Mutations in the small nuclear RNA gene RNU2-2 cause a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with prominent epilepsy
Daniel Greene, Koenraad De Wispelaere, Jonathan Lees, Marta Codina‐Solà, Brynjar Ö. Jensson, Emma Hales, Andrea Katrinecz, Esther Molina, Sónia Pascoal, Rolph Pfundt, Rachel Schot, Marta Sevilla Porras, Frank Sleutels, Irene Valenzuela, Robin Wijngaard, I. Arroyo Carrera, Giles Atton, Dídac Casas‐Alba, Deirdre E. Donnelly, Anna Duat Rodríguez, Barbara Fernández Garoz, Nicola Foulds, Deyanira García-Navas Núñez, Elena González Alguacil, Joanna Jarvis, Sarina G. Kant, Irene Madrigal, Antonio F. Martinez-Monseny, Shane McKee, Nelmar Valentina Ortiz‐Cabrera, Laia Rodríguez-Revenga Bodi, Andrea Sariego Jamardo, Kāri Stefánsson, Patrick Sulem, Mohnish Suri, Clara D.M. van Karnebeek, Pradeep Vasudevan, Ana Isabel Vega Pajares, Ãngel Carracedo, Marc Engelen, Pablo Lapunzina, Natasha P. Morgan, Beatriz Morte, Patrick Rump, Kathleen Stirrups, Eduardo F. Tizzano, Tahsin Stefan Barakat, Michael O’Donoghue, Luis A. Pérez‐Jurado, Kathleen Freson, Andrew Mumford, Ernest Turro
Abstract
The major spliceosome includes five small nuclear RNA (snRNAs), U1, U2, U4, U5 and U6, each of which is encoded by multiple genes. We recently showed that mutations in RNU4-2, the gene that encodes the U4-2 snRNA, cause one of the most prevalent monogenic neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, we report that recurrent germline mutations in RNU2-2 (previously known as pseudogene RNU2-2P), a 191-bp gene that encodes the U2-2 snRNA, are responsible for a related disorder. By genetic association, we identified recurrent de novo single-nucleotide mutations at nucleotide positions 4 and 35 of RNU2-2 in nine cases. We replicated this finding in 16 additional cases, bringing the total to 25. We estimate that RNU2-2 syndrome has a prevalence of ~20% that of RNU4-2 syndrome. The disorder is characterized by intellectual disability, autistic behavior, microcephaly, hypotonia, epilepsy and hyperventilation. All cases display a severe and complex seizure phenotype. We found that U2-2 and canonical U2-1 were similarly expressed in blood. Despite mutant U2-2 being expressed in patient blood samples, we found no evidence of missplicing. Our findings cement the role of major spliceosomal snRNAs in the etiologies of neurodevelopmental disorders.