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Ghaffar A, Akhter T, Strømme P, Misceo D, Khan A, Frengen E, Umair M, Isidor B, Cogné B, Khan AA, Bruel AL, Sorlin A, Kuentz P, Chiaverini C, Innes AM, Zech M, Baláž M, Havrankova P, Jech R, Ahmed ZM, Riazuddin S, Riazuddin S. Variants of NAV3, a neuronal morphogenesis protein, cause intellectual disability, developmental delay, and microcephaly. Commun Biol 2024; 7:831. [PMID: 38977784 PMCID: PMC11231287 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06466-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) are widely expressed in the central nervous system, and have established roles in cell proliferation, myelination, neurite formation, axon specification, outgrowth, dendrite, and synapse formation. We report eleven individuals from seven families harboring predicted pathogenic biallelic, de novo, and heterozygous variants in the NAV3 gene, which encodes the microtubule positive tip protein neuron navigator 3 (NAV3). All affected individuals have intellectual disability (ID), microcephaly, skeletal deformities, ocular anomalies, and behavioral issues. In mouse brain, Nav3 is expressed throughout the nervous system, with more prominent signatures in postmitotic, excitatory, inhibiting, and sensory neurons. When overexpressed in HEK293T and COS7 cells, pathogenic variants impaired NAV3 ability to stabilize microtubules. Further, knocking-down nav3 in zebrafish led to severe morphological defects, microcephaly, impaired neuronal growth, and behavioral impairment, which were rescued with co-injection of WT NAV3 mRNA and not by transcripts encoding the pathogenic variants. Our findings establish the role of NAV3 in neurodevelopmental disorders, and reveal its involvement in neuronal morphogenesis, and neuromuscular responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amama Ghaffar
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medicine University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Tehmeena Akhter
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medicine University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Petter Strømme
- Division of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Doriana Misceo
- Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Amjad Khan
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Department of Zoology, University of Lakki Marwat, 28420, Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
- Institute for Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, Tübinge, 72076, Germany
- Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship Foundation, Berlin, 10117, Germany
| | - Eirik Frengen
- Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Muhammad Umair
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Science, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Bertrand Isidor
- Nantes Université, CHU Nantes, Service de Génétique Médicale, 44000, Nantes, France
| | - Benjamin Cogné
- Nantes Université, CHU Nantes, Service de Génétique Médicale, 44000, Nantes, France
| | - Asma A Khan
- Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Ange-Line Bruel
- INSERM UMR1231 GAD "Génétique des Anomalies du Développement", FHU-TRANSLAD, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Arthur Sorlin
- INSERM UMR1231 GAD "Génétique des Anomalies du Développement", FHU-TRANSLAD, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
- National Center of Genetics (NCG), Laboratoire national de santé (LNS), 1, rue Louis Rech, L-3555, Dudelange, Luxembourg
| | - Paul Kuentz
- INSERM UMR1231 GAD "Génétique des Anomalies du Développement", FHU-TRANSLAD, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | | | - A Micheil Innes
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Michael Zech
- Institute of Neurogenomics, Helmholtz Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
- Institute of Human Genetics, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Munich, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 2 a, D-85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Marek Baláž
- First Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, St. Anne's University Hospital, and CEITEC, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Petra Havrankova
- Department of Neurology, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Robert Jech
- Department of Neurology, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Zubair M Ahmed
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medicine University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Sheikh Riazuddin
- Jinnah Burn and Reconstructive Surgery Centre, Allama Iqbal Medical Research, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Saima Riazuddin
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medicine University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Orlova SY, Ruzina MN, Emelianova OR, Sergeev AA, Chikurova EA, Orlov AM, Mugue NS. In Search of a Target Gene for a Desirable Phenotype in Aquaculture: Genome Editing of Cyprinidae and Salmonidae Species. Genes (Basel) 2024; 15:726. [PMID: 38927661 PMCID: PMC11202958 DOI: 10.3390/genes15060726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Aquaculture supplies the world food market with a significant amount of valuable protein. Highly productive aquaculture fishes can be derived by utilizing genome-editing methods, and the main problem is to choose a target gene to obtain the desirable phenotype. This paper presents a review of the studies of genome editing for genes controlling body development, growth, pigmentation and sex determination in five key aquaculture Salmonidae and Cyprinidae species, such as rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), goldfish (Carassius auratus), Gibel carp (Carassius gibelio) and the model fish zebrafish (Danio rerio). Among the genes studied, the most applicable for aquaculture are mstnba, pomc, and acvr2, the knockout of which leads to enhanced muscle growth; runx2b, mutants of which do not form bones in myoseptae; lepr, whose lack of function makes fish fast-growing; fads2, Δ6abc/5Mt, and Δ6bcMt, affecting the composition of fatty acids in fish meat; dnd mettl3, and wnt4a, mutants of which are sterile; and disease-susceptibility genes prmt7, gab3, gcJAM-A, and cxcr3.2. Schemes for obtaining common carp populations consisting of only large females are promising for use in aquaculture. The immobilized and uncolored zebrafish line is of interest for laboratory use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svetlana Yu. Orlova
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, 105187 Moscow, Russia; (S.Y.O.)
| | - Maria N. Ruzina
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, 105187 Moscow, Russia; (S.Y.O.)
| | - Olga R. Emelianova
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, 105187 Moscow, Russia; (S.Y.O.)
- Department of Biological Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexey A. Sergeev
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, 105187 Moscow, Russia; (S.Y.O.)
| | - Evgeniya A. Chikurova
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, 105187 Moscow, Russia; (S.Y.O.)
| | - Alexei M. Orlov
- Laboratory of Oceanic Ichthyofauna, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117218 Moscow, Russia
- Laboratory of Behavior of Lower Vertebrates, Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071 Moscow, Russia
- Department of Ichthyology, Dagestan State University, 367000 Makhachkala, Russia
| | - Nikolai S. Mugue
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, 105187 Moscow, Russia; (S.Y.O.)
- Laboratory of Genome Evolution and Speciation, Institute of Developmental Biology Russian Academy of Sciences, 117808 Moscow, Russia
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Bonazzola R, Ferrante E, Ravikumar N, Xia Y, Keavney B, Plein S, Syeda-Mahmood T, Frangi AF. Unsupervised ensemble-based phenotyping enhances discoverability of genes related to left-ventricular morphology. NAT MACH INTELL 2024; 6:291-306. [PMID: 38523678 PMCID: PMC10957472 DOI: 10.1038/s42256-024-00801-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Recent genome-wide association studies have successfully identified associations between genetic variants and simple cardiac morphological parameters derived from cardiac magnetic resonance images. However, the emergence of large databases, including genetic data linked to cardiac magnetic resonance facilitates the investigation of more nuanced patterns of cardiac shape variability than those studied so far. Here we propose a framework for gene discovery coined unsupervised phenotype ensembles. The unsupervised phenotype ensemble builds a redundant yet highly expressive representation by pooling a set of phenotypes learnt in an unsupervised manner, using deep learning models trained with different hyperparameters. These phenotypes are then analysed via genome-wide association studies, retaining only highly confident and stable associations across the ensemble. We applied our approach to the UK Biobank database to extract geometric features of the left ventricle from image-derived three-dimensional meshes. We demonstrate that our approach greatly improves the discoverability of genes that influence left ventricle shape, identifying 49 loci with study-wide significance and 25 with suggestive significance. We argue that our approach would enable more extensive discovery of gene associations with image-derived phenotypes for other organs or image modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Bonazzola
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine, School of Computing and School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Enzo Ferrante
- Research Institute for Signals, Systems and Computational Intelligence, sinc(i), FICH-UNL/CONICET, Santa Fe, Argentina
| | - Nishant Ravikumar
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine, School of Computing and School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Yan Xia
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine, School of Computing and School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Bernard Keavney
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK
- NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK
| | - Sven Plein
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | | | - Alejandro F. Frangi
- NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK
- Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Department of Computer Science, School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC), University Hospital Gasthuisberg. Cardiovascular Sciences and Electrical Engineering Departments, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
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Powers RM, Hevner RF, Halpain S. The Neuron Navigators: Structure, function, and evolutionary history. Front Mol Neurosci 2023; 15:1099554. [PMID: 36710926 PMCID: PMC9877351 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.1099554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuron navigators (Navigators) are cytoskeletal-associated proteins important for neuron migration, neurite growth, and axon guidance, but they also function more widely in other tissues. Recent studies have revealed novel cellular functions of Navigators such as macropinocytosis, and have implicated Navigators in human disorders of axon growth. Navigators are present in most or all bilaterian animals: vertebrates have three Navigators (NAV1-3), Drosophila has one (Sickie), and Caenorhabditis elegans has one (Unc-53). Structurally, Navigators have conserved N- and C-terminal regions each containing specific domains. The N-terminal region contains a calponin homology (CH) domain and one or more SxIP motifs, thought to interact with the actin cytoskeleton and mediate localization to microtubule plus-end binding proteins, respectively. The C-terminal region contains two coiled-coil domains, followed by a AAA+ family nucleoside triphosphatase domain of unknown activity. The Navigators appear to have evolved by fusion of N- and C-terminal region homologs present in simpler organisms. Overall, Navigators participate in the cytoskeletal response to extracellular cues via microtubules and actin filaments, in conjunction with membrane trafficking. We propose that uptake of fluid-phase cues and nutrients and/or downregulation of cell surface receptors could represent general mechanisms that explain Navigator functions. Future studies developing new models, such as conditional knockout mice or human cerebral organoids may reveal new insights into Navigator function. Importantly, further biochemical studies are needed to define the activities of the Navigator AAA+ domain, and to study potential interactions among different Navigators and their binding partners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Regina M. Powers
- Department of Neurobiology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States,Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, La Jolla, CA, United States
| | - Robert F. Hevner
- Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, La Jolla, CA, United States,Department of Pathology, UC San Diego School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
| | - Shelley Halpain
- Department of Neurobiology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States,Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, La Jolla, CA, United States,*Correspondence: Shelley Halpain, ✉
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