Functional and structural analyses of novel Smith-Kingsmore Syndrome-Associated MTOR variants reveal potential new mechanisms and predictors of pathogenicity

PLoS Genet. 2021 Jul 1;17(7):e1009651. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009651. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Smith-Kingsmore syndrome (SKS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by macrocephaly/megalencephaly, developmental delay, intellectual disability, hypotonia, and seizures. It is caused by dominant missense mutations in MTOR. The pathogenicity of novel variants in MTOR in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders can be difficult to […]

Uncertain, Not Unimportant: Callosal Dysgenesis and Variants of Uncertain Significance in ROBO1

Pediatrics. 2021 Jun 30:e2020019000. doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-019000. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Congenital anomalies affect 3% to 5% of births and remain the leading cause of infant death in the United States. As whole exome and genome sequencing are increasingly used to diagnose underlying genetic disease, the patient’s clinical presentation remains the most important context for […]

Biallelic variants in KARS1 are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and hearing loss recapitulated by the knockout zebrafish

Genet Med. 2021 Jun 25. doi: 10.1038/s41436-021-01239-1. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT PURPOSE: Pathogenic variants in Lysyl-tRNA synthetase 1 (KARS1) have increasingly been recognized as a cause of early-onset complex neurological phenotypes. To advance the timely diagnosis of KARS1-related disorders, we sought to delineate its phenotype and generate a disease model to understand its function […]

Sperm mosaicism: implications for genomic diversity and disease

Trends Genet. 2021 Jun 19:S0168-9525(21)00139-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.05.007. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT While sperm mosaicism has few consequences for men, the offspring and future generations are unwitting recipients of gonadal cell mutations, often yielding severe disease. Recent studies, fueled by emergent technologies, show that sperm mosaicism is a common source of de novo mutations (DNMs) […]

Postmortem whole-genome sequencing on a dried blood spot identifies a novel homozygous SUOX variant causing isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency

Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud. 2021 Jun 11;7(3):a006091. doi: 10.1101/mcs.a006091. Print 2021 Jun. ABSTRACT Rapid whole-genome sequencing (rWGS) has shown that genetic diseases are a common cause of infant mortality in neonatal intensive care units. Dried blood spots collected for newborn screening allow investigation of causes of infant mortality that were not diagnosed during […]

Mapping methylation quantitative trait loci in cardiac tissues nominates risk loci and biological pathways in congenital heart disease

BMC Genom Data. 2021 Jun 10;22(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s12863-021-00975-2. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Most congenital heart defects (CHDs) result from complex interactions among genetic susceptibilities, epigenetic modifications, and maternal environmental exposures. Characterizing the complex relationship between genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic variation will enhance our understanding of pathogenesis in this important type of congenital disorder. We investigated cis-acting effects […]

Project Baby Bear: Rapid precision care incorporating rWGS in 5 California children’s hospitals demonstrates improved clinical outcomes and reduced costs of care

Am J Hum Genet. 2021 May 29:S0002-9297(21)00192-0. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.05.008. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Genetic disorders are a leading contributor to mortality in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units (ICUs). Rapid whole-genome sequencing (rWGS)-based rapid precision medicine (RPM) is an intervention that has demonstrated improved clinical outcomes and reduced costs of care. However, the feasibility […]

Ending a diagnostic odyssey: Moving from exome to genome to identify cockayne syndrome

Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2021 Jun 2:e1623. doi: 10.1002/mgg3.1623. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by growth failure and multisystemic degeneration. Excision repair cross-complementation group 6 (ERCC6 OMIM: *609413) is the gene most frequently mutated in CS. METHODS: A child with pre and postnatal growth […]

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