Massively parallel reporter assays discover de novo exonic splicing mutants in paralogs of Autism genes

PLoS Genet. 2022 Jan 20;18(1):e1009884. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009884. eCollection 2022 Jan.

Abstract

To determine the contribution of defective splicing in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), the most common neurodevelopmental disorder, a high throughput Massively Parallel Splicing Assay (MaPSY) was employed and identified 42 exonic splicing mutants out of 725 coding de novo variants discovered in the sequencing of ASD families. A redesign of the minigene constructs in MaPSY revealed that upstream exons with strong 5' splice sites increase the magnitude of skipping phenotypes observed in downstream exons. Select hits were validated by RT-PCR and amplicon sequencing in patient cell lines. Exonic splicing mutants were enriched in probands relative to unaffected siblings -especially synonymous variants (7.5% vs 3.5%, respectively). Of the 26 genes disrupted by exonic splicing mutations, 6 were in known ASD genes and 3 were in paralogs of known ASD genes. Of particular interest was a synonymous variant in TNRC6C - an ASD gene paralog with interactions with other ASD genes. Clinical records of 3 ASD patients with TNRC6C variant revealed respiratory issues consistent with phenotypes observed in TNRC6 depleted mice. Overall, this study highlights the need for splicing analysis in determining variant pathogenicity, especially as it relates to ASD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / genetics*
  • Cell Line
  • Exons
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Humans
  • Mutation*
  • Pedigree
  • Phenotype
  • RNA Splicing*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins
  • Silent Mutation

Substances

  • RNA-Binding Proteins
  • TNRC6C protein, human