves, Tyra Estwick, Paul G. Fisher, Trevor S. Frisby, Kate Frost, William A. Gahl, Valerie Gartner, Rena A. Godfrey, Mitchell Goheen, Gretchen A. Golas, David B. Goldstein, Mary G. Gordon, Sarah E. Gould, Jean-Philippe F. Gourdine, Brett H. Graham, Catherine A. Groden, Andrea L. Gropman, Mary E. Hackbarth, Melissa Haendel, Rizwan Hamid, Neil A. Hanchard, Lori H. Handley, Isabel Hardee, Matthew R. Herzog, Ingrid A. Holm, Ellen M. Howerton, Howard J. Jacob, Mahim Jain, Yong-hui Jiang, Jean M. Johnston, Angela L. Jones, Alanna E. Koehler, David M. Koeller, Isaac S. Kohane, Jennefer N. Kohler, Donna M. Krasnewich, Elizabeth L. Krieg, Joel B. Krier, Jennifer E. Kyle, Seema R. Lalani, Lea Latham, Yvonne L. Latour, C. Christopher Lau, Jozef Lazar, Brendan H. Lee, Hane Lee, Paul R. Lee, Shawn E. Levy, Denise J. Levy, Richard A. Lewis, Adam P. Liebendorfer, Sharyn A. Lincoln, Carson R. Loomis, Joseph Loscalzo, Richard L. Maas, Ellen F. Macnamara, Calum A. MacRae, Valerie V. Maduro, May Christine V. Malicdan, Laura A. Mamounas, Teri A. Manolio, Thomas C. Markello, Paul Mazur, Alexandra J. McCarty, Allyn McConkie-Rosell, Alexa T. McCray, Thomas O. Metz, Matthew Might, Paolo M. Moretti, John J. Mulvihill, Jennifer L. Murphy, Donna M. Muzny, Michele E. Nehrebecky, Stan F. Nelson, J. Scott Newberry, John H. Newman, Sarah K. Nicholas, Donna Novacic, Jordan S. Orange, J. Carl Pallais, Christina G.S. Palmer, Jeanette C. Papp, Loren D.M. Pena, John A. Phillips, Jennifer E. Posey, John H. Postlethwait, Lorraine Potocki, Barbara N. Pusey, Rachel B. Ramoni, Amy K. Robertson, Lance H. Rodan, Jill A. Rosenfeld, Sarah Sadozai, Katherine E. Schaffer, Kelly Schoch, Molly C. Schroeder, Daryl A. Scott, Prashant Sharma, Vandana Shashi, Edwin K. Silverman, Janet S. Sinsheimer, Ariane G. Soldatos, Rebecca C. Spillmann, Kimberly Splinter, Joan M. Stoler, Nicholas Stong, Kimberly A. Strong, Jennifer A. Sullivan, David A. Sweetser, Sara P. Thomas, Cynthia J. Tifft, Nathanial J. Tolman, Camilo Toro, Alyssa A. Tran, Zaheer M. Valivullah, Eric Vilain, Daryl M. Waggott, Colleen E. Wahl, Nicole M. Walley, Chris A. Walsh, Mike Warburton, Patricia A. Ward, Katrina M. Waters, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson, Alec A. Weech, Monte Westerfield, Matthew T. Wheeler, Anastasia L. Wise, Lynne A. Wolfe, Elizabeth A. Worthey, Yaping Yang, Guoyun Yu, and Patricia A. Zornio
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species, Computational biology, Biology, Genome, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Databases, Genetic, Genetics, Humans, Model organism, FlyBase : A Database of Drosophila Genes & Genomes, Gene, Genetics (clinical), ved/biology, Genome, Human, Genetic Variation, Molecular Sequence Annotation, 030104 developmental biology, DECIPHER, Human genome, Zebrafish Information Network genome database, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Software
Abstract: One major challenge encountered with interpreting human genetic variants is the limited understanding of the functional impact of genetic alterations on biological processes. Furthermore, there remains an unmet demand for an efficient survey of the wealth of information on human homologs in model organisms across numerous databases. To efficiently assess the large volume of publically available information, it is important to provide a concise summary of the most relevant information in a rapid user-friendly format. To this end, we created MARRVEL (model organism aggregated resources for rare variant exploration). MARRVEL is a publicly available website that integrates information from six human genetic databases and seven model organism databases. For any given variant or gene, MARRVEL displays information from OMIM, ExAC, ClinVar, Geno2MP, DGV, and DECIPHER. Importantly, it curates model organism-specific databases to concurrently display a concise summary regarding the human gene homologs in budding and fission yeast, worm, fly, fish, mouse, and rat on a single webpage. Experiment-based information on tissue expression, protein subcellular localization, biological process, and molecular function for the human gene and homologs in the seven model organisms are arranged into a concise output. Hence, rather than visiting multiple separate databases for variant and gene analysis, users can obtain important information by searching once through MARRVEL. Altogether, MARRVEL dramatically improves efficiency and accessibility to data collection and facilitates analysis of human genes and variants by cross-disciplinary integration of 18 million records available in public databases to facilitate clinical diagnosis and basic research.
Published: 2017

44. A curated gene list for reporting results of newborn genomic sequencing

Author: Timothy W. Yu, Ingrid A. Holm, Matthew S. Lebo, Amy L. McGuire, Ozge Ceyhan-Birsoy, Heidi L. Rehm, Richard B. Parad, Robert C. Green, Pankaj B. Agrawal, Alan H. Beggs, and Kalotina Machini
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Male, MEDLINE, Biology, Bioinformatics, Genome, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Databases, Genetic, Humans, Exome, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, Newborn screening, Base Sequence, Genome, Human, Genetic Diseases, Inborn, Infant, Newborn, Chromosome Mapping, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Genomics, Penetrance, 030104 developmental biology, Female, Age of onset, Return of results
Abstract: Genomic sequencing (GS) for newborns may enable detection of conditions for which early knowledge can improve health outcomes. One of the major challenges hindering its broader application is the time it takes to assess the clinical relevance of detected variants and the genes they impact so that disease risk is reported appropriately. To facilitate rapid interpretation of GS results in newborns, we curated a catalog of genes with putative pediatric relevance for their validity based on the ClinGen clinical validity classification framework criteria, age of onset, penetrance, and mode of inheritance through systematic evaluation of published evidence. Based on these attributes, we classified genes to guide the return of results in the BabySeq Project, a randomized, controlled trial exploring the use of newborn GS (nGS), and used our curated list for the first 15 newborns sequenced in this project. Here, we present our curated list for 1,514 gene–disease associations. Overall, 954 genes met our criteria for return in nGS. This reference list eliminated manual assessment for 41% of rare variants identified in 15 newborns. Our list provides a resource that can assist in guiding the interpretive scope of clinical GS for newborns and potentially other populations. Genet Med advance online publication 12 January 2017
Published: 2017

45. Mutation Update: The Spectra of Nebulin Variants and Associated Myopathies

Author: Thomas L. Winder, Vilma-Lotta Lehtokari, Nigel F. Clarke, Kathryn N. North, K. Kiiski, Nigel G. Laing, Pauliina Repo, Alan H. Beggs, Kati Donner, Sarah A. Sandaradura, Carol J Saunders, Jennifer A. Frey, Jocelyn Laporte, Norma B. Romero, Carina Wallgren-Pettersson, Peter G. Barth, M. Marttila, Katarina Pelin, Johan T. den Dunnen, and Paediatric Neurology
Subjects: Genotype, Muscle Proteins, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Exon, Nebulin, 0302 clinical medicine, Nemaline myopathy, Muscular Diseases, Databases, Genetic, actin-myosin, Genetics, medicine, Animals, Humans, Myopathy, Exome, Gene, Genetics (clinical), 030304 developmental biology, 0303 health sciences, Mutation, nemaline (rod) myopathy, NEB, Exons, nebulin, medicine.disease, 3. Good health, Alternative Splicing, Phenotype, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2, Models, Animal, Distal Myopathies, biology.protein, sarcomere, medicine.symptom, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: A mutation update on the nebulin gene (NEB) is necessary because of recent developments in analysis methodology, the identification of increasing numbers and novel types of variants, and a widening in the spectrum of clinical and histological phenotypes associated with this gigantic, 183 exons containing gene. Recessive pathogenic variants in NEB are the major cause of nemaline myopathy (NM), one of the most common congenital myopathies. Moreover, pathogenic NEB variants have been identified in core-rod myopathy and in distal myopathies. In this update, we present the disease-causing variants in NEB in 159 families, 143 families with NM, and 16 families with NM-related myopathies. Eighty-eight families are presented here for the first time. We summarize 86 previously published and 126 unpublished variants identified in NEB. Furthermore, we have analyzed the NEB variants deposited in the Exome Variant Server (http://evs.gs.washington.edu/EVS/), identifying that pathogenic variants are a minor fraction of all coding variants (~7%). This indicates that nebulin tolerates substantial changes in its amino acid sequence, providing an explanation as to why variants in such a large gene result in relatively rare disorders. Lastly, we discuss the difficulties of drawing reliable genotype–phenotype correlations in NEB-associated disease.
Published: 2014

46. Altered translation of GATA1 in Diamond-Blackfan anemia

Author: Stephen W. Eichhorn, Alan H. Beggs, Roxanne Ghazvinian, Leif S. Ludwig, Vijay G. Sankaran, Jason Gotlib, Harvey F. Lodish, Tracy I. George, Prathapan Thiru, Colin A. Sieff, Hanna T. Gazda, Jennifer C. Eng, Eric S. Lander, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Eichhorn, Stephen William, Lodish, Harvey F., and Lander, Eric S.
Subjects: Ribosomal Proteins, Ribosomopathy, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Ribosomal protein, Ribosomal protein S19, Protein biosynthesis, medicine, Humans, GATA1 Transcription Factor, RNA, Messenger, Diamond–Blackfan anemia, Anemia, Diamond-Blackfan, 030304 developmental biology, Genetics, 0303 health sciences, Mutation, GATA1, General Medicine, medicine.disease, 3. Good health, Protein Biosynthesis, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Haploinsufficiency
Abstract: Ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency occurs in diverse human diseases including Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA)[superscript 1, 2], congenital asplenia[superscript 3] and T cell leukemia[superscript 4]. Yet, how mutations in genes encoding ubiquitously expressed proteins such as these result in cell-type– and tissue-specific defects remains unknown[superscript 5]. Here, we identify mutations in GATA1, encoding the critical hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-binding protein-1, that reduce levels of full-length GATA1 protein and cause DBA in rare instances. We show that ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency, the more common cause of DBA, can lead to decreased GATA1 mRNA translation, possibly resulting from a higher threshold for initiation of translation of this mRNA in comparison with other mRNAs. In primary hematopoietic cells from patients with mutations in RPS19, encoding ribosomal protein S19, the amplitude of a transcriptional signature of GATA1 target genes was globally and specifically reduced, indicating that the activity, but not the mRNA level, of GATA1 is decreased in patients with DBA associated with mutations affecting ribosomal proteins. Moreover, the defective hematopoiesis observed in patients with DBA associated with ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency could be partially overcome by increasing GATA1 protein levels. Our results provide a paradigm by which selective defects in translation due to mutations affecting ubiquitous ribosomal proteins can result in human disease., National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P01 HL32262), National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U54 HG003067-09)
Published: 2014

47. Mutation Update and Genotype-Phenotype Correlations of Novel and Previously Described Mutations inTPM2andTPM3Causing Congenital Myopathies

Author: Nigel F. Clarke, Michèle Mayer, Willie Stewart, Carina Wallgren-Pettersson, Ricardo Reisin, Marion Gérard, Steven B. Marston, Cheryl Longman, Moshe Frydman, Vilma-Lotta Lehtokari, Marianne de Visser, Enrico Bertini, Jacob S. Hogue, Tuula A. Nyman, Mikaela Grönholm, Eugenio Mercuri, Brigitte Gilbert-Dussardier, Katarina Pelin, Alan H. Beggs, Kristen J. Nowak, Sylviane Peudenier-Robert, Tom L. Winder, Helena Pihko, Frank J. Probst, Ekkehard Wilichowski, Ana Lia Taratuto, OÖzge Ceyhan-Birsoy, Hans Lochmüller, Nicole Monnier, Christine Barnerias, John B Winer, M. Marttila, Hanna Kolski, Pascal Cintas, Kathryn N. North, Nigel G. Laing, Lars Klinge, Bruno Eymard, Peter B. Kang, Laurent Magy, Véronique Manel, and Neurology
Subjects: hypercontractile phenotype, Male, Tropomyosin, medicine.disease_cause, TPM2, 0302 clinical medicine, Nemaline myopathy, congenital myopathy, Databases, Genetic, Phosphorylation, Child, Genetics (clinical), Genetics, 0303 health sciences, Mutation, Skeletal, Phenotype, 3. Good health, Child, Preschool, Muscle, Female, medicine.symptom, actin, Protein Binding, Adult, Adolescent, Molecular Sequence Data, genotype-phenotype correlation, Biology, Article, Young Adult, Databases, 03 medical and health sciences, Settore MED/39 - NEUROPSICHIATRIA INFANTILE, Muscular Diseases, Genetic, medicine, Humans, Amino Acid Sequence, Muscle, Skeletal, Preschool, Myopathy, Genetic Association Studies, Actin, 030304 developmental biology, Infant, medicine.disease, Congenital myopathy, Actins, TPM3, Sequence Alignment, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Mutations affecting skeletal muscle isoforms of the tropomyosin genes may cause nemaline myopathy, cap myopathy, core-rod myopathy, congenital fiber-type disproportion, distal arthrogryposes, and Escobar syndrome. We correlate the clinical picture of these diseases with novel (19) and previously reported (31) mutations of the TPM2 and TPM3 genes. Included are altogether 93 families: 53 with TPM2 mutations and 40 with TPM3 mutations. Thirty distinct pathogenic variants of TPM2 and 20 of TPM3 have been published or listed in the Leiden Open Variant Database (http://www.dmd.nl/). Most are heterozygous changes associated with autosomal-dominant disease. Patients with TPM2 mutations tended to present with milder symptoms than those with TPM3 mutations, DA being present only in the TPM2 group. Previous studies have shown that five of the mutations in TPM2 and one in TPM3 cause increased Ca(2+) sensitivity resulting in a hypercontractile molecular phenotype. Patients with hypercontractile phenotype more often had contractures of the limb joints (18/19) and jaw (6/19) than those with nonhypercontractile ones (2/22 and 1/22), whereas patients with the non-hypercontractile molecular phenotype more often (19/22) had axial contractures than the hypercontractile group (7/19). Our in silico predictions show that most mutations affect tropomyosin-actin association or tropomyosin head-to-tail binding.
Published: 2014

48. A compound heterozygous mutation in GPD1 causes hepatomegaly, steatohepatitis, and hypertriglyceridemia

Author: Pankaj B. Agrawal, Nirav K. Desai, Adam D. McIntyre, Stephanie A. Newton, Michael J. Bennett, Sarah D. de Ferranti, Mugdha Joshi, Jacqueline Eagan, Meghan C. Towne, Alan H. Beggs, Nicholas S. Marinakis, Kristyn M. Esteves, and Gerard T. Berry
Subjects: Proband, Heterozygote, DNA Copy Number Variations, Short Report, Biology, Compound heterozygosity, medicine.disease_cause, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Missense mutation, Child, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, Hypertriglyceridemia, Glycerol-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (NAD+), Mutation, Carnitine O-Palmitoyltransferase, Fatty liver, Infant, Sequence Analysis, DNA, medicine.disease, Molecular biology, Fatty Liver, Female, Steatohepatitis, Gene Deletion, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hepatomegaly
Abstract: The constellation of clinico-pathological and laboratory findings including massive hepatomegaly, steatosis, and marked hypertriglyceridemia in infancy is extremely rare. We describe a child who is presented with the above findings, and despite extensive diagnostic testing no cause could be identified. Whole exome sequencing was performed on the patient and parents' DNA. Mutations in GPD1 encoding glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase that catalyzes the reversible redox reaction of dihydroxyacetone phosphate and NADH to glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) and NAD(+) were identified. The proband inherited a GPD1 deletion from the father determined using copy number analysis and a missense change p.(R229Q) from the mother. GPD1 protein was absent in the patient's liver biopsy on western blot. Low normal activity of carnitine palmitoyl transferases, CPT1 and CPT2, was present in the patient's skin fibroblasts, without mutations in genes encoding for these proteins. This is the first report of compound heterozygous mutations in GPD1 associated with a lack of GPD1 protein and reduction in CPT1 and CPT2 activity.
Published: 2014

49. Recessive truncating titin gene, TTN, mutations presenting as centronuclear myopathy

Author: Ozge Ceyhan-Birsoy, Alan H. Beggs, Pankaj B. Agrawal, William G. Fairbrother, Carlos Hidalgo, Klaus Schmitz-Abe, Elizabeth T. DeChene, Susan T. Iannaccone, Lindsay C. Swanson, Henk Granzier, Kyriacos Markianos, Jocelyn Laporte, Rachel Soemedi, Natasha Shur, Nasim Vasli, Perry B. Shieh, Jane M. Dennison, and Michael W. Lawlor
Subjects: Adult, Male, Adolescent, Genes, Recessive, Muscle disorder, Compound heterozygosity, Cohort Studies, Dynamin II, Young Adult, medicine, Humans, Connectin, Single-Blind Method, Centronuclear myopathy, Child, Myopathy, Exome sequencing, Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Genetics, biology, Tumor Suppressor Proteins, Nuclear Proteins, Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, Non-Receptor, medicine.disease, Congenital myopathy, DNM2, Phenotype, Child, Preschool, Mutation, biology.protein, Female, Titin, Neurology (clinical), medicine.symptom, Myopathies, Structural, Congenital
Abstract: Objective: To identify causative genes for centronuclear myopathies (CNM), a heterogeneous group of rare inherited muscle disorders that often present in infancy or early life with weakness and hypotonia, using next-generation sequencing of whole exomes and genomes. Methods: Whole-exome or -genome sequencing was performed in a cohort of 29 unrelated patients with clinicopathologic diagnoses of CNM or related myopathy depleted for cases with mutations of MTM1 , DNM2 , and BIN1 . Immunofluorescence analyses on muscle biopsies, splicing assays, and gel electrophoresis of patient muscle proteins were performed to determine the molecular consequences of mutations of interest. Results: Autosomal recessive compound heterozygous truncating mutations of the titin gene, TTN , were identified in 5 individuals. Biochemical analyses demonstrated increased titin degradation and truncated titin proteins in patient muscles, establishing the impact of the mutations. Conclusions: Our study identifies truncating TTN mutations as a cause of congenital myopathy that is reported as CNM. Unlike the classic CNM genes that are all involved in excitation-contraction coupling at the triad, TTN encodes the giant sarcomeric protein titin, which forms a myofibrillar backbone for the components of the contractile machinery. This study expands the phenotypic spectrum associated with TTN mutations and indicates that TTN mutation analysis should be considered in cases of possible CNM without mutations in the classic CNM genes.
Published: 2013

50. Novel deletion of RPL15 identified by array-comparative genomic hybridization in Diamond–Blackfan anemia

Author: Christopher Buros, Roxanne Ghazvinian, Marie-Françoise O'Donohue, Bertil Glader, Colin A. Sieff, Michał Matysiak, Michael Landowski, Hanna T. Gazda, Jeffrey M. Lipton, Alan H. Beggs, Edyta Niewiadomska, Eva Atsidaftos, Adrianna Vlachos, Peter E. Newburger, Pierre-Emmanuel Gleizes, Nathalie Montel-Lehry, Division of Genetics and Program in Genomics, The Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Boston Children's Hospital, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, Laboratoire de biologie moléculaire eucaryote (LBME), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), and Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Subjects: Ribosomal Proteins, DNA Copy Number Variations, Anemia, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], Biology, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Reticulocytopenia, RNA, Small Interfering, Diamond–Blackfan anemia, Gene, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, Genetics (clinical), Anemia, Diamond-Blackfan, 030304 developmental biology, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, 0303 health sciences, Point mutation, GATA1, medicine.disease, Molecular biology, 3. Good health, RNA, Ribosomal, Gene Knockdown Techniques, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Mutation, Macrocytic anemia, [SDV.MHEP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology, Gene Deletion, HeLa Cells, Comparative genomic hybridization
Abstract: Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is an inherited red blood cell aplasia that usually presents during the first year of life. The main features of the disease are normochromic and macrocyctic anemia, reticulocytopenia, and nearly absent erythroid progenitors in the bone marrow. The patients also present with growth retardation and craniofacial, upper limb, heart and urinary system congenital malformations in ~30–50% of cases. The disease has been associated with point mutations and large deletions in ten ribosomal protein (RP) genes RPS19, RPS24, RPS17, RPL35A, RPL5, RPL11, RPS7, RPS10, RPS26 and RPL26 and GATA1 in about 60–65% of patients. Here we report a novel large deletion in RPL15, a gene not previously implicated to be causative in DBA. Like RPL26, RPL15 presents the distinctive feature of being required both for 60S subunit formation and for efficient cleavage of the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1). In addition, we detected five deletions in RP genes in which mutations have been previously shown to cause DBA: one each in RPS19, RPS24, and RPS26, and two in RPS17. Pre-ribosomal RNA processing was affected in cells established from the patients bearing these deletions, suggesting a possible molecular basis for their pathological effect. These data identify RPL15 as a new gene involved in DBA and further support the presence of large deletions in RP genes in DBA patients.
Published: 2013

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