@article {95, title = {Molecular etiology of arthrogryposis in multiple families of mostly Turkish origin.}, journal = {J Clin Invest}, volume = {126}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb}, pages = {762-78}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Arthrogryposis, defined as congenital joint contractures in 2 or more body areas, is a clinical sign rather than a specific disease diagnosis. To date, more than 400 different disorders have been described that present with arthrogryposis, and variants of more than 220 genes have been associated with these disorders; however, the underlying molecular etiology remains unknown in the considerable majority of these cases.

METHODS: We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) of 52 patients with clinical presentation of arthrogryposis from 48 different families.

RESULTS: Affected individuals from 17 families (35.4\%) had variants in known arthrogryposis-associated genes, including homozygous variants of cholinergic γ nicotinic receptor (CHRNG, 6 subjects) and endothelin converting enzyme-like 1 (ECEL1, 4 subjects). Deleterious variants in candidate arthrogryposis-causing genes (fibrillin 3 [FBN3], myosin IXA [MYO9A], and pleckstrin and Sec7 domain containing 3 [PSD3]) were identified in 3 families (6.2\%). Moreover, in 8 families with a homozygous mutation in an arthrogryposis-associated gene, we identified a second locus with either a homozygous or compound heterozygous variant in a candidate gene (myosin binding protein C, fast type [MYBPC2] and vacuolar protein sorting 8 [VPS8], 2 families, 4.2\%) or in another disease-associated genes (6 families, 12.5\%), indicating a potential mutational burden contributing to disease expression.

CONCLUSION: In 58.3\% of families, the arthrogryposis manifestation could be explained by a molecular diagnosis; however, the molecular etiology in subjects from 20 families remained unsolved by WES. Only 5 of these 20 unrelated subjects had a clinical presentation consistent with amyoplasia; a phenotype not thought to be of genetic origin. Our results indicate that increased use of genome-wide technologies will provide opportunities to better understand genetic models for diseases and molecular mechanisms of genetically heterogeneous disorders, such as arthrogryposis.

FUNDING: This work was supported in part by US National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) grant U54HG006542 to the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics, and US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grant R01NS058529 to J.R. Lupski.

}, keywords = {Arthrogryposis, Exome, Family, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Turkey}, issn = {1558-8238}, doi = {10.1172/JCI84457}, author = {Bayram, Yavuz and Karaca, Ender and Coban Akdemir, Zeynep and Yilmaz, Elif Ozdamar and Tayfun, Gulsen Akay and Aydin, Hatip and Torun, Deniz and Bozdogan, Sevcan Tug and Gezdirici, Alper and Isikay, Sedat and Atik, Mehmed M and Gambin, Tomasz and Harel, Tamar and El-Hattab, Ayman W and Charng, Wu-Lin and Pehlivan, Davut and Jhangiani, Shalini N and Muzny, Donna M and Karaman, Ali and Celik, Tamer and Yuregir, Ozge Ozalp and Yildirim, Timur and Bayhan, Ilhan A and Boerwinkle, Eric and Gibbs, Richard A and Elcioglu, Nursel and Tuysuz, Beyhan and Lupski, James R} } @article {198, title = {Global transcriptional disturbances underlie Cornelia de Lange syndrome and related phenotypes.}, journal = {J Clin Invest}, volume = {125}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb}, pages = {636-51}, abstract = {

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder that presents with extensive phenotypic variability, including facial dysmorphism, developmental delay/intellectual disability (DD/ID), abnormal extremities, and hirsutism. About 65\% of patients harbor mutations in genes that encode subunits or regulators of the cohesin complex, including NIPBL, SMC1A, SMC3, RAD21, and HDAC8. Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome (WDSTS), which shares CdLS phenotypic features, is caused by mutations in lysine-specific methyltransferase 2A (KMT2A). Here, we performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) of 2 male siblings clinically diagnosed with WDSTS; this revealed a hemizygous, missense mutation in SMC1A that was predicted to be deleterious. Extensive clinical evaluation and WES of 32 Turkish patients clinically diagnosed with CdLS revealed the presence of a de novo heterozygous nonsense KMT2A mutation in 1 patient without characteristic WDSTS features. We also identified de novo heterozygous mutations in SMC3 or SMC1A that affected RNA splicing in 2 independent patients with combined CdLS and WDSTS features. Furthermore, in families from 2 separate world populations segregating an autosomal-recessive disorder with CdLS-like features, we identified homozygous mutations in TAF6, which encodes a core transcriptional regulatory pathway component. Together, our data, along with recent transcriptome studies, suggest that CdLS and related phenotypes may be "transcriptomopathies" rather than cohesinopathies.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Cell Cycle Proteins, Child, Child, Preschool, Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans, Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone, Codon, Nonsense, De Lange Syndrome, Exome, Exonucleases, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Heterozygote, Histone Deacetylases, Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase, Humans, Infant, Male, Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein, Phenotype, Proteins, Repressor Proteins, Transcriptome}, issn = {1558-8238}, doi = {10.1172/JCI77435}, author = {Yuan, Bo and Pehlivan, Davut and Karaca, Ender and Patel, Nisha and Charng, Wu-Lin and Gambin, Tomasz and Gonzaga-Jauregui, Claudia and Sutton, V Reid and Yesil, G{\"o}zde and Bozdogan, Sevcan Tug and Tos, Tulay and Koparir, Asuman and Koparir, Erkan and Beck, Christine R and Gu, Shen and Aslan, Huseyin and Yuregir, Ozge Ozalp and Al Rubeaan, Khalid and Alnaqeb, Dhekra and Alshammari, Muneera J and Bayram, Yavuz and Atik, Mehmed M and Aydin, Hatip and Geckinli, B Bilge and Seven, Mehmet and Ulucan, Hakan and Fenercioglu, Elif and Ozen, Mustafa and Jhangiani, Shalini and Muzny, Donna M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Tuysuz, Beyhan and Alkuraya, Fowzan S and Gibbs, Richard A and Lupski, James R} }