An Unstable ATG2A Variant Causes a Neurodegenerative Disorder via Impaired Autophagy and Proteotoxic Stress in Brain Atrophy.

Abstract

Autophagy is a critical cellular process for maintaining proteostasis and neuronal health. Disruption of this pathway is increasingly recognized in pediatric neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we study a novel previously uncharacterized homozygous and autosomal recessive missense variant, c.1372G>C (p.Gly433Ala), in the autophagy gene ATG2A, identified in a 3-year-old female proband presenting with developmental regression, seizures, cerebellar ataxia, and MRI-confirmed diffuse cerebral and cerebellar atrophy. The affected residue, Gly433, is evolutionarily conserved across eukaryotes and predicted to be structurally and functionally critical. Computational modeling and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the G433A substitution induces local β-sheet extension, increased protein flexibility, higher aggregation propensity, and global structural destabilization. Proband-derived fibroblasts expressing ATG2A-G433A showed normal transcript and protein levels, but exhibited mislocalization of ATG2A to the cytosol, reduced colocalization with LC3B, loss of autophagosome formation, and a marked increase in protein aggregates. Proteotoxic stress was further evidenced by significant accumulation of Proteostat- and SQSTM1-positive granules. Additionally, transcript levels of unfolded protein response markers (GRP78, PERK, ATF4, and CHOP) were significantly upregulated, suggesting increased ER stress signaling. Cell cycle analysis revealed a substantial increase in cell death in proband fibroblasts. Overall, our findings identify ATG2A as a potentially novel disease gene and its G433A variant as a pathogenic substitution that disrupts autophagy and proteostasis, driving neurodegeneration via aggregation-prone misfolding and autophagy failure. This work depicts the first clinical spectrum of ATG2A-related neurodegenerative disorders and highlights the importance of autophagy maintenance in pediatric neurodevelopmental processes.