De novo variants in genes regulating stress granule assembly associate with neurodevelopmental disorders
Xiangbin Jia, S. Zhang, Senwei Tan, Bing Du, Mei He, Haisong Qin, Jia Chen, Xinyu Duan, Jingsi Luo, Fei Chen, Luping Ouyang, Jian Wang, Guodong Chen, Bin Yu, Ge Zhang, Zimin Zhang, Yongqing Lyu, Yi Huang, Jian Jiao, Jin Yun Chen, Kathryn J. Swoboda, Emanuele Agolini, Antonio Novelli, Chiara Leoni, Giuseppe Zampino, Gerarda Cappuccio, Nicola Brunetti‐Pierri, Bénédicte Gérard, Emmanuelle Ginglinger, Julie Richer, Hugh J. McMillan, Alexandre White‐Brown, Kendra Hoekzema, Raphael Bernier, Evangeline C. Kurtz‐Nelson, Rachel K. Earl, Claartje Meddens, Mariëlle Alders, Meredith Fuchs, Roseline Caumes, Perrine Brunelle, Thomas Smol, Ryan Kuehl, Debra-Lynn Day-Salvatore, Kristin G. Monaghan, Michelle M. Morrow, Evan E. Eichler, Zhengmao Hu, Ling Yuan, Jieqiong Tan, Kun Xia, Yiping Shen, Hui Guo
Abstract
Stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic assemblies in response to a variety of stressors. We report a new neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) with common features of language problems, intellectual disability, and behavioral issues caused by de novo likely gene-disruptive variants in UBAP2L , which encodes an essential regulator of SG assembly. Ubap2l haploinsufficiency in mouse led to social and cognitive impairments accompanied by disrupted neurogenesis and reduced SG formation during early brain development. On the basis of data from 40,853 individuals with NDDs, we report a nominally significant excess of de novo variants within 29 genes that are not implicated in NDDs, including 3 essential genes ( G3BP1 , G3BP2 , and UBAP2L ) in the core SG interaction network. We validated that NDD-related de novo variants in newly implicated and known NDD genes, such as CAPRIN1 , disrupt the interaction of the core SG network and interfere with SG formation. Together, our findings suggest the common SG pathology in NDDs.