2. Academic Validation
  3. WDR11-mediated Hedgehog signalling defects underlie a new ciliopathy related to Kallmann syndrome

WDR11-mediated Hedgehog signalling defects underlie a new ciliopathy related to Kallmann syndrome

  • EMBO Rep. 2018 Feb;19(2):269-289. doi: 10.15252/embr.201744632.
Yeon-Joo Kim 1,  Daniel Ps Osborn 1,  Ji-Young Lee 1,  Masatake Araki 2,  Kimi Araki 2,  Timothy Mohun 3,  Johanna Känsäkoski 4,  Nina Brandstack 4,  Hyun-Taek Kim 5,  Francesc Miralles 1,  Cheol-Hee Kim 5,  Nigel A Brown 1,  Hyung-Goo Kim 6,  Juan Pedro Martinez-Barbera 7,  Paris Ataliotis 1,  Taneli Raivio 4,  Lawrence C Layman 6,  Soo-Hyun Kim 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute, St. George's, University of London, London, UK.
  • 2 Institute of Resource Development and Analysis, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
  • 3 Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.
  • 4 Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
  • 5 Department of Biology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea.
  • 6 Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.
  • 7 Developmental Biology and Cancer Programme, Birth Defects Research Centre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
  • 8 Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute, St. George's, University of London, London, UK [email protected].
PMID: 29263200 DOI: 10.15252/embr.201744632
Abstract

WDR11 has been implicated in congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) and Kallmann syndrome (KS), human developmental genetic disorders defined by delayed puberty and infertility. However, WDR11's role in development is poorly understood. Here, we report that WDR11 modulates the Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway and is essential for ciliogenesis. Disruption of WDR11 expression in mouse and zebrafish results in phenotypic characteristics associated with defective Hh signalling, accompanied by dysgenesis of ciliated tissues. Wdr11-null mice also exhibit early-onset obesity. We find that WDR11 shuttles from the cilium to the nucleus in response to Hh signalling. WDR11 regulates the proteolytic processing of GLI3 and cooperates with the transcription factor EMX1 in the induction of downstream Hh pathway gene expression and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone production. The CHH/KS-associated human mutations result in loss of function of WDR11. Treatment with the Hh agonist purmorphamine partially rescues the WDR11 haploinsufficiency phenotypes. Our study reveals a novel class of ciliopathy caused by WDR11 mutations and suggests that CHH/KS may be a part of the human ciliopathy spectrum.

Keywords

WDR11; ciliopathy; hedgehog signal pathway; hypogonadotropic hypogonadism; kallmann syndrome.

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