Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor Robert Taylor
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2023 The AuthorsPurpose: Biallelic variants in TARS2, encoding the mitochondrial threonyl-tRNA-synthetase, have been reported in a small group of individuals displaying a neurodevelopmental phenotype but with limited neuroradiological data and insufficient evidence for causality of the variants. Methods: Exome or genome sequencing was carried out in 15 families. Clinical and neuroradiological evaluation was performed for all affected individuals, including review of 10 previously reported individuals. The pathogenicity of TARS2 variants was evaluated using in vitro assays and a zebrafish model. Results: We report 18 new individuals harboring biallelic TARS2 variants. Phenotypically, these individuals show developmental delay/intellectual disability, regression, cerebellar and cerebral atrophy, basal ganglia signal alterations, hypotonia, cerebellar signs, and increased blood lactate. In vitro studies showed that variants within the TARS2301-381 region had decreased binding to Rag GTPases, likely impairing mTORC1 activity. The zebrafish model recapitulated key features of the human phenotype and unraveled dysregulation of downstream targets of mTORC1 signaling. Functional testing of the variants confirmed the pathogenicity in a zebrafish model. Conclusion: We define the clinico-radiological spectrum of TARS2-related mitochondrial disease, unveil the likely involvement of the mTORC1 signaling pathway as a distinct molecular mechanism, and establish a TARS2 zebrafish model as an important tool to study variant pathogenicity.
Author(s): Accogli A, Lin S-J, Severino M, Kim S-H, Huang K, Rocca C, Landsverk M, Zaki MS, Al-Maawali A, Srinivasan VM, Al-Thihli K, Schaefer GB, Davis M, Tonduti D, Doneda C, Marten LM, Muhlhausen C, Gomez M, Lamantea E, Mena R, Nizon M, Procaccio V, Begtrup A, Telegrafi A, Cui H, Schulz HL, Mohr J, Biskup S, Loos MA, Araoz HV, Salpietro V, Keppen LD, Chitre M, Petree C, Raymond L, Vogt J, Sawyer LB, Basinger AA, Pedersen SV, Pearson TS, Grange DK, Lingappa L, McDunnah P, Horvath R, Cogne B, Isidor B, Hahn A, Gripp KW, Jafarnejad SM, Ostergaard E, Prada CE, Ghezzi D, Gowda VK, Taylor RW, Sonenberg N, Houlden H, Sissler M, Varshney GK, Maroofian R
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Genetics in Medicine
Year: 2023
Volume: 25
Issue: 11
Print publication date: 01/11/2023
Online publication date: 13/07/2023
Acceptance date: 11/07/2023
Date deposited: 29/09/2023
ISSN (print): 1098-3600
ISSN (electronic): 1530-0366
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gim.2023.100938
DOI: 10.1016/j.gim.2023.100938
Data Access Statement: Human variant data included in this study have been deposited in the ClinVar database.
PubMed id: 37454282
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
