Variants in myelin regulatory factor (MYRF) cause autosomal dominant and syndromic nanophthalmos in humans and retinal degeneration in mice.

Nanophthalmos is a rare, potentially devastating eye condition characterized by small eyes with relatively normal anatomy, a high hyperopic refractive error, and frequent association with angle closure glaucoma and vision loss. The condition constitutes the extreme of hyperopia or farsightedness, a common refractive error that is associated with strabismus and amblyopia in children. NNO1 was the first mapped nanophthalmos locus. We used combined pooled exome sequencing and strong linkage data in the large family used to map this locus to identify a canonical splice site alteration upstream of the last exon of the gene encoding myelin regulatory factor (MYRF c.3376-1G>A), a membrane bound transcription factor that undergoes autoproteolytic cleavage for nuclear localization. This variant produced a stable RNA transcript, leading to a frameshift mutation p.Gly1126Valfs*31 in the C-terminus of the protein. In addition, we identified an early truncating MYRF frameshift mutation, c.769dupC (p.S264QfsX74), in a patient with extreme axial hyperopia and syndromic features. Myrf conditional knockout mice (CKO) developed depigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and retinal degeneration supporting a role of this gene in retinal and RPE development. Furthermore, we demonstrated the reduced expression of Tmem98, another known nanophthalmos gene, in Myrf CKO mice, and the physical interaction of MYRF with TMEM98. Our study establishes MYRF as a nanophthalmos gene and uncovers a new pathway for eye growth and development.

BetaB2-crystallin mutations associated with cataract and glaucoma leads to mitochondrial alterations in lens epithelial cells and retinal neurons.

Crystallin proteins are the most prominent protein of the lens and have been increasingly shown to play critical roles in other tissues, especially the retina. Members of all 3 sub-families of crystallins, alpha-, beta- and gamma-crystallins have been reported in the retina during diabetes, traumatic injury and other retinal diseases. While their specific role in the retina is still unclear and may vary, beta-crystallin proteins have been shown to play a critical role in ganglion cell survival following trauma. We recently reported the correlation between a gene conversion in the betaB2-crystallin gene and a phenotype of familial congenital cataract. Interestingly, in half of the patients, this phenotype was associated with glaucoma. Taken together, these data suggested that the mutations we recently reported could have an impact on the role of betaB2-crystallin in both lens epithelial cells and retinal neurons. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show in the current study that the gene conversion leading to an amino acid conversion lead to a loss of solubility and a change of subcellular localization of betaB2-crystallin in both cell types. While the overall observations were similar in both cell types, there were some important nuances between them, suggesting different roles and regulation of betaB2-crystallin in lens cells versus retinal neurons. The data reported in this study strongly support a significant role of betaB2-crystallin in both lenticular and retinal ocular tissues and warrant further analysis of its regulation and its impact not only in cataract formation but also in retinal neurodegenerative diseases.

Novel TMEM98, MFRP, PRSS56 variants in a large United States high hyperopia and nanophthalmos cohort.

Nanophthalmos is a rare condition defined by a small, structurally normal eye with resultant high hyperopia. While six genes have been implicated in this hereditary condition (MFRP, PRSS56, MYRF, TMEM98, CRB1,VMD2/BEST1), the relative contribution of these to nanophthalmos or to less severe high hyperopia (≥ + 5.50 spherical equivalent) has not been fully elucidated. We collected probands and families (n = 56) with high hyperopia or nanophthalmos (≤ 21.0 mm axial length). Of 53 families that passed quality control, plausible genetic diagnoses were identified in 10/53 (18.8%) by high-throughput panel or pooled exome sequencing. These include 1 TMEM98 family (1.9%), 5 MFRP families (9.4%), and 4 PRSS56 families (7.5%), with 4 additional families having single allelic hits in MFRP or PRSS56 (7.5%). A novel deleterious TMEM98 variant (NM_015544.3, c.602G>C, p.(Arg201Pro)) segregated with disease in 4 affected members of a family. Multiple novel missense and frameshift variants in MFRP and PRSS56 were identified. PRSS56 families were more likely to have choroidal folds than other solved families, while MFRP families were more likely to have retinal degeneration. Together, this study defines the prevalence of nanophthalmos gene variants in high hyperopia and nanophthalmos and indicates that a large fraction of cases remain outside of single gene coding sequences.

Developmental validation of the PrepFiler Forensic DNA Extraction Kit for extraction of genomic DNA from biological samples.

The PrepFiler Forensic DNA Extraction Kit enables isolation of genomic DNA from a variety of biological samples. The kit facilitates reversible binding of DNA with magnetic particles resulting in high DNA recovery from samples with very low and high quantities of biological materials: 0.1 and 40 microL of human blood (donor 2) provided 14 and 2883 ng of DNA, respectively. Following the revised SWGDAM guidelines, performance of the developed method was investigated using different sample types including saliva on swabs, semen stains on cotton fabric, samples exposed to environment, samples with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) inhibitors, blood stains (on denim, cotton cloth, and FTA paper), and touch evidence-type samples. DNA yields for all samples tested were equal or better than those obtained by both phenol-chloroform extraction and commercial kits tested. DNA obtained from these samples was free of detectable PCR inhibitors. Short tandem repeat profiles were complete, conclusive, and devoid of PCR artifacts.