HGG Advances最新文献

{"title":"Extensive co-regulation of neighboring genes complicates the use of eQTLs in target gene prioritization.","authors":"Ralf Tambets, Anastassia Kolde, Peep Kolberg, Michael I Love, Kaur Alasoo","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100348","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Identifying causal genes underlying genome-wide association studies (GWASs) is a fundamental problem in human genetics. Although colocalization with gene expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) is often used to prioritize GWAS target genes, systematic benchmarking has been limited due to unavailability of large ground truth datasets. Here, we re-analyzed plasma protein QTL data from 3,301 individuals of the INTERVAL cohort together with 131 eQTL Catalog datasets. Focusing on variants located within or close to the affected protein identified 793 proteins with at least one cis-pQTL where we could assume that the most likely causal gene was the gene coding for the protein. We then benchmarked the ability of cis-eQTLs to recover these causal genes by comparing three Bayesian colocalization methods (coloc.susie, coloc.abf, and CLPP) and five Mendelian randomization (MR) approaches (three varieties of inverse-variance weighted MR, MR-RAPS, and MRLocus). We found that assigning fine-mapped pQTLs to their closest protein coding genes outperformed all colocalization methods regarding both precision (71.9%) and recall (76.9%). Furthermore, the colocalization method with the highest recall (coloc.susie - 46.3%) also had the lowest precision (45.1%). Combining evidence from multiple conditionally distinct colocalizing QTLs with MR increased precision to 81%, but this was accompanied by a large reduction in recall to 7.1%. Furthermore, the choice of the MR method greatly affected performance, with the standard inverse-variance-weighted MR often producing many false positives. Our results highlight that linking GWAS variants to target genes remains challenging with eQTL evidence alone, and prioritizing novel targets requires triangulation of evidence from multiple sources.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11416642/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142112846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genotype-phenotype correlation over time in Angelman syndrome: Researching 134 patients.","authors":"Masanori Fujimoto, Yuji Nakamura, Kana Hosoki, Toshihiko Iwaki, Emi Sato, Daisuke Ieda, Ikumi Hori, Yutaka Negishi, Ayako Hattori, Hideaki Shiraishi, Shinji Saitoh","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100342","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the loss of function of maternal UBE3A. The major cause of AS is a maternal deletion in 15q11.2-q13, and the minor causes are a UBE3A mutation, uniparental disomy (UPD), and imprinting defect (ID). Previous reports suggest that all patients with AS exhibit developmental delay, movement or balance disorders, behavioral characteristics, and speech impairment. In contrast, a substantial number of AS patients with a UBE3A mutation, UPD, or ID were reported not to show these consistent features and to show age-dependent changes in their features. In this study, we investigated 134 patients with AS, including 57 patients with a UBE3A mutation and 48 patients with UPD or ID. Although developmental delay was present in all patients, 20% of patients with AS caused by UPD or ID did not exhibit movement or balance disorders. Differences were also seen in hypopigmentation and seizures, depending on the causes. Moreover, patients with a UBE3A mutation, UPD, or ID tended to show fewer of the specific phenotypes depending on their age. In particular, in patients with UPD or ID, easily provoked laughter and hyperactivity tended to become more pronounced as they aged. Therefore, the clinical features of AS based on cause and age should be understood, and genetic testing should not be limited to patients with the typical clinical features of AS.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11404063/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142018950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biallelic NDC1 variants that interfere with ALADIN binding are associated with neuropathy and triple A-like syndrome.","authors":"Daphne J Smits, Jordy Dekker, Hannie Douben, Rachel Schot, Helen Magee, Somayeh Bakhtiari, Katrin Koehler, Angela Huebner, Markus Schuelke, Hossein Darvish, Shohreh Vosoogh, Abbas Tafakhori, Melika Jameie, Ehsan Taghiabadi, Yana Wilson, Margit Shah, Marjon A van Slegtenhorst, Evita G Medici-van den Herik, Tjakko J van Ham, Michael C Kruer, Grazia M S Mancini","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100327","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100327","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) regulate nucleocytoplasmic transport and are anchored in the nuclear envelope by the transmembrane nucleoporin NDC1. NDC1 is essential for post-mitotic NPC assembly and the recruitment of ALADIN to the nuclear envelope. While no human disorder has been associated to one of the three transmembrane nucleoporins, biallelic variants in AAAS, encoding ALADIN, cause triple A syndrome (Allgrove syndrome). Triple A syndrome, characterized by alacrima, achalasia, and adrenal insufficiency, often includes progressive demyelinating polyneuropathy and other neurological complaints. In this report, diagnostic exome and/or RNA sequencing was performed in seven individuals from four unrelated consanguineous families with AAAS-negative triple A syndrome. Molecular and clinical studies followed to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism. The affected individuals presented with intellectual disability, motor impairment, severe demyelinating with secondary axonal polyneuropathy, alacrima, and achalasia. None of the affected individuals has adrenal insufficiency. All individuals presented with biallelic NDC1 in-frame deletions or missense variants that affect amino acids and protein domains required for ALADIN binding. No other significant variants associated with the phenotypic features were reported. Skin fibroblasts derived from affected individuals show decreased recruitment of ALADIN to the NE and decreased post-mitotic NPC insertion, confirming pathogenicity of the variants. Taken together, our results implicate biallelic NDC1 variants in the pathogenesis of polyneuropathy and a triple A-like disorder without adrenal insufficiency, by interfering with physiological NDC1 functions, including the recruitment of ALADIN to the NPC.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11375137/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141604271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clinical and functional studies of MTOR variants in Smith-Kingsmore syndrome reveal deficits of circadian rhythm and sleep-wake behavior.","authors":"Andrew C Liu, Yang Shen, Carolyn R Serbinski, Hongzhi He, Destino Roman, Mehari Endale, Lindsey Aschbacher-Smith, Katherine A King, Jorge L Granadillo, Isabel López, Darcy A Krueger, Thomas J Dye, David F Smith, John B Hogenesch, Carlos E Prada","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100333","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100333","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heterozygous de novo or inherited gain-of-function mutations in the MTOR gene cause Smith-Kingsmore syndrome (SKS). SKS is a rare autosomal dominant condition, and individuals with SKS display macrocephaly/megalencephaly, developmental delay, intellectual disability, and seizures. A few dozen individuals are reported in the literature. Here, we report a cohort of 28 individuals with SKS that represent nine MTOR pathogenic variants. We conducted a detailed natural history study and found pathophysiological deficits among individuals with SKS in addition to the common neurodevelopmental symptoms. These symptoms include sleep-wake disturbance, hyperphagia, and hyperactivity, indicative of homeostatic imbalance. To characterize these variants, we developed cell models and characterized their functional consequences. We showed that these SKS variants display a range of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) activities and respond to the mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin, differently. For example, the R1480_C1483del variant we identified here and the previously known C1483F are more active than wild-type controls and less responsive to rapamycin. Further, we showed that SKS mutations dampened circadian rhythms and low-dose rapamycin improved the rhythm amplitude, suggesting that optimal mTOR activity is required for normal circadian function. As SKS is caused by gain-of-function mutations in MTOR, rapamycin was used to treat several patients. While higher doses of rapamycin caused delayed sleep-wake phase disorder in a subset of patients, optimized lower doses improved sleep. Our study expands the clinical and molecular spectrum of SKS and supports further studies for mechanism-guided treatment options to improve sleep-wake behavior and overall health.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11342114/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141731490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing personalized gene expression prediction from DNA sequences using genomic foundation models.","authors":"Pratik Ramprasad, Nidhi Pai, Wei Pan","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100347","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Artificial intelligence (AI)/deep learning (DL) models that predict molecular phenotypes like gene expression directly from DNA sequences have recently emerged. While these models have proven effective at capturing the variation across genes, their ability to explain inter-individual differences has been limited. We hypothesize that the performance gap can be narrowed through the use of pre-trained embeddings from the Nucleotide Transformer, a large foundation model trained on 3,000+ genomes. We train a transformer model using the pre-trained embeddings and compare its predictive performance to Enformer, the current state-of-the-art model, using genotype and expression data from 290 individuals. Our model significantly outperforms Enformer in terms of correlation across individuals, and narrows the performance gap with an elastic net regression approach that uses just the genetic variants as predictors. Although simple regression models have their advantages in personalized prediction tasks, DL approaches based on foundation models pre-trained on diverse genomes have unique strengths in flexibility and interpretability. With further methodological and computational improvements with more training data, these models may eventually predict molecular phenotypes from DNA sequences with an accuracy surpassing that of regression-based approaches. Our work demonstrates the potential for large pre-trained AI/DL models to advance functional genomics.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11416237/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142112845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Familial severe skeletal Class II malocclusion with gingival hyperplasia caused by a complex structural rearrangement at the KCNJ2-KCNJ16 locus.","authors":"Reza Maroofian, Alistair T Pagnamenta, Alireza Navabazam, Ron Schwessinger, Hannah E Roberts, Maria Lopopolo, Mohammadreza Dehghani, Mohammad Yahya Vahidi Mehrjardi, Alireza Haerian, Mojtaba Soltanianzadeh, Mohammad Hadi Noori Kooshki, Samantha J L Knight, Kerry A Miller, Simon J McGowan, Nicolas Chatron, Andrew T Timberlake, Uirá Souto Melo, Stefan Mundlos, David Buck, Stephen R F Twigg, Jenny C Taylor, Andrew O M Wilkie, Eduardo Calpena","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100352","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100352","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this work was to identify the underlying genetic cause in a four-generation family segregating an unusual phenotype comprising a severe form of skeletal Class II malocclusion with gingival hyperplasia. SNP array identified a copy number gain on chromosome 1 (chr1); however, this chromosomal region did not segregate correctly in the extended family. Exome sequencing also failed to identify a candidate causative variant but highlighted co-segregating genetic markers on chr17 and chr19. Short- and long-read genome sequencing allowed us to pinpoint and characterize at nucleotide-level resolution a chromothripsis-like complex rearrangement (CR) inserted into the chr17 co-segregating region at the KCNJ2-SOX9 locus. The CR involved the gain of five different regions from chr1 that are shuffled, chained, and inserted as a single block (∼828 kb) at chr17q24.3. The inserted sequences contain craniofacial enhancers that are predicted to interact with KCNJ2/KCNJ16 through neo-topologically associating domain (TAD) formation to induce ectopic activation. Our findings suggest that the CR inserted at chr17q24.3 is the cause of the severe skeletal Class II malocclusion with gingival hyperplasia in this family and expands the panoply of phenotypes linked to variation at the KCNJ2-SOX9 locus. In addition, we highlight a previously overlooked potential role for misregulation of the KCNJ2/KCNJ16 genes in the pathomechanism of gingival hyperplasia associated with deletions and other rearrangements of the 17q24.2-q24.3 region (MIM 135400).</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11465088/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142297154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A corpus of GA4GH phenopackets: Case-level phenotyping for genomic diagnostics and discovery.","authors":"Daniel Danis, Michael J Bamshad, Yasemin Bridges, Andrés Caballero-Oteyza, Pilar Cacheiro, Leigh C Carmody, Leonardo Chimirri, Jessica X Chong, Ben Coleman, Raymond Dalgleish, Peter J Freeman, Adam S L Graefe, Tudor Groza, Peter Hansen, Julius O B Jacobsen, Adam Klocperk, Maaike Kusters, Markus S Ladewig, Anthony J Marcello, Teresa Mattina, Christopher J Mungall, Monica C Munoz-Torres, Justin T Reese, Filip Rehburg, Bárbara C S Reis, Catharina Schuetz, Damian Smedley, Timmy Strauss, Jagadish Chandrabose Sundaramurthi, Sylvia Thun, Kyran Wissink, John F Wagstaff, David Zocche, Melissa A Haendel, Peter N Robinson","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100371","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100371","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) Phenopacket Schema was released in 2022 and approved by ISO as a standard for sharing clinical and genomic information about an individual, including phenotypic descriptions, numerical measurements, genetic information, diagnoses, and treatments. A phenopacket can be used as an input file for software that supports phenotype-driven genomic diagnostics and for algorithms that facilitate patient classification and stratification for identifying new diseases and treatments. There has been a great need for a collection of phenopackets to test software pipelines and algorithms. Here, we present Phenopacket Store. Phenopacket Store v.0.1.19 includes 6,668 phenopackets representing 475 Mendelian and chromosomal diseases associated with 423 genes and 3,834 unique pathogenic alleles curated from 959 different publications. This represents the first large-scale collection of case-level, standardized phenotypic information derived from case reports in the literature with detailed descriptions of the clinical data and will be useful for many purposes, including the development and testing of software for prioritizing genes and diseases in diagnostic genomics, machine learning analysis of clinical phenotype data, patient stratification, and genotype-phenotype correlations. This corpus also provides best-practice examples for curating literature-derived data using the GA4GH Phenopacket Schema.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142476454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Togaram1 is expressed in the neural tube and its absence causes neural tube closure defects.","authors":"Yanyan Wang, Nadine Kraemer, Joanna Schneider, Olaf Ninnemann, Kai Weng, Michael Hildebrand, Joshua Reid, Na Li, Hao Hu, Shyamala Mani, Angela M Kaindl","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100363","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neural tube closure defect pathomechanisms in human embryonic development are poorly understood. Here we identified spina bifida patients expressing novel variants of the TOGARAM gene family. TOGARAM1 has been associated with the ciliopathy Joubert syndrome, but its connection to spina bifida and role in neural development is unknown. We show that Togaram1 is expressed in the neural tube and Togaram1 knockout mice have abnormal cilia, reduced sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling, abnormal neural tube patterning, and display neural tube closure defects. Neural stem cells from Togaram1 knockout embryos showed reduced cilia and defects in Shh signaling. Overexpression in IMCD3 and HEK293 cells of TOGARAM1 carrying the variant found in the spina bifida patient resulted in cilia defect along with reduced pericentriolar material one (PCM1), a critical constituent of centriolar satellites involved in transporting proteins toward the centrosome and primary cilia. Our results demonstrate the role of TOGARAM1 in regulating Shh signaling during early neural development that is critical for neural tube closure and elucidates potential mechanisms whereby the ciliopathy-associated gene TOGARAM1 gives rise to spina bifida aperta in humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11541697/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142393898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional characterization of QT interval associated SCN5A enhancer variants identify combined additive effects.","authors":"Lavanya Gunamalai, Parul Singh, Brian Berg, Leilei Shi, Ernesto Sanchez, Alexa Smith, Ghislain Breton, Mark T Bedford, Darius Balciunas, Ashish Kapoor","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100358","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Several empirical and theoretical studies suggest the presence of multiple enhancers per gene that collectively regulate gene expression, and that common sequence variation impacting on the activities of these enhancers is a major source of inter-individual gene expression variability. However, for the vast majority of genes, enhancers and the underlying regulatory variation remains unknown. Even for the genes with well-characterized enhancers, the nature of the combined effects from multiple enhancers and their variants, when known, on gene expression regulation remains unexplored. Here, we have evaluated the combined effects from five SCN5A enhancers and their regulatory variants that are known to collectively correlate with SCN5A cardiac expression and underlie QT interval association in the general population. Using small deletions centered at the regulatory variants in episomal reporter assays in a mouse cardiomyocyte cell line, we demonstrate that the variants and their flanking sequences play critical role in individual enhancer activities, likely being a transcription factor (TF) binding site. By oligonucleotide-based pulldown assays on predicted TFs, we identify the TFs likely driving allele-specific enhancer activities. Using all 32 possible allelic synthetic constructs in reporter assays, representing the five bi-allelic enhancers, we demonstrate combined additive effects on overall enhancer activities. Using transient enhancer assays in zebrafish embryos we demonstrate that four elements act as enhancers in vivo. Together, these studies uncover the TFs driving the enhancer activities of QT interval associated SCN5A regulatory variants, reveal the additive effects from allelic combinations of these regulatory variants, and prove their potential to act as enhancers in vivo.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11532988/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142362213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exonic splice variant discovery using in vitro models of inherited retinal disease.","authors":"Nathaniel K Mullin, Laura R Bohrer, Kristin R Anfinson, Jeaneen L Andorf, Robert F Mullins, Budd A Tucker, Edwin M Stone","doi":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100357","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100357","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Correct identification of the molecular consequences of pathogenic genetic variants is essential to the development of allele-specific therapies. However, such molecular effects may remain ambiguous following genetic sequence analysis alone. Here, we identify exonic codon-altering variants that are also predicted to disrupt normal RNA splicing in the context of inherited retinal disease. NR2E3 c.932G>A (p.Arg311Gln) is a variant commonly associated with enhanced S cone syndrome. Previous studies using mutagenized cDNA constructs have shown that the arginine to glutamine substitution at position 311 of NR2E3 does not meaningfully diminish function of the rod-specific transcription factor. Using retinal organoids, we explored the molecular consequences of NR2E3 c.932G>A when expressed endogenously during human rod photoreceptor cell development. Retinal organoids carrying the NR2E3 c.932G>A allele expressed a transcript containing a 186-nucleotide deletion of exon 6 within the ligand binding domain. This short transcript was not detected in control organoids or control human donor retina samples. A minigene containing exons 5 and 6 of NR2E3 showed sufficiency of the c.932G>A variant to cause the observed splicing defect. These results support the hypothesis that the pathogenic NR2E3 c.932G>A variant leads to photoreceptor disease by causing a splice defect and not through an amino acid substitution as previously supposed. They also explain the relatively mild effect of Arg311Gln on NR2E3 function in vitro. We also used in silico prediction tools to show that similar changes are likely to affect other inherited retinal disease variants in genes such as CEP290, ABCA4, and BEST1.</p>","PeriodicalId":34530,"journal":{"name":"HGG Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142362212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}