Intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders with high heritability. To search for the genetic deficits in two siblings affected with ID and ASD in a family, we first performed a genome-wide copy number variation (CNV) analysis using chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA). We found a 3.7 Mb microdeletion at 22q13.3 in the younger sister. This de novo microdeletion resulted in the haploinsufficiency of SHANK3 and several nearby genes involved in neurodevelopment disorders. Hence, she was diagnosed with Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS, OMIM#606232). We further performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis in this family. We did not detect pathogenic mutations with significant impacts on the phenotypes of the elder brother. Instead, we identified several rare, likely pathogenic variants in seven genes implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders: KLHL17, TDO2, TRRAP, EIF3F, ATP10A, DICER1, and CDH15. These variants were transmitted from his unaffected parents, indicating these variants have only moderate clinical effects. We propose that these variants worked together and led to the clinical phenotypes in the elder brother. We also suggest that the combination of multiple genes with moderate effects is part of the genetic mechanism of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; developmental disorder; genetics; intellectual disability; molecular diagnosis; psychosis.