Deficiency of the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM2 in early-onset axonal neuropathy.

Inherited peripheral neuropathies are a heterogeneous group of disorders that can affect patients of all ages. Children with inherited neuropathy often develop severe disability, but the genetic causes of recessive early-onset axonal neuropathies are not fully known. We have taken a whole-exome sequencing approach to identify causative disease mutations in single patients with early-onset axonal neuropathy. Here, we report compound heterozygous mutations in the tripartite motif containing 2 (TRIM2) gene in a patient with childhood-onset axonal neuropathy, low weight and small muscle mass. We show that the patient fibroblasts are practically devoid of TRIM2, through mRNA and protein instability caused by the mutations. TRIM2 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that ubiquitinates neurofilament light chain, a component of the intermediate filament in axons. Resembling the findings in our patient's sural nerve biopsy, Trim2-gene trap mice showed axonopathy with accumulations of neurofilaments inside axons. Our results suggest that loss-of-function mutations in TRIM2 are a cause of axonal neuropathy, which we propose to develop as a consequence of axonal accumulation of neurofilaments, secondary to lack of its ubiquitination by TRIM2.

Whole-exome sequencing identifies a mutation in the mitochondrial ribosome protein MRPL44 to underlie mitochondrial infantile cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: The genetic complexity of infantile cardiomyopathies is remarkable, and the importance of mitochondrial translation defects as a causative factor is only starting to be recognised. We investigated the genetic basis for infantile onset recessive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in two siblings. METHODS AND RESULTS: Analysis of respiratory chain enzymes revealed a combined deficiency of complexes I and IV in the heart and skeletal muscle. Exome sequencing uncovered a homozygous mutation (L156R) in MRPL44 of both siblings. MRPL44 encodes a protein in the large subunit of the mitochondrial ribosome and is suggested to locate in close proximity to the tunnel exit of the yeast mitochondrial ribosome. We found severely reduced MRPL44 levels in the patient's heart, skeletal muscle and fibroblasts suggesting that the missense mutation affected the protein stability. In patient fibroblasts, decreased MRPL44 affected assembly of the large ribosomal subunit and stability of 16S rRNA leading to complex IV deficiency. Despite this assembly defect, de novo mitochondrial translation was only mildly affected in fibroblasts suggesting that MRPL44 may have a function in the assembly/stability of nascent mitochondrial polypeptides exiting the ribosome. Retroviral expression of wild-type MRPL44 in patient fibroblasts rescued the large ribosome assembly defect and COX deficiency. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that mitochondrial ribosomal subunit defects can generate tissue-specific manifestations, such as cardiomyopathy.

Thymidine kinase 2 mutations in autosomal recessive progressive external ophthalmoplegia with multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions.

Autosomal-inherited progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO) is an adult-onset disease characterized by the accumulation of multiple mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions in post-mitotic tissues. Mutations in six different genes have been described to cause the autosomal dominant form of the disease, but only mutations in the DNA polymerase gamma gene are known to cause autosomal recessive PEO (arPEO), leaving the genetic background of arPEO mostly unknown. Here we used whole-exome sequencing and identified compound heterozygous mutations, leading to two amino acid alterations R225W and a novel T230A in thymidine kinase 2 (TK2) in arPEO patients. TK2 is an enzyme of the mitochondrial nucleotide salvage pathway and its loss-of-function mutations have previously been shown to underlie the early-infantile myopathic form of mtDNA depletion syndrome (MDS). Our TK2 activity measurements of patient fibroblasts and mutant recombinant proteins show that the combination of the identified arPEO variants, R225W and T230A, leads to a significant reduction in TK2 activity, consistent with the late-onset phenotype, whereas homozygosity for R225W, previously associated with MDS, leads to near-total loss of activity. Our finding identifies a new genetic cause of arPEO with multiple mtDNA deletions. Furthermore, MDS and multiple mtDNA deletion disorders are manifestations of the same pathogenic pathways affecting mtDNA replication and repair, indicating that MDS-associated genes should be studied when searching for genetic background of PEO disorders.