Suchergebnisse

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an impairing neurodevelopmental condition highly prevalent in current populations. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this paradox, mainly in the context of the Paleolithic versus Neolithic cultural shift but especially within the framework of the mismatch theory. This theory elaborates on how a particular trait once favoured in an ancient environment might become maladaptive upon environmental changes. However, given the lack of genomic data available for ADHD, these theories have not been empirically tested. We took advantage of the largest GWAS meta-analysis available for this disorder consisting of over 20,000 individuals diagnosed with ADHD and 35,000 controls, to assess the evolution of ADHD-associated alleles in European populations using archaic, ancient and modern human samples. We also included Approximate Bayesian computation coupled with deep learning analyses and singleton density scores to detect human adaptation. Our analyses indicate that ADHD-associated alleles are enriched in loss of function intolerant genes, supporting the role of selective pressures in this early-onset phenotype. Furthermore, we observed that the frequency of variants associated with ADHD has steadily decreased since Paleolithic times, particularly in Paleolithic European populations compared to samples from the Neolithic Fertile Crescent. We demonstrate this trend cannot be explained by African admixture nor Neanderthal introgression, since introgressed Neanderthal alleles are enriched in ADHD risk variants. All analyses performed support the presence of long-standing selective pressures acting against ADHD-associated alleles until recent times. Overall, our results are compatible with the mismatch theory for ADHD but suggest a much older time frame for the evolution of ADHD-associated alleles compared to previous hypotheses. ; We acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, the co-funding by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) corresponding to the 2014-2020 Smart Growth Operating Program. O.L. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) - RYC-2013-14797, BFU2015-68759-P and PGC2018-098574-B-I00, Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) - GRC 2017 SGR 937, EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Personalising Health and Care) - 667302 and EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action: Innovative Training Networks, ITN) - 643051. P.E.-C. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Government of Catalonia | Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants) - FI_B1_00113. I.M. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Government of Catalonia | Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants) - GRC 2014 SGR 615. A.D.B. and D.D. were supported by the Lundbeck Foundation (grant numbers R102-A9118 and R155-2014-1724). High-performance computer capacity for handling and statistical analysis of iPSYCH and PGC data on the GenomeDK HPC facility was provided by the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, Aarhus University and Central Region Denmark, and Centre for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus University (grant to A.D.B.). S.V.F. was supported by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under grant agreement - 602805, the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreements 667302 & 728018 and NIMH grants 5R01MH101519 and U01 MH109536-01. B.C. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) - SAF2015-68341-R and RTI2018-100968-B-100, Generalitat de Catalunya | Agaur (Government of Catalonia) - GRC 2017 SGR 738, EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Personalising Health and Care) - 667302, EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action: Innovative Training Networks, ITN) - 643051 and EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Proramme (Sustainable Food Security - Resilient and Resource - Efficient Value Chains) - 728018. ; Peer reviewed

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') is a recreational drug widely used by adolescents and young adults. Although its rewarding effects are well established, there is controversy on its addictive potential. We aimed to compare the consequences of active and passive MDMA administration on gene expression in the mouse brain since all previous studies were based on passive MDMA administration. We used a yoked-control operant intravenous self-administration paradigm combined with microarray technology. Transcriptomic profiles of ventral striatum, frontal cortex, dorsal raphe nucleus and hippocampus were analysed in mice divided in contingent MDMA, yoked MDMA and yoked saline groups, and several changes were validated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The comparison of contingent MDMA and yoked MDMA vs. yoked saline mice allowed the identification of differential expression in several genes, most of them with immunological and inflammatory functions, but others being involved in neuroadaptation. In the comparison of contingent MDMA vs. yoked MDMA administration, hippocampus and the dorsal raphe nucleus showed statistically significant changes. The altered expression of several genes involved in neuroadaptative changes and synapse function, which may be related to learning self-administration behaviour, could be validated in these two brain structures. In conclusion, our study shows a strong effect of MDMA administration on the expression of immunological and inflammatory genes in all the four brain regions studied. In addition, experiments on MDMA self-administration suggest that the dorsal raphe nucleus and hippocampus may be involved in active MDMA-seeking behaviour, and show specific alterations on gene expression that support the addictive potential of this drug. ; This work was supported by the Spanish 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)'(SAF2007-64062), 'Instituto de Salud Carlos III' (RD06/001/001 and PI070709), the Catalan Government (SGR2009-00131 and SGR2009-00971), the ICREA Foundation (ICREA Academia-2008), 'Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas' (PNSD#2009/022 and PNSD#2009/026), Fundació 'La Marató/nde TV3' (2007) and the DG Research of the European Commission (GENADDICT, LSHM-CT-2004-05166; and PHECOMP, LSHM-CT-2007-037669). Partial support from FEDER funds is/nalso acknowledged. MR is a recipient of a Miguel de Servet contract from 'Instituto de Salud Carlos III-MICINN' (Spain) and NF-C was supported by a fellowship from the Biomedical Network/nResearch Centre on Rare Diseases (CIBERER)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an impairing neurodevelopmental condition highly prevalent in current populations. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this paradox, mainly in the context of the Paleolithic versus Neolithic cultural shift but especially within the framework of the mismatch theory. This theory elaborates on how a particular trait once favoured in an ancient environment might become maladaptive upon environmental changes. However, given the lack of genomic data available for ADHD, these theories have not been empirically tested. We took advantage of the largest GWAS meta-analysis available for this disorder consisting of over 20,000 individuals diagnosed with ADHD and 35,000 controls, to assess the evolution of ADHD-associated alleles in European populations using archaic, ancient and modern human samples. We also included Approximate Bayesian computation coupled with deep learning analyses and singleton density scores to detect human adaptation. Our analyses indicate that ADHD-associated alleles are enriched in loss of function intolerant genes, supporting the role of selective pressures in this early-onset phenotype. Furthermore, we observed that the frequency of variants associated with ADHD has steadily decreased since Paleolithic times, particularly in Paleolithic European populations compared to samples from the Neolithic Fertile Crescent. We demonstrate this trend cannot be explained by African admixture nor Neanderthal introgression, since introgressed Neanderthal alleles are enriched in ADHD risk variants. All analyses performed support the presence of long-standing selective pressures acting against ADHD-associated alleles until recent times. Overall, our results are compatible with the mismatch theory for ADHD but suggest a much older time frame for the evolution of ADHD-associated alleles compared to previous hypotheses. ; We acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, the co-funding by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) corresponding to the 2014-2020 Smart Growth Operating Program. O.L. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) - RYC-2013-14797, BFU2015-68759-P and PGC2018-098574-B-I00, Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) - GRC 2017 SGR 937, EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Personalising Health and Care) - 667302 and EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action: Innovative Training Networks, ITN) - 643051. P.E.-C. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Government of Catalonia | Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants) - FI_B1_00113. I.M. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Government of Catalonia | Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants) - GRC 2014 SGR 615. A.D.B. and D.D. were supported by the Lundbeck Foundation (grant numbers R102-A9118 and R155-2014-1724). S.V.F. was supported by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under grant agreement - 602805, the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreements 667302 & 728018 and NIMH grants 5R01MH101519 and U01 MH109536-01. B.C. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) - SAF2015-68341-R and RTI2018-100968-B-100, Generalitat de Catalunya | Agaur (Government of Catalonia) - GRC 2017 SGR 738, EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Personalising Health and Care) - 667302, EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action: Innovative Training Networks, ITN) - 643051 and EC | EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Proramme (Sustainable Food Security - Resilient and Resource - Efficient Value Chains) - 728018

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, and/or inattention, which are symptoms also observed in many rare genetic disorders. We searched for genes involved in Mendelian disorders presenting with ADHD symptoms in the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database, to curate a list of new candidate risk genes for ADHD. We explored the enrichment of functions and pathways in this gene list, and tested whether rare or common variants in these genes are associated with ADHD or with its comorbidities. We identified 139 genes, causal for 137 rare disorders, mainly related to neurodevelopmental and brain function. Most of these Mendelian disorders also present with other psychiatric traits that are often comorbid with ADHD. Using whole exome sequencing (WES) data from 668 ADHD cases, we found rare variants associated with the dimension of the severity of inattention symptoms in three genes: KIF11, WAC, and CRBN. Then, we focused on common variants and identified six genes associated with ADHD (in 19,099 cases and 34,194 controls): MANBA, UQCC2, HIVEP2, FOPX1, KANSL1, and AUH. Furthermore, HIVEP2, FOXP1, and KANSL1 were nominally associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (18,382 cases and 27,969 controls), as well as HIVEP2 with anxiety (7016 cases and 14,475 controls), and FOXP1 with aggression (18,988 individuals), which is in line with the symptomatology of the rare disorders they are responsible for. In conclusion, inspecting Mendelian disorders and the genes responsible for them constitutes a valuable approach for identifying new risk genes and the mechanisms of complex disorders. ; This work was supported mainly by funding from the European Union H2020 Program [H2020/2014–2020, grant agreements n° 667302, 643051 and 728018, corresponding to projects CoCA, coca-project.eu/; Eat2BeNice: newbrainnutrition.com/ (accessed on 16 December 2021); and MiND; www.mind-project.eu (accessed on 16 December 2021), respectively], and from the 'ECNP network on ADHD across the lifespan'. NC-F received funding from 'Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas of the Spanish Ministry of Health' [PNSD-2020I042] and was supported by a contract of the 'Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras' (CIBERER). BC received funding from the Spanish 'Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad' [SAF2015-68341-R, RTI2018-100968-B-100 and PID2021-1277760B-I100], 'Plan Nacional sobre Drogas of the Spanish Ministry of Health' [PNSD-2017I050] and AGAUR, 'Generalitat de Catalunya' [2017-SGR-738]. JC-D and BT were supported by the H2020 CoCA (n° 667302) and Eat2beNICE (n° 728018) projects. DBK was supported by the European Union H2020 Program [H2020/2014-2020] under grant agreements n° 643051 (MiND) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-148273/2016-5). OL acknowledges the support from Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa, CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, Co-financing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation corresponding to the Programa Operativo FEDER Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014–2020 and by the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca, Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement of the Generalitat de Catalunya corresponding to the Programa Operatiu FEDER de Catalunya 2014–2020, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness)—RYC-2013-14797, BFU2015-68759-P and PGC2018-098574-B-I00 and Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia)—GRC 2017 SGR 937.

Frustration represents a particular aspect of the addictive process that is related to loss of control when the expected reward is not obtained. We aim to study the consequences of frustrated expected reward on gene expression in the mouse brain. For this purpose, we used an operant model of frustration using palatable food as reward combined with microarrays. Transcriptomic profiles of frontal cortex, ventral striatum and hippocampus were analysed in five groups of mice: (1) positive control receiving palatable food and the cue light as conditioned stimulus; (2) frustrated group only receiving the cue light; (3) extinction learning group that did not receive palatable food nor the light; (4) negative control that never received the reinforcer nor the light during the whole experiment; and (5) yoked that received palatable food passively. Gene expression changes produced by frustration were revealed in the frontal cortex and ventral striatum, but not in the hippocampus. Most of the changes, such as the modification of the dopamine-DARPP-32 signalling pathway, were common in both areas and estimated to have neuronal origin. Extinction learning induced transcriptional changes only in the ventral striatum, with most genes showing down-regulation and without alteration in the dopamine-DARPP-32 signalling pathway. Active palatable food-seeking behaviour induced changes in gene expression in ventral striatum mainly affecting cell communication. In conclusion, frustration behaviour-induced changes in frontal cortex and ventral striatum mainly related to dopamine-DARPP-32 signalling that could play an important role in the loss of behavioural control during the addictive processes. ; This work was supported by the Spanish 'Instituto de Salud Carlos III' (RTA,RD06/001/001andPI11/01629), the Spanish 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación' (SAF2007-64062 and SAF2012-33484), the Spanish 'Ministerio de Sanidad y Política Social' (Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas, no. 2009/022 and 2009/026), the Catalan Government (2009-SGR-00131 and 2014-SGR-0932), the ICREA Foundation (ICREA Academia-2008). The research leading to these results has also received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 602805. A.B. was supported by a FI predoctoral fellowship of the Catalan Government, J.G-C. was supported by a 'Juan de la Cierva' post-doctoral fellowship from the Spanish 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación', E.M-G. was supported by a 'Sara Borrell' post-doctoral fellowship from the Spanish 'Instituto de Salud Carlos III', N.F-C.was supported by a contract from the Biomedical Network Research Centre on Rare Diseases (CIBERER) and M.R. was supported by a 'Miguel i Servet' contract the Spanish 'Instituto de Salud Carlos III'. Partial support from FEDER funds is also acknowledged

Episodic ataxia is an autosomal dominant ion channel disorder characterized by episodes of imbalance and incoordination. The disease is genetically heterogeneous and is classified as episodic ataxia type 2 (EA2) when it is caused by a mutation in the CACNA1A gene, encoding the α1A subunit of the P/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channel Cav2.1. The vast majority of EA2 disease-causing variants are loss-of-function (LoF) point changes leading to decreased channel currents. CACNA1A exonic deletions have also been reported in EA2 using quantitative approaches. We performed a mutational screening of the CACNA1A gene, including the promoter and 3'UTR regions, in 49 unrelated patients diagnosed with episodic ataxia. When pathogenic variants were not found by sequencing, we performed a copy number variant (CNV) analysis to screen for duplications or deletions. Overall, sequencing screening allowed identification of six different point variants (three nonsense and three missense changes) and two coding indels, one of them found in two unrelated patients. Additionally, CNV analysis identified a deletion in a patient spanning exon 35 as a result of a recombination event between flanking intronic Alu sequences. This study allowed identification of potentially pathogenic alterations in our sample, five of them novel, which cover 20% of the patients (10/49). Our data suggest that most of these variants are disease-causing, although functional studies are required. ; The funding for this study was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2009-13182-C01, SAF2009-13182-C03), AGAUR (2014SGR-0932, 2009SGR-0078) and Fundació La Marató de TV3 (grant 100731). These institutions had no further role in study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data or in the submission of this paper for publication. CS and OC were supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2007-16450 and BES-2010-033895, respectively) and NF-C by Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER, ISCIII). MV-P was supported by a predoctoral grant from VHIR, Barcelona (Spain). CT was supported by the European Union (Marie Curie, PIEF-GA-2009-254930). EC-L is the recipient of the Beatriu de Pinós programme scholarship (BP-DGR 2010).

De novo FOXP1 mutations have been associated with intellectual disability (ID), motor delay, autistic features and a wide spectrum of speech difficulties. C syndrome (Opitz C trigonocephaly syndrome) is a rare and genetically heterogeneous condition, characterized by trigonocephaly, craniofacial anomalies and ID. Several different chromosome deletions and and point mutations in distinct genes have been associated with the disease in patients originally diagnosed as Opitz C. By whole exome sequencing we identified a de novo splicing mutation in FOXP1 in a patient, initially diagnosed as C syndrome, who suffers from syndromic intellectual disability with trigonocephaly. The mutation (c.1428 + 1 G > A) promotes the skipping of exon 16, a frameshift and a premature STOP codon (p.Ala450GLyfs*13), as assessed by a minigene strategy. The patient reported here shares speech difficulties, intellectual disability and autistic features with other FOXP1 syndrome patients, and thus the diagnosis for this patient should be changed. Finally, since trigonocephaly has not been previously reported in FOXP1 syndrome, it remains to be proved whether it may be associated with the FOXP1 mutation. ; The authors thank the patient and his family for wholehearted collaboration. They are also grateful to M. Cozar for technical assistance, and to CNAG for exome sequencing within the "300 exomes to elucidate rare diseases" program. Funding was from Associació Síndrome Opitz C, Terrassa, Spain; Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2014-56562-R; SAF2016-75948-R, FECYT, crowdfunding PRECIPITA); ISCIII Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PT13/0001/0044), Catalan Government (2014SGR932) and from CIBERER (U720).

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood-onset neurodevelopmental condition characterized by pervasive impairment of attention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity that can persist into adulthood. The aetiology of ADHD is complex and multifactorial and, despite the wealth of evidence for its high heritability, genetic studies have provided modest evidence for the involvement of specific genes and have failed to identify consistent and replicable results. Due to the lack of robust findings, we performed gene-wide and pathway enrichment analyses using pre-existing GWAS data from 607 persistent ADHD subjects and 584 controls, produced by our group. Subsequently, expression profiles of genes surpassing a follow-up threshold of P-value < 1e-03 in the gene-wide analyses were tested in peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs) of 45 medication-naive adults with ADHD and 39 healthy unrelated controls. We found preliminary evidence for genetic association between RNF122 and ADHD and for its overexpression in adults with ADHD. RNF122 encodes for an E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in the proteasome-mediated processing, trafficking, and degradation of proteins that acts as an essential mediator of the substrate specificity of ubiquitin ligation. Thus, our findings support previous data that place the ubiquitin-proteasome system as a promising candidate for its involvement in the aetiology of ADHD. ; Over the course of this investigation, I.G. M. has been a recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (PRED-VHIR-2012), Barcelona, Spain, and currently she is a recipient of a contract from the 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, European Commission (AGGRESSOTYPE_FP7HEALTH2013/602805). C.S. M. is a recipient of a Sara Borrell contract from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spain (CD15/00199) and a mobility grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spain (MV16/00039). M.S. A. is a recipient of a contract from the Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain. P.R. is a recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR), Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain (2016FI_B 00899). M.P. is recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain (PRED-VHIR-2013) and a research grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Germany (Research Grants - Short-Term Grants, 2017). E.C. S. is a recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Collaborative Research Training Programme for Medical Doctors (PhD4MD), Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain (II14/00018). M.R. is a recipient of a Miguel de Servet contract from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spain (CP09/00119 and CPII15/00023). This investigation was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI12/01139, PI14/01700, PI15/01789, PI16/01505), and cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca-AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR1357, 2014SGR0932), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spain (SAF2012-33484, SAF2015-68341-R), the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP network: 'ADHD across the lifespan'), Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. This project has also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the grant agreements No 667302 and 643051.

Hemiplegic migraine (HM) is a rare and severe subtype of autosomal dominant migraine, characterized by a complex aura including some degree of motor weakness. Mutations in four genes (CACNA1A, ATP1A2, SCN1A and PRRT2) have been detected in familial and in sporadic cases. This genetically and clinically heterogeneous disorder is often accompanied by permanent ataxia, epileptic seizures, mental retardation, and chronic progressive cerebellar atrophy. Here we report a mutation screening in the CACNA1A and ATP1A2 genes in 18 patients with HM. Furthermore, intragenic copy number variant (CNV) analysis was performed in CACNA1A using quantitative approaches. We identified four previously described missense CACNA1A mutations (p.Ser218Leu, p.Thr501Met, p.Arg583Gln, and p.Thr666Met) and two missense changes in the ATP1A2 gene, the previously described p.Ala606Thr and the novel variant p.Glu825Lys. No structural variants were found. This genetic screening allowed the identification of more than 30% of the disease alleles, all present in a heterozygous state. Functional consequences of the CACNA1A-p.Thr501Met mutation, previously described only in association with episodic ataxia, and ATP1A2-p.Glu825Lys, were investigated by means of electrophysiological studies, cell viability assays or Western blot analysis. Our data suggest that both these variants are disease-causing. ; The work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness,Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and Plan E (Grants SAF2012 -31089, SAF2012-3814 0, BES-2010-033895, SAF2009-13182-C03-01, SAF2009-13182-C03-02, and SAF2009-13182-C03-03), Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (Cardiovascular Disease Network RD12/0042/0014) and Generalitat de Catalunya (grants 2009SGR0971, 2009SGR0078 and 2009SGR1369). M. A. V. and N. F.-C. are the recipients of an ICREA Academia Award (Generalitat de Catalunya) and a grant from "CIBER-ER," respectively. C. T. was supported by the European Union (Marie Curie, PIEF-GA-2009-254930).

Opitz trigonocephaly C syndrome (OTCS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by craniofacial anomalies, variable intellectual and psychomotor disability, and variable cardiac defects with a high mortality rate. Different patterns of inheritance and genetic heterogeneity are known in this syndrome. Whole exome and genome sequencing of a 19-year-old girl (P7), initially diagnosed with OTCS, revealed a de novo nonsense mutation, p.Q638*, in the MAGEL2 gene. MAGEL2 is an imprinted, maternally silenced, gene located at 15q11-13, within the Prader-Willi region. Patient P7 carried the mutation in the paternal chromosome. Recently, mutations in MAGEL2 have been described in Schaaf-Yang syndrome (SHFYNG) and in severe arthrogryposis. Patient P7 bears resemblances with SHFYNG cases but has other findings not described in this syndrome and common in OTCS. We sequenced MAGEL2 in nine additional OTCS patients and no mutations were found. This study provides the first clear molecular genetic basis for an OTCS case, indicates that there is overlap between OTCS and SHFYNG syndromes, and confirms that OTCS is genetically heterogeneous. Genes encoding MAGEL2 partners, either in the retrograde transport or in the ubiquitination-deubiquitination complexes, are promising candidates as OTCS disease-causing genes. ; Funding was from Associació Síndrome Opitz C, Terrassa, Spain; Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2014-56562-R; FECYT, crowdfunding PRECIPITA); Catalan Government (2014SGR932) and from CIBERER (U720). We acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, 'Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017'.

The 14-3-3 protein family are molecular chaperones involved in several biological functions and neurological diseases. We previously pinpointed YWHAZ (encoding 14-3-3) as a candidate gene for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through a whole-exome sequencing study, which identified a frameshift variant within the gene (c.659-660insT, p.L220Ffs*18). Here, we explored the contribution of the seven human 14-3-3 family members in ASD and other psychiatric disorders by investigating the: (i) functional impact of the 14-3-3 mutation p.L220Ffs*18 by assessing solubility, target binding and dimerization; (ii) contribution of common risk variants in 14-3-3 genes to ASD and additional psychiatric disorders; (iii) burden of rare variants in ASD and schizophrenia; and iv) 14-3-3 gene expression using ASD and schizophrenia transcriptomic data. We found that the mutant 14-3-3 protein had decreased solubility and lost its ability to form heterodimers and bind to its target tyrosine hydroxylase. Gene-based analyses using publicly available datasets revealed that common variants in YWHAE contribute to schizophrenia (p = 6.6 107), whereas ultra-rare variants were found enriched in ASD across the 14-3-3 genes (p = 0.017) and in schizophrenia for YWHAZ (meta-p = 0.017). Furthermore, expression of 14-3-3 genes was altered in post-mortem brains of ASD and schizophrenia patients. Our study supports a role for the 14-3-3 family in ASD and schizophrenia ; Fundació La Marató de TV3 (092010), Fundación Alicia Koplowitz, AGAUR (2017SGR738, 2017SGR1497), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad with FEDER funds (SAF2015-68341-R, SAF2017-87629-R, RTI2018-100968-B-I00) and the Australian National Medical and Health Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant 1063960 and 1066177, and Program Grant 1037196. The research leading to these results also received funding from the European Union H2020 Program (H2020/2014-2020) under grant agreements 667302 (CoCA) and 643051 (MiND). B. Torrico was supported by AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya), E. Antón-Galindo by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spanish Government), N. Fernàndez-Castillo by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER) and L. Pineda-Cirera by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU15/ 03867). C. Toma was supported by the European Union (Marie Curie, PIEF-GA-2009-254930) and currently is a recipient of a 'Ramón y Cajal' fellowship (RyC2018-024106-I) from the Spanish MINECO

Altres ajuts: This work was partly carried out on the Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of the SURF Foundation. Barbara Franke and her team are supported by funding from a personal Vici grant of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; grant 016-130-669, to BF), [.]. In addition, this work was supported by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP Network "ADHD across the Lifespan"). Klaus-Peter Lesch and his team are supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG: CRU 125, CRC TRR 58 A1/A5), [.], Fritz Thyssen Foundation (No. 10.13.1185), ERA-Net NEURON/RESPOND, No. 01EW1602B, and 5-100 Russian Academic Excellence Project. [.]. The NBS exome chip data were generated in a research project that was financially supported by BBMRI-NL, a Research Infrastructure financed by the Dutch government (NWO 184.021.007). The Heinz Nixdorf Recall (HNR) study is supported by the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation (Germany). Additionally, the study is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Science and the German Research Council (DFG; Project SI 236/8-1, SI236/9-1, ER 155/6-1). [.]. MR is a recipient of [.] and a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Jan Haavik and his team are supported by the K.G. Jebsen Foundation for Medical Research, University of Bergen, the Western Norwegian Health Authorities (Helse Vest). [.]. SC is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the Integrated Network IntegraMent (Integrated Understanding of Causes and Mechanisms in Mental Disorders) under the auspices of the e:Med Program (grant 01ZX1314A). He also receives support by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project no. 310030_156791). This publication was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the University of Wuerzburg in the funding programme Open Access Publishing. ; Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with a complex genetic background, ...