Further Defining the Critical Genes for the 4q21 Microdeletion Disorder
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART A
Authors: Hu, Xuyun; Chen, Xiaoli; Wu, Bingbing; Mademont Soler, Irene; Chen, Shaoke; Shen, Yiping
Abstract
4q21 microdeletion syndrome (MIM: 613509) is a new genomic disorder characterized by intellectual disability, absent or severely delayed speech, growth retardation, hypotonia, variable brain malformation, and facial dysmorphism. The critical genes had been proposed based on an overlapping 1.37 Mb genomic region. No further refinement has been done since year 2010. Here, we present three cases with 4q21 deletion identified by clinical chromosomal microarray analysis. One of the cases have a de novo 761 kb deletion which is the smallest deletion ever reported at this locus. It provides an opportunity to further define the critical regions/genes associated with specific features of the 4q21 microdeletion syndrome. The evidence support the notion that PRKG2 and RASGEF1B are critical genes for intellectual disability and speech defect, and the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein HNRNPD and HNRNPDL (previously known as HNRPDL) genes are associated with growth retardation and hypotonia. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modeling RNA-Binding Protein Specificity In Vivo by Precisely Registering Protein-RNA Crosslink Sites
MOLECULAR CELL
Authors: Feng, Huijuan; Bao, Suying; Rahman, Mohammad Alinoor; Weyn-Vanhentenryck, Sebastien M.; Khan, Aziz; Wong, Justin; Shah, Ankeeta; Flynn, Elise D.; Krainer, Adrian R.; Zhang, Chaolin
Abstract
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) regulate post-transcriptional gene expression by recognizing short and degenerate sequence motifs in their target transcripts, but precisely defining their binding specificity remains challenging. Crosslinking and immuno-precipitation (CLIP) allows for mapping of the exact protein-RNA crosslink sites, which frequently reside at specific positions in RBP motifs at single-nucleotide resolution. Here, we have developed a computational method, named mCross, to jointly model RBP binding specificity while precisely registering the crosslinking position in motif sites. We applied mCross to 112 RBPs using ENCODE eCLIP data and validated the reliability of the discovered motifs by genome-wide analysis of allelic binding sites. Our analyses revealed that the prototypical SR protein SRSF1 recognizes clusters of GGA half-sites in addition to its canonical GGAGGA motif. Therefore, SRSF1 regulates splicing of a much larger repertoire of transcripts than previously appreciated, including HNRNPD and HNRNPDL, which are involved in multivalent protein assemblies and phase separation.