1. Academic Validation
  2. Bi-allelic variants in SPATA5L1 lead to intellectual disability, spastic-dystonic cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and hearing loss

Bi-allelic variants in SPATA5L1 lead to intellectual disability, spastic-dystonic cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and hearing loss

  • Am J Hum Genet. 2021 Oct 7;108(10):2006-2016. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.08.003.
Elodie M Richard 1 Somayeh Bakhtiari 2 Ashley P L Marsh 2 Rauan Kaiyrzhanov 3 Matias Wagner 4 Sheetal Shetty 2 Alex Pagnozzi 5 Sandra M Nordlie 2 Brandon S Guida 2 Patricia Cornejo 6 Helen Magee 2 James Liu 2 Bethany Y Norton 2 Richard I Webster 7 Lisa Worgan 8 Hakon Hakonarson 9 Jiankang Li 10 Yiran Guo 11 Mahim Jain 12 Alyssa Blesson 13 Lance H Rodan 14 Mary-Alice Abbott 15 Anne Comi 16 Julie S Cohen 16 Bader Alhaddad 17 Thomas Meitinger 17 Dominic Lenz 18 Andreas Ziegler 19 Urania Kotzaeridou 19 Theresa Brunet 17 Anna Chassevent 20 Constance Smith-Hicks 16 Joseph Ekstein 21 Tzvi Weiden 22 Andreas Hahn 23 Nazira Zharkinbekova 24 Peter Turnpenny 25 Arianna Tucci 26 Melissa Yelton 27 Rita Horvath 28 Serdal Gungor 29 Semra Hiz 30 Yavuz Oktay 31 Hanns Lochmuller 32 Marcella Zollino 33 Manuela Morleo 34 Giuseppe Marangi 33 Vincenzo Nigro 35 Annalaura Torella 35 Michele Pinelli 34 Simona Amenta 33 Ralf A Husain 36 Benita Grossmann 37 Marion Rapp 38 Claudia Steen 39 Iris Marquardt 40 Mona Grimmel 37 Ute Grasshoff 37 G Christoph Korenke 40 Marta Owczarek-Lipska 41 John Neidhardt 42 Francesca Clementina Radio 43 Cecilia Mancini 43 Dianela Judith Claps Sepulveda 43 Kirsty McWalter 44 Amber Begtrup 44 Amy Crunk 44 Maria J Guillen Sacoto 44 Richard Person 44 Rhonda E Schnur 44 Maria Margherita Mancardi 45 Florian Kreuder 46 Pasquale Striano 47 Federico Zara 48 Wendy K Chung 49 Warren A Marks 50 Clare L van Eyk 51 Dani L Webber 51 Mark A Corbett 51 Kelly Harper 51 Jesia G Berry 51 Alastair H MacLennan 51 Jozef Gecz 52 Marco Tartaglia 43 Vincenzo Salpietro 47 John Christodoulou 53 Jan Kaslin 46 Sergio Padilla-Lopez 2 Kaya Bilguvar 54 Alexander Munchau 38 Zubair M Ahmed 55 Robert B Hufnagel 56 Michael C Fahey 57 Reza Maroofian 3 Henry Houlden 3 Heinrich Sticht 58 Shrikant M Mane 54 Aboulfazl Rad 59 Barbara Vona 59 Sheng Chih Jin 60 Tobias B Haack 61 Christine Makowski 62 Yoel Hirsch 21 Saima Riazuddin 63 Michael C Kruer 64
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
  • 2 Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ 85016, USA; Departments of Child Health, Neurology, Cellular, and Molecular Medicine and Program in Genetics, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA.
  • 3 Department of Neuromuscular Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, WC1N 3BG London, UK.
  • 4 Institute of Human Genetics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, 81675 Munich, Germany; Institute of Neurogenomics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
  • 5 CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, The Australian e-Health Research Centre, Brisbane, QLD 4029, Australia.
  • 6 Pediatric Neuroradiology Division, Pediatric Radiology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ 85016, USA; University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA; Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ 85259, USA.
  • 7 Neurology Department, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
  • 8 Department of Medical Genomics, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia.
  • 9 Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
  • 10 Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong.
  • 11 Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19146, USA.
  • 12 Department of Bone and Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
  • 13 Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21211, USA.
  • 14 Division of Genetics and Genomics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • 15 University of Massachusetts Medical School - Baystate, Baystate Children's Hospital, Springfield, MA 01107, USA.
  • 16 Department of Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
  • 17 Institute of Human Genetics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, 81675 Munich, Germany.
  • 18 Centre of Child and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatric Neurology and Metabolic Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
  • 19 Department of Child Neurology and Metabolic Medicine, Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 430, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
  • 20 Department of Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
  • 21 Dor Yeshorim, Committee for Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases, New York, NY 11211, USA.
  • 22 Dor Yeshorim, Committee for Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases, Jerusalem 9054020, Israel.
  • 23 Department of Child Neurology, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
  • 24 Department of Neurology, South Kazakhstan Medical Academy, Shymkent 160001, Kazakhstan.
  • 25 Clinical Genetics, Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, EX1 2ED Exeter, UK.
  • 26 Clinical Pharmacology, William Harvey Research Institute, Charterhouse Square, School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London, London EC1M 6BQ, UK.
  • 27 Penn State Health Children's Hospital, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
  • 28 Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Van Geest Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, CB2 0PY Cambridge, UK.
  • 29 Inonu University, Faculty of Medicine, Turgut Ozal Research Center, Department of Paediatric Neurology, 44280 Malatya, Turkey.
  • 30 Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Dokuz Eylul University Health Campus, 35340 Izmir, Turkey; Department of Pediatric Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, 35340 Izmir, Turkey.
  • 31 Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Dokuz Eylul University Health Campus, 35340 Izmir, Turkey; Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, 35220 Izmir, Turkey.
  • 32 Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute; Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, and Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
  • 33 Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, 00168 Roma, Italy; Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, Sezione di Medicina Genomica, 00168 Roma, Italy.
  • 34 Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy.
  • 35 Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy; Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli," 80138 Naples, Italy.
  • 36 Department of Neuropediatrics, Jena University Hospital, 07747 Jena, Germany.
  • 37 Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
  • 38 Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
  • 39 Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, St Joseph Hospital, 12101 Berlin, Germany.
  • 40 University Children's Hospital Oldenburg, Department of Neuropaediatric and Metabolic Diseases, 26133 Oldenburg, Germany.
  • 41 Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany; Junior Research Group, Genetics of Childhood Brain Malformations, Faculty VI-School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany.
  • 42 Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany; Research Center Neurosensory Science, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany.
  • 43 Genetics and Rare Diseases Research Division, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy.
  • 44 GeneDx, 207 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA.
  • 45 Unit of Child Neuropsichiatry, Department of Clinical and Surgical Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, IRCCS Giannina Gaslini, Genoa 16147, Italy.
  • 46 Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia.
  • 47 Pediatric Neurology and Muscular Diseases Unit, IRRCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, 16148 Genoa, Italy; Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, 16142 Genoa, Italy.
  • 48 Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, 16142 Genoa, Italy; Unit of Medical Genetics, IRRCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, 16147 Genoa, Italy.
  • 49 Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
  • 50 Department of Neurology, Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX 76104, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA.
  • 51 Robinson Research Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia; Adelaide Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
  • 52 Robinson Research Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia; Adelaide Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
  • 53 Brain and Mitochondrial Research Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia; Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
  • 54 Yale Center for Genome Analysis, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
  • 55 Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
  • 56 Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function Branch, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  • 57 Department of Paediatrics, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia.
  • 58 Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
  • 59 Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Tübingen Hearing Research Centre, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
  • 60 Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
  • 61 Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Centre for Rare Diseases, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tuebingen, Germany.
  • 62 Department of Paediatrics, Adolescent Medicine and Neonatology, Munich Clinic, Schwabing Hospital and Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine, 80804 Munich, Germany.
  • 63 Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 64 Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ 85016, USA; Departments of Child Health, Neurology, Cellular, and Molecular Medicine and Program in Genetics, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Spermatogenesis-associated 5 like 1 (SPATA5L1) represents an orphan gene encoding a protein of unknown function. We report 28 bi-allelic variants in SPATA5L1 associated with sensorineural hearing loss in 47 individuals from 28 (26 unrelated) families. In addition, 25/47 affected individuals (53%) presented with microcephaly, developmental delay/intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, and/or epilepsy. Modeling indicated damaging effect of variants on the protein, largely via destabilizing effects on protein domains. Brain imaging revealed diminished cerebral volume, thin corpus callosum, and periventricular leukomalacia, and quantitative volumetry demonstrated significantly diminished white matter volumes in several individuals. Immunofluorescent imaging in rat hippocampal neurons revealed localization of Spata5l1 in neuronal and glial cell nuclei and more prominent expression in neurons. In the rodent inner ear, Spata5l1 is expressed in the neurosensory hair cells and inner ear supporting cells. Transcriptomic analysis performed with fibroblasts from affected individuals was able to distinguish affected from controls by principal components. Analysis of differentially expressed genes and networks suggested a role for SPATA5L1 in cell surface adhesion receptor function, intracellular focal adhesions, and DNA replication and mitosis. Collectively, our results indicate that bi-allelic SPATA5L1 variants lead to a human disease characterized by sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) with or without a nonprogressive mixed neurodevelopmental phenotype.

Keywords

AAA+ superfamily; ATPase; SPATA5L1; cerebral palsy; epilepsy; intellectual disability; movement disorder; neurodevelopmental disorder; sensorineural hearing loss.

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