@article {697, title = {De Novo Variants Disturbing the Transactivation Capacity of POU3F3 Cause a Characteristic Neurodevelopmental Disorder.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {105}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Aug 01}, pages = {403-412}, abstract = {

POU3F3, also referred to as Brain-1, is a well-known transcription factor involved in the development of the central nervous system, but it has not previously been associated with a neurodevelopmental disorder. Here, we report the identification of 19 individuals with heterozygous POU3F3 disruptions, most of which are de novo variants. All individuals had developmental delays and/or intellectual disability and impairments in speech and language skills. Thirteen individuals had characteristic low-set, prominent, and/or cupped ears. Brain abnormalities were observed in seven of eleven MRI reports. POU3F3 is an intronless gene, insensitive to nonsense-mediated decay, and 13 individuals carried protein-truncating variants. All truncating variants that we tested in cellular models led to aberrant subcellular localization of the encoded protein. Luciferase assays demonstrated negative effects of these alleles on transcriptional activation of a reporter with a FOXP2-derived binding motif. In addition to the loss-of-function variants, five individuals had missense variants that clustered at specific positions within the functional domains, and one small in-frame deletion was identified. Two missense variants showed reduced transactivation capacity in our assays, whereas one variant displayed gain-of-function effects, suggesting a distinct pathophysiological mechanism. In bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) interaction assays, all the truncated POU3F3 versions that we tested had significantly impaired dimerization capacities, whereas all missense variants showed unaffected dimerization with wild-type POU3F3. Taken together, our identification and functional cell-based analyses of pathogenic variants in POU3F3, coupled with a clinical characterization, implicate disruptions of this gene in a characteristic neurodevelopmental disorder.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.06.007}, author = {Snijders Blok, Lot and Kleefstra, Tjitske and Venselaar, Hanka and Maas, Saskia and Kroes, Hester Y and Lachmeijer, Augusta M A and van Gassen, Koen L I and Firth, Helen V and Tomkins, Susan and Bodek, Simon and {\~O}unap, Katrin and Wojcik, Monica H and Cunniff, Christopher and Bergstrom, Katherine and Powis, Z{\"o}e and Tang, Sha and Shinde, Deepali N and Au, Catherine and Iglesias, Alejandro D and Izumi, Kosuke and Leonard, Jacqueline and Abou Tayoun, Ahmad and Baker, Samuel W and Tartaglia, Marco and Niceta, Marcello and Dentici, Maria Lisa and Okamoto, Nobuhiko and Miyake, Noriko and Matsumoto, Naomichi and Vitobello, Antonio and Faivre, Laurence and Philippe, Christophe and Gilissen, Christian and Wiel, Laurens and Pfundt, Rolph and Deriziotis, Pelagia and Brunner, Han G and Fisher, Simon E} } @article {705, title = {Disruptive mutations in TANC2 define a neurodevelopmental syndrome associated with psychiatric disorders.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {10}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Oct 15}, pages = {4679}, abstract = {

Postsynaptic density (PSD) proteins have been implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Here, we present detailed clinical and genetic data for 20 patients with likely gene-disrupting mutations in TANC2-whose protein product interacts with multiple PSD proteins. Pediatric patients with disruptive mutations present with autism, intellectual disability, and delayed language and motor development. In addition to a variable degree of epilepsy and facial dysmorphism, we observe a pattern of more complex psychiatric dysfunction or behavioral problems in adult probands or carrier parents. Although this observation requires replication to establish statistical significance, it also suggests that mutations in this gene are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders consistent with its postsynaptic function. We find that TANC2 is expressed broadly in the human developing brain, especially in excitatory neurons and glial cells, but shows a more restricted pattern in Drosophila glial cells where its disruption affects behavioral outcomes.

}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-12435-8}, author = {Guo, Hui and Bettella, Elisa and Marcogliese, Paul C and Zhao, Rongjuan and Andrews, Jonathan C and Nowakowski, Tomasz J and Gillentine, Madelyn A and Hoekzema, Kendra and Wang, Tianyun and Wu, Huidan and Jangam, Sharayu and Liu, Cenying and Ni, Hailun and Willemsen, Marjolein H and van Bon, Bregje W and Rinne, Tuula and Stevens, Servi J C and Kleefstra, Tjitske and Brunner, Han G and Yntema, Helger G and Long, Min and Zhao, Wenjing and Hu, Zhengmao and Colson, Cindy and Richard, Nicolas and Schwartz, Charles E and Romano, Corrado and Castiglia, Lucia and Bottitta, Maria and Dhar, Shweta U and Erwin, Deanna J and Emrick, Lisa and Keren, Boris and Afenjar, Alexandra and Zhu, Baosheng and Bai, Bing and Stankiewicz, Pawel and Herman, Kristin and Mercimek-Andrews, Saadet and Juusola, Jane and Wilfert, Amy B and Abou Jamra, Rami and B{\"u}ttner, Benjamin and Mefford, Heather C and Muir, Alison M and Scheffer, Ingrid E and Regan, Brigid M and Malone, Stephen and Gecz, Jozef and Cobben, Jan and Weiss, Marjan M and Waisfisz, Quinten and Bijlsma, Emilia K and Hoffer, Mariette J V and Ruivenkamp, Claudia A L and Sartori, Stefano and Xia, Fan and Rosenfeld, Jill A and Bernier, Raphael A and Wangler, Michael F and Yamamoto, Shinya and Xia, Kun and Stegmann, Alexander P A and Bellen, Hugo J and Murgia, Alessandra and Eichler, Evan E} } @article {722, title = {Enabling Global Clinical Collaborations on Identifiable Patient Data: The Minerva Initiative.}, journal = {Front Genet}, volume = {10}, year = {2019}, month = {2019}, pages = {611}, abstract = {

The clinical utility of computational phenotyping for both genetic and rare diseases is increasingly appreciated; however, its true potential is yet to be fully realized. Alongside the growing clinical and research availability of sequencing technologies, precise deep and scalable phenotyping is required to serve unmet need in genetic and rare diseases. To improve the lives of individuals affected with rare diseases through deep phenotyping, global big data interrogation is necessary to aid our understanding of disease biology, assist diagnosis, and develop targeted treatment strategies. This includes the application of cutting-edge machine learning methods to image data. As with most digital tools employed in health care, there are ethical and data governance challenges associated with using identifiable personal image data. There are also risks with failing to deliver on the patient benefits of these new technologies, the biggest of which is posed by data siloing. The Minerva Initiative has been designed to enable the public good of deep phenotyping while mitigating these ethical risks. Its open structure, enabling collaboration and data sharing between individuals, clinicians, researchers and private enterprise, is key for delivering precision public health.

}, issn = {1664-8021}, doi = {10.3389/fgene.2019.00611}, author = {Nellaker, Christoffer and Alkuraya, Fowzan S and Baynam, Gareth and Bernier, Raphael A and Bernier, Francois P J and Boulanger, Vanessa and Brudno, Michael and Brunner, Han G and Clayton-Smith, Jill and Cogn{\'e}, Benjamin and Dawkins, Hugh J S and deVries, Bert B A and Douzgou, Sofia and Dudding-Byth, Tracy and Eichler, Evan E and Ferlaino, Michael and Fieggen, Karen and Firth, Helen V and FitzPatrick, David R and Gration, Dylan and Groza, Tudor and Haendel, Melissa and Hallowell, Nina and Hamosh, Ada and Hehir-Kwa, Jayne and Hitz, Marc-Phillip and Hughes, Mark and Kini, Usha and Kleefstra, Tjitske and Kooy, R Frank and Krawitz, Peter and K{\"u}ry, S{\'e}bastien and Lees, Melissa and Lyon, Gholson J and Lyonnet, Stanislas and Marcadier, Julien L and Meyn, Stephen and Moslerov{\'a}, Veronika and Politei, Juan M and Poulton, Cathryn C and Raymond, F Lucy and Reijnders, Margot R F and Robinson, Peter N and Romano, Corrado and Rose, Catherine M and Sainsbury, David C G and Schofield, Lyn and Sutton, Vernon R and Turnovec, Marek and Van Dijck, Anke and Van Esch, Hilde and Wilkie, Andrew O M} } @article {446, title = {WNT Signaling Perturbations Underlie the Genetic Heterogeneity of Robinow Syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {102}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 01 04}, pages = {27-43}, abstract = {

Locus heterogeneity characterizes a variety of skeletal dysplasias often due to interacting or overlapping signaling pathways. Robinow syndrome is a skeletal disorder historically refractory to molecular diagnosis, potentially stemming from substantial genetic heterogeneity. All current known pathogenic variants reside in genes within the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway including ROR2, WNT5A, and more recently, DVL1 and DVL3. However, \~{}70\% of autosomal-dominant Robinow syndrome cases remain molecularly unsolved. To investigate this missing heritability, we recruited 21 families with at least one family member clinically diagnosed with Robinow or Robinow-like phenotypes and performed genetic and genomic studies. In total, four families with variants in FZD2 were identified as well as three individuals from two families with biallelic variants in NXN that co-segregate with the phenotype. Importantly, both FZD2 and NXN are relevant protein partners in the WNT5A interactome, supporting their role in skeletal development. In addition to confirming that clustered -1 frameshifting variants in DVL1 and DVL3 are the main contributors to dominant Robinow syndrome, we also found likely pathogenic variants in candidate genes GPC4 and RAC3, both linked to the Wnt signaling pathway. These data support an initial hypothesis that Robinow syndrome results from perturbation of the Wnt/PCP pathway, suggest specific relevant domains of the proteins involved, and reveal key contributors in this signaling cascade during human embryonic development. Contrary to the view that non-allelic genetic heterogeneity hampers gene discovery, this study demonstrates the utility of rare disease genomic studies to parse gene function in human developmental pathways.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Base Sequence, Child, Child, Preschool, Chromosome Segregation, Craniofacial Abnormalities, Diagnosis, Differential, Dwarfism, Female, Genes, Dominant, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Heterogeneity, Humans, Limb Deformities, Congenital, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Missense, Phenotype, Urogenital Abnormalities, Wnt Signaling Pathway}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.10.002}, author = {White, Janson J and Mazzeu, Juliana F and Coban-Akdemir, Zeynep and Bayram, Yavuz and Bahrambeigi, Vahid and Hoischen, Alexander and van Bon, Bregje W M and Gezdirici, Alper and Gulec, Elif Yilmaz and Ramond, Francis and Touraine, Renaud and Thevenon, Julien and Shinawi, Marwan and Beaver, Erin and Heeley, Jennifer and Hoover-Fong, Julie and Durmaz, Ceren D and Karabulut, Halil Gurhan and Marzioglu-Ozdemir, Ebru and Cayir, Atilla and Duz, Mehmet B and Seven, Mehmet and Price, Susan and Ferreira, Barbara Merfort and Vianna-Morgante, Angela M and Ellard, Sian and Parrish, Andrew and Stals, Karen and Flores-Daboub, Josue and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Gibbs, Richard A and Brunner, Han G and Sutton, V Reid and Lupski, James R and Carvalho, Claudia M B} } @article {424, title = {De Novo Missense Mutations in DHX30 Impair Global Translation and Cause a Neurodevelopmental Disorder.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {101}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Nov 02}, pages = {716-724}, abstract = {

DHX30 is a member of the family of DExH-box helicases, which use ATP hydrolysis to unwind RNA secondary structures. Here we identified six different de novo missense mutations in DHX30 in twelve unrelated individuals affected by global developmental delay (GDD), intellectual disability (ID), severe speech impairment and gait abnormalities. While four mutations are recurrent, two are unique with one affecting the codon of one recurrent mutation. All amino acid changes are located within highly conserved helicase motifs and were found to either impair ATPase activity or RNA recognition in different in~vitro assays. Moreover, protein variants exhibit an increased propensity to trigger stress granule (SG) formation resulting in global translation inhibition. Thus, our findings highlight the prominent role of translation control in development and function of the central nervous system and also provide molecular insight into how DHX30 dysfunction might cause a neurodevelopmental disorder.

}, keywords = {Adenosine Triphosphatases, Adolescent, Amino Acids, Cell Line, Cell Line, Tumor, Central Nervous System, Child, Child, Preschool, Developmental Disabilities, Female, HEK293 Cells, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Male, Mutation, Missense, RNA, RNA Helicases}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.09.014}, author = {Lessel, Davor and Schob, Claudia and K{\"u}ry, S{\'e}bastien and Reijnders, Margot R F and Harel, Tamar and Eldomery, Mohammad K and Coban-Akdemir, Zeynep and Denecke, Jonas and Edvardson, Shimon and Colin, Estelle and Stegmann, Alexander P A and Gerkes, Erica H and Tessarech, Marine and Bonneau, Dominique and Barth, Magalie and Besnard, Thomas and Cogn{\'e}, Benjamin and Revah-Politi, Anya and Strom, Tim M and Rosenfeld, Jill A and Yang, Yaping and Posey, Jennifer E and Immken, LaDonna and Oundjian, Nelly and Helbig, Katherine L and Meeks, Naomi and Zegar, Kelsey and Morton, Jenny and Schieving, Jolanda H and Claasen, Ana and Huentelman, Matthew and Narayanan, Vinodh and Ramsey, Keri and Brunner, Han G and Elpeleg, Orly and Mercier, Sandra and B{\'e}zieau, St{\'e}phane and Kubisch, Christian and Kleefstra, Tjitske and Kindler, Stefan and Lupski, James R and Kreienkamp, Hans-J{\"u}rgen} } @article {28, title = {De Novo Mutations in SON Disrupt RNA Splicing of Genes Essential for Brain Development and Metabolism, Causing an Intellectual-Disability Syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {99}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Sep 01}, pages = {711-719}, abstract = {

The overall understanding of the molecular etiologies of intellectual disability (ID) and developmental delay (DD) is increasing as next-generation sequencing technologies identify genetic variants in individuals with such disorders. However, detailed analyses conclusively confirming these variants, as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms explaining the diseases, are often lacking. Here, we report on an ID syndrome caused by de novo heterozygous loss-of-function (LoF) mutations in SON. The syndrome is characterized by ID and/or DD, malformations of the cerebral cortex, epilepsy, vision problems, musculoskeletal abnormalities, and congenital malformations. Knockdown of son in zebrafish resulted in severe malformation of the spine, brain, and eyes. Importantly, analyses of RNA from affected individuals revealed that genes critical for neuronal migration and cortex organization (TUBG1, FLNA, PNKP, WDR62, PSMD3, and~HDAC6) and metabolism (PCK2, PFKL, IDH2, ACY1, and ADA) are significantly downregulated because of the accumulation of mis-spliced transcripts resulting from erroneous SON-mediated RNA splicing. Our data highlight SON as a master regulator governing neurodevelopment and demonstrate the importance of SON-mediated RNA splicing in human development.

}, keywords = {Animals, Brain, Developmental Disabilities, DNA-Binding Proteins, Eye Abnormalities, Female, Genes, Essential, Haploinsufficiency, Head, Heterozygote, Humans, Intellectual Disability, Male, Metabolic Diseases, Minor Histocompatibility Antigens, Mutation, Pedigree, RNA Splicing, RNA, Messenger, Spine, Syndrome, Zebrafish}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.06.029}, author = {Kim, Jung-Hyun and Shinde, Deepali N and Reijnders, Margot R F and Hauser, Natalie S and Belmonte, Rebecca L and Wilson, Gregory R and Bosch, Dani{\"e}lle G M and Bubulya, Paula A and Shashi, Vandana and Petrovski, Slav{\'e} and Stone, Joshua K and Park, Eun Young and Veltman, Joris A and Sinnema, Margje and Stumpel, Connie T R M and Draaisma, Jos M and Nicolai, Joost and Yntema, Helger G and Lindstrom, Kristin and de Vries, Bert B A and Jewett, Tamison and Santoro, Stephanie L and Vogt, Julie and Bachman, Kristine K and Seeley, Andrea H and Krokosky, Alyson and Turner, Clesson and Rohena, Luis and Hempel, Maja and Kort{\"u}m, Fanny and Lessel, Davor and Neu, Axel and Strom, Tim M and Wieczorek, Dagmar and Bramswig, Nuria and Laccone, Franco A and Behunova, Jana and Rehder, Helga and Gordon, Christopher T and Rio, Marl{\`e}ne and Romana, Serge and Tang, Sha and El-Khechen, Dima and Cho, Megan T and McWalter, Kirsty and Douglas, Ganka and Baskin, Berivan and Begtrup, Amber and Funari, Tara and Schoch, Kelly and Stegmann, Alexander P A and Stevens, Servi J C and Zhang, Dong-Er and Traver, David and Yao, Xu and MacArthur, Daniel G and Brunner, Han G and Mancini, Grazia M and Myers, Richard M and Owen, Laurie B and Lim, Ssang-Taek and Stachura, David L and Vissers, Lisenka E L M and Ahn, Eun-Young Erin} } @article {79, title = {DVL3 Alleles Resulting in a -1 Frameshift of the Last Exon Mediate Autosomal-Dominant Robinow Syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {98}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Mar 03}, pages = {553-561}, abstract = {

Robinow syndrome is a rare congenital disorder characterized by mesomelic limb shortening, genital hypoplasia, and distinctive facial features. Recent reports have identified, in individuals with dominant Robinow syndrome, a specific type of variant characterized by being uniformly located in the penultimate exon of DVL1 and resulting in a -1 frameshift allele with a premature termination codon that escapes nonsense-mediated decay. Here, we studied a cohort of individuals who had been clinically diagnosed with Robinow syndrome but who had not received a molecular diagnosis from variant studies of DVL1, WNT5A, and ROR2. Because of the uniform location of frameshift variants in DVL1-mediated Robinow syndrome and the functional redundancy of DVL1, DVL2, and DVL3, we elected to pursue direct Sanger sequencing of the penultimate exon of DVL1 and its paralogs DVL2 and DVL3 to search for potential disease-associated variants. Remarkably, targeted sequencing identified five unrelated individuals harboring heterozygous, de novo frameshift variants in DVL3, including two splice acceptor mutations and three 1 bp deletions. Similar to the variants observed in DVL1-mediated Robinow syndrome, all variants in DVL3 result in a -1 frameshift, indicating that these highly specific alterations might be a common cause of dominant Robinow syndrome. Here, we review the current knowledge of these peculiar variant alleles in DVL1- and DVL3-mediated Robinow syndrome and further elucidate the phenotypic features present in subjects with DVL1 and DVL3 frameshift mutations.

}, keywords = {Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Alleles, Base Sequence, Codon, Nonsense, Craniofacial Abnormalities, Dishevelled Proteins, Dwarfism, Exons, Female, Frameshift Mutation, Genetic Variation, Humans, Limb Deformities, Congenital, Male, Molecular Sequence Data, Phosphoproteins, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-like Orphan Receptors, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Deletion, Urogenital Abnormalities, Wnt Proteins, Wnt-5a Protein}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.01.005}, author = {White, Janson J and Mazzeu, Juliana F and Hoischen, Alexander and Bayram, Yavuz and Withers, Marjorie and Gezdirici, Alper and Kimonis, Virginia and Steehouwer, Marloes and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Muzny, Donna M and Gibbs, Richard A and van Bon, Bregje W M and Sutton, V Reid and Lupski, James R and Brunner, Han G and Carvalho, Claudia M B} } @article {12, title = {Novel mutations in LRP6 highlight the role of WNT signaling in tooth agenesis.}, journal = {Genet Med}, volume = {18}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 11}, pages = {1158-1162}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: We aimed to identify a novel genetic cause of tooth agenesis (TA) and/or orofacial clefting (OFC) by combining whole-exome sequencing (WES) and targeted resequencing in a large cohort of TA and OFC patients.

METHODS: WES was performed in two unrelated patients: one with severe TA and OFC and another with severe TA only. After deleterious mutations were identified in a gene encoding low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6), all its exons were resequenced with molecular inversion probes in 67 patients with TA, 1,072 patients with OFC, and 706 controls.

RESULTS: We identified a frameshift (c.4594delG, p.Cys1532fs) and a canonical splice-site mutation (c.3398-2A>C, p.?) in LRP6, respectively, in the patient with TA and OFC and in the patient with severe TA only. The targeted resequencing showed significant enrichment of unique LRP6 variants in TA patients but not in nonsyndromic OFC patients. Of the five variants in patients with TA, two affected the canonical splice site and three were missense variants; all variants segregated with the dominant phenotype, and in one case the missense mutation occurred de novo.

CONCLUSION: Mutations in LRP6 cause TA in humans.Genet Med 18 11, 1158-1162.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Anodontia, Child, Exome, Female, Frameshift Mutation, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor-Related Protein-6, Male, Mutation, Missense, Pedigree, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Wnt Signaling Pathway}, issn = {1530-0366}, doi = {10.1038/gim.2016.10}, author = {Ockeloen, Charlotte W and Khandelwal, Kriti D and Dreesen, Karoline and Ludwig, Kerstin U and Sullivan, Robert and van Rooij, Iris A L M and Thonissen, Michelle and Swinnen, Steven and Phan, Milien and Conte, Federica and Ishorst, Nina and Gilissen, Christian and RoaFuentes, Laury and van de Vorst, Maartje and Henkes, Arjen and Steehouwer, Marloes and van Beusekom, Ellen and Bloemen, Marjon and Vankeirsbilck, Bruno and Berg{\'e}, Stefaan and Hens, Greet and Schoenaers, Joseph and Poorten, Vincent Vander and Roosenboom, Jasmien and Verdonck, An and Devriendt, Koen and Roeleveldt, Nel and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Vissers, Lisenka E L M and Lupski, James R and de Ligt, Joep and Von den Hoff, Johannes W and Pfundt, Rolph and Brunner, Han G and Zhou, Huiqing and Dixon, Jill and Mangold, Elisabeth and van Bokhoven, Hans and Dixon, Michael J and Kleefstra, Tjitske and Hoischen, Alexander and Carels, Carine E L} } @article {185, title = {Absence of heterozygosity due to template switching during replicative rearrangements.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {96}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 02}, pages = {555-64}, abstract = {

We investigated complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs) consisting of triplication copy-number variants (CNVs) that were accompanied by extended regions of copy-number-neutral absence of heterozygosity (AOH) in subjects with multiple congenital abnormalities. Molecular analyses provided observational evidence that in humans, post-zygotically generated CGRs can lead to regional uniparental disomy (UPD) due to template switches between homologs versus sister chromatids by using microhomology to prime DNA replication-a prediction of the replicative repair model, MMBIR. Our findings suggest that replication-based mechanisms might underlie the formation of diverse types of genomic alterations (CGRs and AOH) implicated in constitutional disorders.

}, keywords = {Base Sequence, DNA Copy Number Variations, DNA Repair, DNA Replication, Gene Rearrangement, Humans, In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence, Loss of Heterozygosity, Models, Genetic, Molecular Sequence Data, Netherlands, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Uniparental Disomy}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.01.021}, author = {Carvalho, Claudia M B and Pfundt, Rolph and King, Daniel A and Lindsay, Sarah J and Zuccherato, Luciana W and Macville, Merryn V E and Liu, Pengfei and Johnson, Diana and Stankiewicz, Pawel and Brown, Chester W and Shaw, Chad A and Hurles, Matthew E and Ira, Grzegorz and Hastings, P J and Brunner, Han G and Lupski, James R} } @article {108, title = {De Novo GMNN Mutations Cause Autosomal-Dominant Primordial Dwarfism Associated with Meier-Gorlin Syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {97}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec 03}, pages = {904-13}, abstract = {

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a genetically heterogeneous primordial dwarfism syndrome known to be caused by biallelic loss-of-function mutations in one of five genes encoding pre-replication complex proteins: ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6. Mutations in these genes cause disruption of the origin of DNA replication initiation. To date, only an autosomal-recessive inheritance pattern has been described in individuals with this disorder, with a molecular etiology established in about three-fourths of cases. Here, we report three subjects with MGS and de novo heterozygous mutations in the 5{\textquoteright} end of GMNN, encoding the DNA replication inhibitor geminin. We identified two truncating mutations in exon 2 (the 1(st) coding exon), c.16A>T (p.Lys6(*)) and c.35_38delTCAA (p.Ile12Lysfs(*)4), and one missense mutation, c.50A>G (p.Lys17Arg), affecting the second-to-last nucleotide of exon 2 and possibly RNA splicing. Geminin is present during the S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle and is degraded during the metaphase-anaphase transition by the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), which recognizes the destruction box sequence near the 5{\textquoteright} end of the geminin protein. All three GMNN mutations identified alter sites 5{\textquoteright} to residue Met28 of the protein, which is located within the destruction box. We present data supporting a gain-of-function mechanism, in which the GMNN mutations result in proteins lacking the destruction box and hence increased protein stability and prolonged inhibition of replication leading to autosomal-dominant MGS.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, Cell Cycle, Child, Preschool, Congenital Microtia, Dwarfism, Exons, Female, Geminin, Gene Expression, Genes, Dominant, Growth Disorders, Heterozygote, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Inheritance Patterns, Male, Micrognathism, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Patella, Pedigree, Protein Stability, Proteolysis, RNA Splicing, Sequence Alignment}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.11.006}, author = {Burrage, Lindsay C and Charng, Wu-Lin and Eldomery, Mohammad K and Willer, Jason R and Davis, Erica E and Lugtenberg, Dorien and Zhu, Wenmiao and Leduc, Magalie S and Akdemir, Zeynep C and Azamian, Mahshid and Zapata, Gladys and Hernandez, Patricia P and Schoots, Jeroen and de Munnik, Sonja A and Roepman, Ronald and Pearring, Jillian N and Jhangiani, Shalini and Katsanis, Nicholas and Vissers, Lisenka E L M and Brunner, Han G and Beaudet, Arthur L and Rosenfeld, Jill A and Muzny, Donna M and Gibbs, Richard A and Eng, Christine M and Xia, Fan and Lalani, Seema R and Lupski, James R and Bongers, Ernie M H F and Yang, Yaping} } @article {183, title = {DVL1 frameshift mutations clustering in the penultimate exon cause autosomal-dominant Robinow syndrome.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {96}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 02}, pages = {612-22}, abstract = {

Robinow syndrome is a genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by mesomelic limb shortening, genital hypoplasia, and distinctive facial features and for which both autosomal-recessive and autosomal-dominant inheritance patterns have been described. Causative variants in the non-canonical signaling gene WNT5A underlie a subset of autosomal-dominant Robinow syndrome (DRS) cases, but most individuals with DRS remain without a molecular diagnosis. We performed whole-exome sequencing in four unrelated DRS-affected individuals without coding mutations in WNT5A and found heterozygous DVL1 exon 14 mutations in three of them. Targeted Sanger sequencing in additional subjects with DRS uncovered DVL1 exon 14 mutations in five individuals, including a pair of monozygotic twins. In total, six distinct frameshift mutations were found in eight subjects, and all were heterozygous truncating variants within the penultimate exon of DVL1. In five families in which samples from unaffected parents were available, the variants were demonstrated to represent de novo mutations. All variant alleles are predicted to result in a premature termination codon within the last exon, escape nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), and most likely generate a C-terminally truncated protein with a distinct -1 reading-frame terminus. Study of the transcripts extracted from affected subjects{\textquoteright} leukocytes confirmed expression of both wild-type and variant alleles, supporting the hypothesis that mutant mRNA escapes NMD. Genomic variants identified in our study suggest that truncation of the C-terminal domain of DVL1, a protein hypothesized to have a downstream role in the Wnt-5a non-canonical pathway, is a common cause of DRS.

}, keywords = {Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, Craniofacial Abnormalities, Dishevelled Proteins, DNA Primers, Dwarfism, Exome, Exons, Frameshift Mutation, Gene Components, Humans, Limb Deformities, Congenital, Molecular Sequence Data, Phosphoproteins, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Urogenital Abnormalities}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.02.015}, author = {White, Janson and Mazzeu, Juliana F and Hoischen, Alexander and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Gambin, Tomasz and Alcino, Michele Calijorne and Penney, Samantha and Saraiva, Jorge M and Hove, Hanne and Skovby, Flemming and Kayserili, H{\"u}lya and Estrella, Elicia and Vulto-van Silfhout, Anneke T and Steehouwer, Marloes and Muzny, Donna M and Sutton, V Reid and Gibbs, Richard A and Lupski, James R and Brunner, Han G and van Bon, Bregje W M and Carvalho, Claudia M B} } @article {131, title = {The Matchmaker Exchange: a platform for rare disease gene discovery.}, journal = {Hum Mutat}, volume = {36}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Oct}, pages = {915-21}, abstract = {

There are few better examples of the need for data sharing than in the rare disease community, where patients, physicians, and researchers must search for "the needle in a haystack" to uncover rare, novel causes of disease within the genome. Impeding the pace of discovery has been the existence of many small siloed datasets within individual research or clinical laboratory databases and/or disease-specific organizations, hoping for serendipitous occasions when two distant investigators happen to learn they have a rare phenotype in common and can "match" these cases to build evidence for causality. However, serendipity has never proven to be a reliable or scalable approach in science. As such, the Matchmaker Exchange (MME) was launched to provide a robust and systematic approach to rare disease gene discovery through the creation of a federated network connecting databases of genotypes and rare phenotypes using a common application programming interface (API). The core building blocks of the MME have been defined and assembled. Three MME services have now been connected through the API and are available for community use. Additional databases that support internal matching are anticipated to join the MME network as it continues to grow.

}, keywords = {Database Management Systems, Databases, Genetic, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Information Dissemination, Rare Diseases, Software}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.22858}, author = {Philippakis, Anthony A and Azzariti, Danielle R and Beltran, Sergi and Brookes, Anthony J and Brownstein, Catherine A and Brudno, Michael and Brunner, Han G and Buske, Orion J and Carey, Knox and Doll, Cassie and Dumitriu, Sergiu and Dyke, Stephanie O M and den Dunnen, Johan T and Firth, Helen V and Gibbs, Richard A and Girdea, Marta and Gonzalez, Michael and Haendel, Melissa A and Hamosh, Ada and Holm, Ingrid A and Huang, Lijia and Hurles, Matthew E and Hutton, Ben and Krier, Joel B and Misyura, Andriy and Mungall, Christopher J and Paschall, Justin and Paten, Benedict and Robinson, Peter N and Schiettecatte, Fran{\c c}ois and Sobreira, Nara L and Swaminathan, Ganesh J and Taschner, Peter E and Terry, Sharon F and Washington, Nicole L and Z{\"u}chner, Stephan and Boycott, Kym M and Rehm, Heidi L} } @article {273, title = {Loss-of-function HDAC8 mutations cause a phenotypic spectrum of Cornelia de Lange syndrome-like features, ocular hypertelorism, large fontanelle and X-linked inheritance.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {23}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun 01}, pages = {2888-900}, abstract = {

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a multisystem genetic disorder with distinct facies, growth failure, intellectual disability, distal limb anomalies, gastrointestinal and neurological disease. Mutations in NIPBL, encoding a cohesin regulatory protein, account for >80\% of cases with typical facies. Mutations in the core cohesin complex proteins, encoded by the SMC1A, SMC3 and RAD21 genes, together account for \~{}5\% of subjects, often with atypical CdLS features. Recently, we identified mutations in the X-linked gene HDAC8 as the cause of a small number of CdLS cases. Here, we report a cohort of 38 individuals with an emerging spectrum of features caused by HDAC8 mutations. For several individuals, the diagnosis of CdLS was not considered prior to genomic testing. Most mutations identified are missense and de novo. Many cases are heterozygous females, each with marked skewing of X-inactivation in peripheral blood DNA. We also identified eight hemizygous males who are more severely affected. The craniofacial appearance caused by HDAC8 mutations overlaps that of typical CdLS but often displays delayed anterior fontanelle closure, ocular hypertelorism, hooding of the eyelids, a broader nose and dental anomalies, which may be useful discriminating features. HDAC8 encodes the lysine deacetylase for the cohesin subunit SMC3 and analysis of the functional consequences of the missense mutations indicates that all cause a loss of enzymatic function. These data demonstrate that loss-of-function mutations in HDAC8 cause a range of overlapping human developmental phenotypes, including a phenotypically distinct subgroup of CdLS.

}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Child, Child, Preschool, Cohort Studies, Cranial Fontanelles, De Lange Syndrome, Eye Abnormalities, Female, Genes, X-Linked, Histone Deacetylases, Humans, Hypertelorism, Infant, Male, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Missense, Phenotype, Repressor Proteins, Sequence Alignment}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddu002}, author = {Kaiser, Frank J and Ansari, Morad and Braunholz, Diana and Concepci{\'o}n Gil-Rodr{\'\i}guez, Mar{\'\i}a and Decroos, Christophe and Wilde, Jonathan J and Fincher, Christopher T and Kaur, Maninder and Bando, Masashige and Amor, David J and Atwal, Paldeep S and Bahlo, Melanie and Bowman, Christine M and Bradley, Jacquelyn J and Brunner, Han G and Clark, Dinah and Del Campo, Miguel and Di Donato, Nataliya and Diakumis, Peter and Dubbs, Holly and Dyment, David A and Eckhold, Juliane and Ernst, Sarah and Ferreira, Jose C and Francey, Lauren J and Gehlken, Ulrike and Guill{\'e}n-Navarro, Encarna and Gyftodimou, Yolanda and Hall, Bryan D and Hennekam, Raoul and Hudgins, Louanne and Hullings, Melanie and Hunter, Jennifer M and Yntema, Helger and Innes, A Micheil and Kline, Antonie D and Krumina, Zita and Lee, Hane and Leppig, Kathleen and Lynch, Sally Ann and Mallozzi, Mark B and Mannini, Linda and McKee, Shane and Mehta, Sarju G and Micule, Ieva and Mohammed, Shehla and Moran, Ellen and Mortier, Geert R and Moser, Joe-Ann S and Noon, Sarah E and Nozaki, Naohito and Nunes, Luis and Pappas, John G and Penney, Lynette S and P{\'e}rez-Ayt{\'e}s, Antonio and Petersen, Michael B and Puisac, Beatriz and Revencu, Nicole and Roeder, Elizabeth and Saitta, Sulagna and Scheuerle, Angela E and Schindeler, Karen L and Siu, Victoria M and Stark, Zornitza and Strom, Samuel P and Thiese, Heidi and Vater, Inga and Willems, Patrick and Williamson, Kathleen and Wilson, Louise C and Hakonarson, Hakon and Quintero-Rivera, Fabiola and Wierzba, Jolanta and Musio, Antonio and Gillessen-Kaesbach, Gabriele and Ramos, Feliciano J and Jackson, Laird G and Shirahige, Katsuhiko and Pi{\'e}, Juan and Christianson, David W and Krantz, Ian D and FitzPatrick, David R and Deardorff, Matthew A} } @article {324, title = {Loss-of-function mutations in TGFB2 cause a syndromic presentation of thoracic aortic aneurysm.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {44}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Jul 08}, pages = {922-7}, abstract = {

Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) associates with a tissue signature for high transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling but is often caused by heterozygous mutations in genes encoding positive effectors of TGF-β signaling, including either subunit of the TGF-β receptor or SMAD3, thereby engendering controversy regarding the mechanism of disease. Here, we report heterozygous mutations or deletions in the gene encoding the TGF-β2 ligand for a phenotype within the LDS spectrum and show upregulation of TGF-β signaling in aortic tissue from affected individuals. Furthermore, haploinsufficient Tgfb2(+/-) mice have aortic root aneurysm and biochemical evidence of increased canonical and noncanonical TGF-β signaling. Mice that harbor both a mutant Marfan syndrome (MFS) allele (Fbn1(C1039G/+)) and Tgfb2 haploinsufficiency show increased TGF-β signaling and phenotypic worsening in association with normalization of TGF-β2 expression and high expression of TGF-β1. Taken together, these data support the hypothesis that compensatory autocrine and/or paracrine events contribute to the pathogenesis of TGF-β-mediated vasculopathies.

}, keywords = {Animals, Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic, Disease Models, Animal, Female, Fibrillin-1, Fibrillins, Haploinsufficiency, Humans, Loeys-Dietz Syndrome, Male, Marfan Syndrome, Mice, Mice, Knockout, Mice, Mutant Strains, Microfilament Proteins, Mutation, Pedigree, Phenotype, Signal Transduction, Syndrome, Transforming Growth Factor beta2}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2349}, author = {Lindsay, Mark E and Schepers, Dorien and Bolar, Nikhita Ajit and Doyle, Jefferson J and Gallo, Elena and Fert-Bober, Justyna and Kempers, Marlies J E and Fishman, Elliot K and Chen, Yichun and Myers, Loretha and Bjeda, Djahita and Oswald, Gretchen and Elias, Abdallah F and Levy, Howard P and Anderlid, Britt-Marie and Yang, Margaret H and Bongers, Ernie M H F and Timmermans, Janneke and Braverman, Alan C and Canham, Natalie and Mortier, Geert R and Brunner, Han G and Byers, Peter H and Van Eyk, Jennifer and Van Laer, Lut and Dietz, Harry C and Loeys, Bart L} }