1. Academic Validation
  2. Mutations in the gene encoding IFT dynein complex component WDR34 cause Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy

Mutations in the gene encoding IFT dynein complex component WDR34 cause Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy

  • Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Nov 7;93(5):932-44. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.10.003.
Miriam Schmidts 1 Julia Vodopiutz Sonia Christou-Savina Claudio R Cortés Aideen M McInerney-Leo Richard D Emes Heleen H Arts Beyhan Tüysüz Jason D'Silva Paul J Leo Tom C Giles Machteld M Oud Jessica A Harris Marije Koopmans Mhairi Marshall Nursel Elçioglu Alma Kuechler Detlef Bockenhauer Anthony T Moore Louise C Wilson Andreas R Janecke Matthew E Hurles Warren Emmet Brooke Gardiner Berthold Streubel Belinda Dopita Andreas Zankl Hülya Kayserili Peter J Scambler Matthew A Brown Philip L Beales Carol Wicking UK10K Emma L Duncan Hannah M Mitchison
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Molecular Medicine Unit and Birth Defect Research Centre, Institute of Child Health, University College London (UCL), London WC1N 1EH, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Bidirectional (anterograde and retrograde) motor-based intraflagellar transport (IFT) governs cargo transport and delivery processes that are essential for primary cilia growth and maintenance and for Hedgehog signaling functions. The IFT dynein-2 motor complex that regulates ciliary retrograde protein transport contains a heavy chain dynein ATPase/motor subunit, DYNC2H1, along with other less well functionally defined subunits. Deficiency of IFT proteins, including DYNC2H1, underlies a spectrum of skeletal ciliopathies. Here, by using exome sequencing and a targeted next-generation sequencing panel, we identified a total of 11 mutations in WDR34 in 9 families with the clinical diagnosis of Jeune syndrome (asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy). WDR34 encodes a WD40 repeat-containing protein orthologous to Chlamydomonas FAP133, a dynein intermediate chain associated with the retrograde intraflagellar transport motor. Three-dimensional protein modeling suggests that the identified mutations all affect residues critical for WDR34 protein-protein interactions. We find that WDR34 concentrates around the centrioles and basal bodies in mammalian cells, also showing axonemal staining. WDR34 coimmunoprecipitates with the dynein-1 LIGHT chain DYNLL1 in vitro, and mining of proteomics data suggests that WDR34 could represent a previously unrecognized link between the cytoplasmic dynein-1 and IFT dynein-2 motors. Together, these data show that WDR34 is critical for ciliary functions essential to normal development and survival, most probably as a previously unrecognized component of the mammalian dynein-IFT machinery.

Figures