New Brain Development Disorder Identified

Summary: Researchers have identified a new neurodevelopmental disorder. The study reveals the inherited disorder can produce learning difficulties and increase seizure risks. The researchers have implicated a recessive mutation in CAMK2A in this new disorder.

Source: eLife.

Researchers have identified a new inherited neurodevelopmental disease that causes slow growth, seizures and learning difficulties in humans.

Writing in the journal eLife, the team reveals that this disease is caused by a recessive mutation in CAMK2A – a gene that is well known for its role in regulating learning and memory in animals. The findings suggest that dysfunctional CAMK2 genes may contribute to other neurological disorders, such as epilepsy and autism, opening up potential new avenues for treating these conditions.

“A significant number of children are born with growth delays, neurological defects and intellectual disabilities every year across the world,” explains senior author Bruno Reversade, Research Director at the Institute of Medical Biology and Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore, who supervised the study. “While specific genetic mutations have been identified for some patients, the cause remains unknown in many cases. Identifying novel mutations would not only advance our understanding of neurological diseases in general, but would also help clinicians diagnose children with similar symptoms and/or carry out genetic testing for expecting parents.”

The team’s research began when they identified a pair of siblings who demonstrated neurodevelopmental delay with frequent, unexplained seizures and convulsions. While the structure of their bodies developed normally, they did not gain the ability to walk or speak. “We believed that the children had novel mutations in CAMK2A, and we wanted to see if this were true,” says Reversade.

The fully functional CAMK2A protein consists of multiple subunits. Using a genomic technique called exome sequencing, the team discovered a single coding error affecting a key residue in the CAMK2A gene that prevents its subunits from assembling correctly.

Moving their studies into the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, the scientists saw that this mutation disrupts the ability of CAMK2A to ensure proper neuronal communication and normal motor function. This suggests that the mutation is indeed the cause of the neurodevelopmental defects seen in the siblings.

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The team’s research began when they identified a pair of siblings who demonstrated neurodevelopmental delay with frequent, unexplained seizures and convulsions. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

To the best of the team’s knowledge, this new disorder represents the first human disease caused by inherited mutations on both copies of the CAMK2A gene. In addition, another report* published recently identified single-copy mutations on both CAMK2A and CAMK2B that caused intellectual disabilities as soon as the mutations occurred. “We would like to bring these findings to the attention of those working in the area of paediatric genetics, such as clinicians and genetic counsellors, as there are likely more undiagnosed children with similar symptoms who have mutations in their CAMK2A gene,” explains co-first author Franklin Zhong, Research Scientist in Reversade’s lab at A*STAR.

“Neuroscientists working to understand childhood brain development, neuronal function and memory formation also need to consider this new disease, since CAMK2A is associated with these processes. In future, it would be interesting to test whether restoring CAMK2A activity can bring therapeutic benefit to patients with this condition, as well as those with related neurological disorders.”

About this neuroscience research article

Funding: Agency for Science, Technology and Research, GODAFIT Strategic Positioning Fund funded this study.

Source: Emily Packer – eLife
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Open access research for “A homozygous loss-of-function CAMK2A mutation causes growth delay, frequent seizures and severe intellectual disability” by Poh Hui Chia, Franklin Lei Zhong, Shinsuke Niwa, Carine Bonnard, Kagistia Hana Utami, Ruizhu Zeng, Hane Lee, Ascia Eskin, Stanley F Nelson, William H Xie, Samah Al-Tawalbeh, Mohammad El-Khateeb, Mohammad Shboul, Mahmoud A Pouladi, Mohammed Al-Raqad, and Bruno Reversade in eLife. Published May 22 2018.
doi:10.7554/eLife.32451

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]eLife “New Brain Development Disorder Identified.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 22 May 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/new-brain-development-disorder-9108/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]eLife (2018, May 22). New Brain Development Disorder Identified. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved May 22, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/new-brain-development-disorder-9108/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]eLife “New Brain Development Disorder Identified.” https://neurosciencenews.com/new-brain-development-disorder-9108/ (accessed May 22, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

A homozygous loss-of-function CAMK2A mutation causes growth delay, frequent seizures and severe intellectual disability

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CAMK2) plays fundamental roles in synaptic plasticity that underlies learning and memory. Here, we describe a new recessive neurodevelopmental syndrome with global developmental delay, seizures and intellectual disability. Using linkage analysis and exome sequencing, we found that this disease maps to chromosome 5q31.1-q34 and is caused by a biallelic germline mutation in CAMK2A. The missense mutation, p.His477Tyr is located in the CAMK2A association domain that is critical for its function and localization. Biochemically, the p.His477Tyr mutant is defective in self-oligomerization and unable to assemble into the multimeric holoenzyme.In vivo, CAMK2AH477Y failed to rescue neuronal defects in C. elegans lacking unc-43, the ortholog of human CAMK2A. In vitro, neurons derived from patient iPSCs displayed profound synaptic defects. Together, our data demonstrate that a recessive germline mutation in CAMK2A leads to neurodevelopmental defects in humans and suggest that dysfunctional CAMK2 paralogs may contribute to other neurological disorders.

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