Compound heterozygous missense and deep intronic variants in NDUFAF6 unraveled by exome sequencing and mRNA analysis

J Hum Genet. 2018 May;63(5):563-568. doi: 10.1038/s10038-018-0423-1. Epub 2018 Mar 12.

Abstract

Biallelic mutations in NDUFAF6 have been identified as responsible for cases of autosomal recessive Leigh syndrome associated with mitochondrial complex I deficiency. Here we report two siblings and two unrelated subjects with Leigh syndrome, in which we found the same compound heterozygous missense (c.532G>C:p.A178P) and deep intronic (c.420+784C>T) variants in NDUFAF6. We demonstrated that the identified intronic variant creates an alternative splice site, leading to the production of an aberrant transcript. A detailed analysis of whole-exome sequencing data together with the functional validation based on mRNA analysis may reveal pathogenic variants even in non-exonic regions.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Exome Sequencing*
  • Female
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism
  • Gene Expression
  • Haplotypes
  • Heterozygote*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Introns*
  • Leigh Disease / diagnosis*
  • Leigh Disease / genetics*
  • Lymphocytes / metabolism
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Mitochondrial Proteins
  • Mutation, Missense*
  • Pedigree
  • Phenotype
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics*

Substances

  • Mitochondrial Proteins
  • NDUFAF6 protein, human
  • RNA, Messenger