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

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).

Genetic architecture and adaptations of Nunavik Inuit.

The Canadian Inuit have a distinct population background that may entail particular implications for the health of its individuals. However, the number of genetic studies examining this Inuit population is limited, and much remains to be discovered in regard to its genetic characteristics. In this study, we generated whole-exome sequences and genomewide genotypes for 170 Nunavik Inuit, a small and isolated founder population of Canadian Arctic indigenous people. Our study revealed the genetic background of Nunavik Inuit to be distinct from any known present-day population. The majority of Nunavik Inuit show little evidence of gene flow from European or present-day Native American peoples, and Inuit living around Hudson Bay are genetically distinct from those around Ungava Bay. We also inferred that Nunavik Inuit have a small effective population size of 3,000 and likely split from Greenlandic Inuit ∼10.5 kya. Nunavik Inuit went through a bottleneck at approximately the same time and might have admixed with a population related to the Paleo-Eskimos. Our study highlights population-specific genomic signatures in coding regions that show adaptations unique to Nunavik Inuit, particularly in pathways involving fatty acid metabolism and cellular adhesion (CPNE7, ICAM5, STAT2, and RAF1). Subsequent analyses in selection footprints and the risk of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) in Nunavik Inuit revealed an exonic variant under weak negative selection to be significantly associated with IA (rs77470587; P = 4.6 × 10-8).

DOORS syndrome and a recurrent truncating ATP6V1B2 variant.

PURPOSE: Biallelic variants in TBC1D24, which encodes a protein that regulates vesicular transport, are frequently identified in patients with DOORS (deafness, onychodystrophy, osteodystrophy, intellectual disability [previously referred to as mental retardation], and seizures) syndrome. The aim of the study was to identify a genetic cause in families with DOORS syndrome and without a TBC1D24 variant. METHODS: Exome or Sanger sequencing was performed in individuals with a clinical diagnosis of DOORS syndrome without TBC1D24 variants. RESULTS: We identified the same truncating variant in ATP6V1B2 (NM_001693.4:c.1516C>T; p.Arg506*) in nine individuals from eight unrelated families with DOORS syndrome. This variant was already reported in individuals with dominant deafness onychodystrophy (DDOD) syndrome. Deafness was present in all individuals, along with onychodystrophy and abnormal fingers and/or toes. All families but one had developmental delay or intellectual disability and five individuals had epilepsy. We also describe two additional families with DDOD syndrome in whom the same variant was found. CONCLUSION: We expand the phenotype associated with ATP6V1B2 and propose another causal gene for DOORS syndrome. This finding suggests that DDOD and DOORS syndromes might lie on a spectrum of clinically and molecularly related conditions.

Missense variants in ATP1A3 and FXYD gene family are associated with childhood-onset schizophrenia.

Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a rare and severe form of schizophrenia defined as onset before age of 13. Here we report on two unrelated cases diagnosed with both COS and alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), and for whom two distinct pathogenic de novo variants were identified in the ATP1A3 gene. ATP1A3 encodes the α-subunit of a neuron-specific ATP-dependent transmembrane sodium-potassium pump. Using whole exome sequencing data derived from a cohort of 17 unrelated COS cases, we also examined ATP1A3 and all of its interactors known to be expressed in the brain to establish if variants could be identified. This led to the identification of a third case with a possibly damaging missense mutation in ATP1A3 and three others cases with predicted pathogenic missense variants in the FXYD gene family (FXYD1, FXYD6, and FXYD6-FXYD2 readthrough). FXYD genes encode proteins that modulate the ATP-dependant pump function. This report is the first to identify variants in the same pathway for COS. Our COS study illustrates the interest of stratifying a complex condition according to the age of onset for the identification of deleterious variants. Whereas ATP1A3 is a replicated gene in rare neuropediatric diseases, this gene has previously been linked with COS in only one case report. The association with rare variants in FXYD gene family is novel and highlights the interest of exploring these genes in COS as well as in pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders.

Global characterization of copy number variants in epilepsy patients from whole genome sequencing.

Epilepsy will affect nearly 3% of people at some point during their lifetime. Previous copy number variants (CNVs) studies of epilepsy have used array-based technology and were restricted to the detection of large or exonic events. In contrast, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has the potential to more comprehensively profile CNVs but existing analytic methods suffer from limited accuracy. We show that this is in part due to the non-uniformity of read coverage, even after intra-sample normalization. To improve on this, we developed PopSV, an algorithm that uses multiple samples to control for technical variation and enables the robust detection of CNVs. Using WGS and PopSV, we performed a comprehensive characterization of CNVs in 198 individuals affected with epilepsy and 301 controls. For both large and small variants, we found an enrichment of rare exonic events in epilepsy patients, especially in genes with predicted loss-of-function intolerance. Notably, this genome-wide survey also revealed an enrichment of rare non-coding CNVs near previously known epilepsy genes. This enrichment was strongest for non-coding CNVs located within 100 Kbp of an epilepsy gene and in regions associated with changes in the gene expression, such as expression QTLs or DNase I hypersensitive sites. Finally, we report on 21 potentially damaging events that could be associated with known or new candidate epilepsy genes. Our results suggest that comprehensive sequence-based profiling of CNVs could help explain a larger fraction of epilepsy cases.

Oligogenicity, C9orf72 expansion, and variant severity in ALS.

"Oligogenic inheritance" is used to describe cases where more than one rare pathogenic variant is observed in the same individual. While multiple variants can alter disease presentation, the necessity of multiple variants to instigate pathogenesis has not been addressed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We sequenced ALS-associated genes in C9orf72-expansion-positive and negative ALS patients, alongside unaffected controls, to test the importance of oligogenicity and variant deleteriousness in ALS. We found that all groups had similar numbers of rare variants, but that variant severity was significantly higher in C9orf72-negative ALS cases, suggesting sufficiency of C9orf72 expansion to cause ALS alone.

High Rate of Recurrent De Novo Mutations in Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies.

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) is a group of conditions characterized by the co-occurrence of epilepsy and intellectual disability (ID), typically with developmental plateauing or regression associated with frequent epileptiform activity. The cause of DEE remains unknown in the majority of cases. We performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in 197 individuals with unexplained DEE and pharmaco-resistant seizures and in their unaffected parents. We focused our attention on de novo mutations (DNMs) and identified candidate genes containing such variants. We sought to identify additional subjects with DNMs in these genes by performing targeted sequencing in another series of individuals with DEE and by mining various sequencing datasets. We also performed meta-analyses to document enrichment of DNMs in candidate genes by leveraging our WGS dataset with those of several DEE and ID series. By combining these strategies, we were able to provide a causal link between DEE and the following genes: NTRK2, GABRB2, CLTC, DHDDS, NUS1, RAB11A, GABBR2, and SNAP25. Overall, we established a molecular diagnosis in 63/197 (32%) individuals in our WGS series. The main cause of DEE in these individuals was de novo point mutations (53/63 solved cases), followed by inherited mutations (6/63 solved cases) and de novo CNVs (4/63 solved cases). De novo missense variants explained a larger proportion of individuals in our series than in other series that were primarily ascertained because of ID. Moreover, these DNMs were more frequently recurrent than those identified in ID series. These observations indicate that the genetic landscape of DEE might be different from that of ID without epilepsy.

Multiomics Analyses Identify Genes and Pathways Relevant to Essential Tremor.

INTRODUCTION: The genetic factors and molecular mechanisms predisposing to essential tremor (ET) remains largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify pathways and genes relevant to ET by integrating multiomics approaches. METHODS: Case-control RNA sequencing of 2 cerebellar regions was done for 64 samples. A phenome-wide association study (pheWAS) of the differentially expressed genes was conducted, and a genome-wide gene association study (GWGAS) was done to identify pathways overlapping with the transcriptomic data. Finally, a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) was done to identify novel risk genes for ET. RESULTS: We identified several novel dysregulated genes, including CACNA1A and SHF. Pathways including axon guidance, olfactory loss, and calcium channel activity were significantly enriched. The ET GWGAS data found calcium ion-regulated exocytosis of neurotransmitters to be significantly enriched. The TWAS also found calcium and olfactory pathways enriched. The pheWAS identified that the underexpressed differentially expressed gene, SHF, is associated with a blood pressure medication (P = 9.3E-08), which is used to reduce tremor in ET patients. Treatment of cerebellar DAOY cells with the ET drug propranolol identified increases in SHF when treated, suggesting it may rescue the underexpression. CONCLUSION: We found that calcium-related pathways were enriched across the GWGAS, TWAS, and transcriptome. SHF was shown to have significantly decreased expression, and the pheWAS showed it was associated with blood pressure medication. The treatment of cells with propranolol showed that the drug restored levels of SHF. Overall, our findings highlight the power of integrating multiple different approaches to prioritize ET pathways and genes. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Machine learning analysis of exome trios to contrast the genomic architecture of autism and schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Machine learning (ML) algorithms and methods offer great tools to analyze large complex genomic datasets. Our goal was to compare the genomic architecture of schizophrenia (SCZ) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using ML. METHODS: In this paper, we used regularized gradient boosted machines to analyze whole-exome sequencing (WES) data from individuals SCZ and ASD in order to identify important distinguishing genetic features. We further demonstrated a method of gene clustering to highlight which subsets of genes identified by the ML algorithm are mutated concurrently in affected individuals and are central to each disease (i.e., ASD vs. SCZ "hub" genes). RESULTS: In summary, after correcting for population structure, we found that SCZ and ASD cases could be successfully separated based on genetic information, with 86-88% accuracy on the testing dataset. Through bioinformatic analysis, we explored if combinations of genes concurrently mutated in patients with the same condition ("hub" genes) belong to specific pathways. Several themes were found to be associated with ASD, including calcium ion transmembrane transport, immune system/inflammation, synapse organization, and retinoid metabolic process. Moreover, ion transmembrane transport, neurotransmitter transport, and microtubule/cytoskeleton processes were highlighted for SCZ. CONCLUSIONS: Our manuscript introduces a novel comparative approach for studying the genetic architecture of genetically related diseases with complex inheritance and highlights genetic similarities and differences between ASD and SCZ.

Pathogenic variants in AIMP1 cause pontocerebellar hypoplasia.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-interacting multifunctional protein 1 (AIMP1) is a non-catalytic component of the multi-tRNA synthetase complex which catalyzes the ligation of amino acids to the correct tRNAs. Pathogenic variants in several aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases genes have been linked to various neurological disorders, including leukodystrophies and pontocerebellar hypoplasias (PCH). To date, loss-of-function variants in AIMP1 have been associated with hypomyelinating leukodystrophy-3 (MIM 260600). Here, we report a novel frameshift AIMP1 homozygous variant (c.160delA,p.Lys54Asnfs) in a child with pontocerebellar hypoplasia and simplified gyral pattern, a phenotype not been previously described with AIMP1 variants, thus expanding the phenotypic spectrum. AIMP1 should be included in diagnostic PCH gene panels.

RNF213 Is Associated with Intracranial Aneurysms in the French-Canadian Population.

Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) are the result of focal weakness in the artery wall and have a complex genetic makeup. To date, genome-wide association and sequencing studies have had limited success in identifying IA risk factors. Distinct populations, such as the French-Canadian (FC) population, have increased IA prevalence. In our study, we used exome sequencing to prioritize risk variants in a discovery cohort of six FC families affected by IA, and the analysis revealed an increased variation burden for ring finger protein 213 (RNF213). We resequenced RNF213 in a larger FC validation cohort, and association tests on further identified variants supported our findings (SKAT-O, p = 0.006). RNF213 belongs to the AAA+ protein family, and two variants (p.Arg2438Cys and p.Ala2826Thr) unique to affected FC individuals were found to have increased ATPase activity, which could lead to increased risk of IA by elevating angiogenic activities. Common SNPs in RNF213 were also extracted from the NeuroX SNP-chip genotype data, comprising 257 FC IA-affected and 1,988 control individuals. We discovered that the non-ancestral allele of rs6565666 was significantly associated with the affected individuals (p = 0.03), and it appeared as though the frequency of the risk allele had changed through genetic drift. Although RNF213 is a risk factor for moyamoya disease in East Asians, we demonstrated that it might also be a risk factor for IA in the FC population. It therefore appears that the function of RNF213 can be differently altered to predispose distinct populations to dissimilar neurovascular conditions, highlighting the importance of a population's background in genetic studies of heterogeneous disease.

Mutations in CAPN1 Cause Autosomal-Recessive Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia.

Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous disease characterized by spasticity and weakness of the lower limbs with or without additional neurological symptoms. Although more than 70 genes and genetic loci have been implicated in HSP, many families remain genetically undiagnosed, suggesting that other genetic causes of HSP are still to be identified. HSP can be inherited in an autosomal-dominant, autosomal-recessive, or X-linked manner. In the current study, we performed whole-exome sequencing to analyze a total of nine affected individuals in three families with autosomal-recessive HSP. Rare homozygous and compound-heterozygous nonsense, missense, frameshift, and splice-site mutations in CAPN1 were identified in all affected individuals, and sequencing in additional family members confirmed the segregation of these mutations with the disease (spastic paraplegia 76 [SPG76]). CAPN1 encodes calpain 1, a protease that is widely present in the CNS. Calpain 1 is involved in synaptic plasticity, synaptic restructuring, and axon maturation and maintenance. Three models of calpain 1 deficiency were further studied. In Caenorhabditis elegans, loss of calpain 1 function resulted in neuronal and axonal dysfunction and degeneration. Similarly, loss-of-function of the Drosophila melanogaster ortholog calpain B caused locomotor defects and axonal anomalies. Knockdown of calpain 1a, a CAPN1 ortholog in Danio rerio, resulted in abnormal branchiomotor neuron migration and disorganized acetylated-tubulin axonal networks in the brain. The identification of mutations in CAPN1 in HSP expands our understanding of the disease causes and potential mechanisms.

SPTAN1 variants as a potential cause for autosomal recessive hereditary spastic paraplegia.

More than 80 known or suspected genes/loci have been reported to be involved in hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). Genetic and clinical overlap have been reported between HSP and other neurological condition, yet about 50% of HSP patients remain genetically undiagnosed. To identify novel genes involved in HSP, we performed a genetic analysis of 383 HSP patients from 289 families with HSP. Two patients with biallelic SPTAN1 variants were identified; one carried the c.2572G>T p.(Ala858Ser) and c.4283C>G p.(Ala1428Gly) variants, and the second also carried the c.2572G>T p.(Ala858Ser) variant, and an additional variant, c.6990G>C p.(Met2330Ile). In silico predictive and structural analyses suggested that these variants are likely to be deleterious. SPTAN1 was highly intolerant for functional variants (in the top 0.31% of intolerant genes) with much lower observed vs. expected number of loss-of-function variants (8 vs. 142.7, p < 5 × 10-15). Using public databases of animal models and previously published data, we have found previously described zebrafish, mouse, and rat animal models of SPTAN1 deficiency, all consistently showing axonal degeneration, fitting the pathological features of HSP in humans. This study expands the phenotype of SPTAN1 mutations, which at the heterozygous state, when occurred de novo, may cause early infantile epileptic encephalopathy-5 (EIEE5). Our results further suggest that SPTAN1 may cause autosomal recessive HSP, and that it should be included in genetic screening panels for genetically undiagnosed HSP patients.

Whole genome sequencing and variant discovery in the ASPIRE autism spectrum disorder cohort.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogeneous genetic disorder with strong evidence of ASD-association currently available only for a small number of genes. This makes it challenging to identify the underlying genetic cause in many cases of ASD, and there is a continuing need for further discovery efforts. We sequenced whole genomes of 119 deeply phenotyped ASD probands in order to identify likely pathogenic variants. We prioritized variants found in each subject by predicted damage, population frequency, literature evidence, and phenotype concordance. We used Sanger sequencing to determine the inheritance status of high-priority variants where possible. We report five novel de novo damaging variants as well as several likely damaging variants of unknown inheritance; these include two novel de novo variants in the well-established ASD gene SCN2A. The availability of rich phenotypic information and its concordance with the literature allowed us to increase our confidence in pathogenicity of discovered variants, especially in probands without parental DNA. Our results contribute to the documentation of potential pathogenic variants and their associated phenotypes in individuals with ASD.

SMPD1 mutations, activity, and α-synuclein accumulation in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: SMPD1 (acid-sphingomyelinase) variants have been associated with Parkinson's disease in recent studies. The objective of this study was to further investigate the role of SMPD1 mutations in PD. METHODS: SMPD1 was sequenced in 3 cohorts (Israel Ashkenazi Jewish cohort, Montreal/Montpellier, and New York), including 1592 PD patients and 975 controls. Additional data were available for 10,709 Ashkenazi Jewish controls. Acid-sphingomyelinase activity was measured by a mass spectrometry-based assay in the New York cohort. α-Synuclein levels were measured in vitro following CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout and siRNA knockdown of SMPD1 in HeLa and BE(2)-M17 cells. Lysosomal localization of acid-sphingomyelinase with different mutations was studied, and in silico analysis of their effect on acid-sphingomyelinase structure was performed. RESULTS: SMPD1 mutations were associated with PD in the Ashkenazi Jewish cohort, as 1.4% of PD patients carried the p.L302P or p.fsP330 mutation, compared with 0.37% in 10,709 Ashkenazi Jewish controls (OR, 3.7; 95%CI, 1.6-8.2; P = 0.0025). In the Montreal/Montpellier cohort, the p.A487V variant was nominally associated with PD (1.5% versus 0.14%; P = 0.0065, not significant after correction for multiple comparisons). Among PD patients, reduced acid-sphingomyelinase activity was associated with a 3.5- to 5.8-year earlier onset of PD in the lowest quartile versus the highest quartile of acid-sphingomyelinase activity (P = 0.01-0.001). We further demonstrated that SMPD1 knockout and knockdown resulted in increased α-synuclein levels in HeLa and BE(2)-M17 dopaminergic cells and that the p.L302P and p.fsP330 mutations impair the traffic of acid-sphingomyelinase to the lysosome. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support an association between SMPD1 variants, acid-sphingomyelinase activity, and PD. Furthermore, they suggest that reduced acid-sphingomyelinase activity may lead to α-synuclein accumulation. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Exome sequencing of sporadic childhood-onset schizophrenia suggests the contribution of X-linked genes in males.

Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a rare and severe form of schizophrenia, defined as having an onset before the age of 13. The male COS cases have a slightly younger age of onset than female cases. They also present with a higher rate of comorbid developmental disorders. These sex differences are not explained by the frequency of chromosomal abnormalities, and the contribution of other forms of genetic variations remains unestablished. Using a whole-exome sequencing approach, we examined 12 COS trios where the unaffected parents had an affected male child. The sequencing data enabled us to test if the hemizygous variants, transmitted from the unaffected carrying mother, could mediate the phenotype (X-linked recessive inheritance model). Our results revealed that affected children have a significantly greater number of X-linked rare variants than their unaffected fathers. The variants identified in the male probands were mostly found in genes previously linked to other neuropsychiatric diseases like autism, intellectual disability, and epilepsy, including LUZP4, PCDH19, RPS6KA3, and OPHN1. The level of expression of the genes was assessed at different developmental periods in normal brain using the BrainSpan database. This approach revealed that some of them were expressed earlier in males than in females, consistent with the younger age of onset in male COS. In conclusion, this article suggests that X-linked genes might play a role in the pathophysiology of COS. Candidate genes detailed here could explain the higher level of comorbidities and the earlier age of onset observed in a subset of the male COS cases.

Joubert Syndrome in French Canadians and Identification of Mutations in CEP104.

Joubert syndrome (JBTS) is a primarily autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by a distinctive mid-hindbrain and cerebellar malformation, oculomotor apraxia, irregular breathing, developmental delay, and ataxia. JBTS is a genetically heterogeneous ciliopathy. We sought to characterize the genetic landscape associated with JBTS in the French Canadian (FC) population. We studied 43 FC JBTS subjects from 35 families by combining targeted and exome sequencing. We identified pathogenic (n = 32 families) or possibly pathogenic (n = 2 families) variants in genes previously associated with JBTS in all of these subjects, except for one. In the latter case, we found a homozygous splice-site mutation (c.735+2T>C) in CEP104. Interestingly, we identified two additional non-FC JBTS subjects with mutations in CEP104; one of these subjects harbors a maternally inherited nonsense mutation (c.496C>T [p.Arg166*]) and a de novo splice-site mutation (c.2572-2A>G), whereas the other bears a homozygous frameshift mutation (c.1328_1329insT [p.Tyr444fs*3]) in CEP104. Previous studies have shown that CEP104 moves from the mother centriole to the tip of the primary cilium during ciliogenesis. Knockdown of CEP104 in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE1) cells resulted in severe defects in ciliogenesis. These observations suggest that CEP104 acts early during cilia formation by regulating the conversion of the mother centriole into the cilia basal body. We conclude that disruption of CEP104 causes JBTS. Our study also reveals that the cause of JBTS has been elucidated in the great majority of our FC subjects (33/35 [94%] families), even though JBTS shows substantial locus and allelic heterogeneity in this population.

Exome sequencing reveals a novel PLP1 mutation in a Moroccan family with connatal Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy regroups a common and diverse set of chronic neurological disorders that are characterized by spontaneous, unprovoked, and recurrent epileptic seizures. Epilepsies have a highly heterogeneous background with a strong genetic contribution and various mode of inheritance. X-linked epilepsy usually manifests as part of a syndrome or epileptic encephalopathy. The variability of clinical manifestations of X-linked epilepsy may be attributed to several factors including the causal genetic mutation, making diagnosis, genetic counseling and treatment decisions difficult. We report the description of a Moroccan family referred to our genetic department with X-linked epileptic seizures as the only initial diagnosis. CASE PRESENTATION: Knowing the new contribution of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) for clinical investigation, and given the heterogeneity of this group of disorders we performed a Whole-Exome Sequencing (WES) analysis and co-segregation study in several members of this large family. We detected a novel pathogenic PLP1 missense mutation c.251C > A (p.Ala84Asp) allowing us to make a diagnosis of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease for this family. CONCLUSION: This report extends the spectrum of PLP1 mutations and highlights the diagnostic utility of NGS to investigate this group of heterogeneous disorders.

Correction to: Exome sequencing reveals a novel PLP1 mutation in a Moroccan family with connatal Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: a case report.

After publication of the original article [1] it was brought to our attention that author Bouchra Ouled Amar Bencheikh was incorrectly included as Bouchra Oulad Amar Bencheikh.

Rare deleterious variants in GRHL3 are associated with human spina bifida.

Neural tube defects, including spina bifida, are among the most common birth defects caused by failure of neural tube closure during development. They have a complex etiology involving largely undetermined environmental and genetic factors. Previous studies in mouse models have implicated the transcription factor Grhl3 as an important factor in the pathogenesis of spina bifida. In the present study, we conducted a resequencing analysis of GRHL3 in a cohort of 233 familial and sporadic cases of spina bifida. We identified two novel truncating variants: one homozygous frameshift variant, p.Asp16Aspfs*10, in two affected siblings and one heterozygous intronic splicing variant, p.Ala318Glyfs*26. We also identified five missense variants, one of which was demonstrated to reduce the activation of gene targets in a luciferase reporter assay. With the previously identified p.Arg391Cys variant, eight variants were found in GRHL3. Comparison of the variant rate between our cohort and the ExAC database identified a significant enrichment of deleterious variants in GRHL3 in the whole gene and the transactivation region in spina bifida patients. These data provide strong evidence for a role of GRHL3 as a predisposing factor to spina bifida and will help dissect the complex etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of these malformations.