Mutations disrupting neuritogenesis genes confer risk for cerebral palsy

Jin SC, Lewis SA, Bakhtiari S, Zeng X, Sierant MC, Shetty S, Nordlie SM, Elie A, Corbett MA, Norton BY, van Eyk CL, Haider S, Guida BS, Magee H, Liu J, Pastore S, Vincent JB, Brunstrom-Hernandez J, Papavasileiou A, Fahey MC, Berry JG, Harper K, Zhou C, Zhang J, Li B, Zhao H, Heim J, Webber DL, Frank MSB, Xia L, Xu Y, Zhu D, Zhang B, Sheth AH, Knight JR, Castaldi C, Tikhonova IR, López-Giráldez F, Keren B, Whalen S, Buratti J, Doummar D, Cho M, Retterer K, Millan F, Wang Y, Waugh JL, Rodan L, Cohen JS, Fatemi A, Lin AE, Phillips JP, Feyma T, MacLennan SC, Vaughan S, Crompton KE, Reid SM, Reddihough DS, Shang Q, Gao C, Novak I, Badawi N, Wilson YA, McIntyre SJ, Mane SM, Wang X, Amor DJ, Zarnescu DC, Lu Q, Xing Q, Zhu C, Bilguvar K, Padilla-Lopez S, Lifton RP, Gecz J, MacLennan AH, Kruer MC. Mutations disrupting neuritogenesis genes confer risk for cerebral palsy. Nat Genet. 2020 Oct;52(10):1046-1056. doi: 10.1038/s41588-020-0695-1. Epub 2020 Sep 28. Erratum in: Nat Genet. 2021 Jan 11;: PMID: 32989326.

Abstract

In addition to commonly associated environmental factors, genomic factors may cause cerebral palsy. We performed whole-exome sequencing of 250 parent-offspring trios, and observed enrichment of damaging de novo mutations in cerebral palsy cases. Eight genes had multiple damaging de novo mutations; of these, two (TUBA1A and CTNNB1) met genome-wide significance. We identified two novel monogenic etiologies, FBXO31 and RHOB, and showed that the RHOB mutation enhances active-state Rho effector binding while the FBXO31 mutation diminishes cyclin D levels. Candidate cerebral palsy risk genes overlapped with neurodevelopmental disorder genes. Network analyses identified enrichment of Rho GTPase, extracellular matrix, focal adhesion and cytoskeleton pathways. Cerebral palsy risk genes in enriched pathways were shown to regulate neuromotor function in a Drosophila reverse genetics screen. We estimate that 14% of cases could be attributed to an excess of damaging de novo or recessive variants. These findings provide evidence for genetically mediated dysregulation of early neuronal connectivity in cerebral palsy.

Courtesy of a colleague