[HTML][HTML] Homozygosity mapping and whole-genome sequencing reveals a deep intronic PROM1 mutation causing cone–rod dystrophy by pseudoexon activation

AK Mayer, K Rohrschneider, TM Strom… - European Journal of …, 2016 - nature.com
AK Mayer, K Rohrschneider, TM Strom, N Glöckle, S Kohl, B Wissinger, N Weisschuh
European Journal of Human Genetics, 2016nature.com
Several genes have been implicated in the autosomal recessive form of cone–rod dystrophy
(CRD), but the majority of cases remain unsolved. We identified a homozygous interval
comprising two known genes associated with the autosomal recessive form of CRD, namely
RAB28 and PROM1, in a consanguineous family with clinical evidence of CRD. Both genes
proved to be mutation negative upon sequencing of exons and canonical splice sites but
whole-genome sequencing revealed a private variant located deep in intron 18 of PROM1 …
Abstract
Several genes have been implicated in the autosomal recessive form of cone–rod dystrophy (CRD), but the majority of cases remain unsolved. We identified a homozygous interval comprising two known genes associated with the autosomal recessive form of CRD, namely RAB28 and PROM1, in a consanguineous family with clinical evidence of CRD. Both genes proved to be mutation negative upon sequencing of exons and canonical splice sites but whole-genome sequencing revealed a private variant located deep in intron 18 of PROM1. In silico and functional analyses of this variant using minigenes as splicing reporters revealed the integration of a pseudoexon in the mutant transcript, thereby leading to a premature termination codon and presumably resulting in a functional null allele. This is the first report of a deep intronic variant that acts as a splicing mutation in PROM1. The detection of such variants escapes the exon-focused techniques typically used in genetic analyses. Sequencing the entire genomic regions of known disease genes might identify more causal mutations in the autosomal recessive form of CRD.
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