Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec;21(12):2723-2733.
doi: 10.1038/s41436-019-0585-z. Epub 2019 Jun 26.

CTCF variants in 39 individuals with a variable neurodevelopmental disorder broaden the mutational and clinical spectrum

Enrico D H Konrad  1 Niels Nardini  1 Almuth Caliebe  2 Inga Nagel  2   3 Dana Young  4 Gabriella Horvath  4 Stephanie L Santoro  5 Christine Shuss  5 Alban Ziegler  6 Dominique Bonneau  6 Marlies Kempers  7 Rolph Pfundt  7 Eric Legius  8 Arjan Bouman  9 Kyra E Stuurman  9 Katrin Õunap  10   11   12 Sander Pajusalu  10   11   13 Monica H Wojcik  12   14 Georgia Vasileiou  1 Gwenaël Le Guyader  15 Hege M Schnelle  16 Siren Berland  16 Evelien Zonneveld-Huijssoon  17 Simone Kersten  7 Aditi Gupta  18 Patrick R Blackburn  19 Marissa S Ellingson  19 Matthew J Ferber  19 Radhika Dhamija  20 Eric W Klee  18 Meriel McEntagart  21 Klaske D Lichtenbelt  22 Amy Kenney  23 Samantha A Vergano  23 Rami Abou Jamra  24 Konrad Platzer  24 Mary Ella Pierpont  25 Divya Khattar  26 Robert J Hopkin  26 Richard J Martin  27 Marjolijn C J Jongmans  7 Vivian Y Chang  28   29 Julian A Martinez-Agosto  30   31 Outi Kuismin  32   33   34   35 Mitja I Kurki  32   36   37 Olli Pietiläinen  37   38 Aarno Palotie  32   36   37   39   40 Timothy J Maarup  41 Diana S Johnson  42 Katja Venborg Pedersen  43 Lone W Laulund  44 Sally A Lynch  45 Moira Blyth  46 Katrina Prescott  46 Natalie Canham  47 Rita Ibitoye  47 Eva H Brilstra  22 Marwan Shinawi  48 Emily Fassi  48 DDD StudyHeinrich Sticht  49 Anne Gregor  1 Hilde Van Esch  50 Christiane Zweier  51
Affiliations

CTCF variants in 39 individuals with a variable neurodevelopmental disorder broaden the mutational and clinical spectrum

Enrico D H Konrad et al. Genet Med. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: Pathogenic variants in the chromatin organizer CTCF were previously reported in seven individuals with a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD).

Methods: Through international collaboration we collected data from 39 subjects with variants in CTCF. We performed transcriptome analysis on RNA from blood samples and utilized Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the impact of Ctcf dosage alteration on nervous system development and function.

Results: The individuals in our cohort carried 2 deletions, 8 likely gene-disruptive, 2 splice-site, and 20 different missense variants, most of them de novo. Two cases were familial. The associated phenotype was of variable severity extending from mild developmental delay or normal IQ to severe intellectual disability. Feeding difficulties and behavioral abnormalities were common, and variable other findings including growth restriction and cardiac defects were observed. RNA-sequencing in five individuals identified 3828 deregulated genes enriched for known NDD genes and biological processes such as transcriptional regulation. Ctcf dosage alteration in Drosophila resulted in impaired gross neurological functioning and learning and memory deficits.

Conclusion: We significantly broaden the mutational and clinical spectrum ofCTCF-associated NDDs. Our data shed light onto the functional role of CTCF by identifying deregulated genes and show that Ctcf alterations result in nervous system defects in Drosophila.

Keywords: CTCF; Drosophila melanogaster; chromatin organization; intellectual disability; neurodevelopmental disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Variants identified inCTCF. a Schematic drawing of the CTCF gene with known and novel variants. Noncoding exons are displayed in light gray, coding exons in medium gray, and exons encoding zinc fingers in dark gray. b Schematic drawing of the CTCF protein. Missense or in-frame variants are displayed above and likely gene-disruptive variants below the scheme. Nonbold variants and p.(Arg567Trp) were published previously with or *without clinical details.–, – Underlined variants are recurrent. All identified pathogenic or likely pathogenic in-frame or missense variants affect one of the 11 zinc finger domains.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Facial gestalt of individuals with pathogenic variants inCTCF. Note minor facial dysmorphism such as a long face (e.g., I5, I8, I11, I27), a prominent forehead (e.g., I4, I8, I18, I33, I35) or a bulbous nasal tip and long palpebral fissures in several individuals, but no overall distinct, recognizable facial gestalt.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Transcriptome analysis inCTCF-deficient individuals.a Heatmap displaying the 3828 differentially expressed genes between five affected individuals and eight healthy controls and depicting the expression similarity between individuals with corrected p value <0.01; 2161 genes were downregulated and 1667 genes were upregulated in the affected individuals. Individuals are clustered by Euclidean distance, and genes are sorted by adjusted p value. Blue, downregulated; red, upregulated.b, c Gene Ontology (GO) term analysis on b downregulated and c upregulated genes depicting the top five GO terms for biological processes FDR false discovery rate.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Impact ofCtcfdosage alteration on fly gross neurological functioning and learning and memory.ac Flies with knockdown of Ctcf in a motoneurons and b all neurons but not in c glia showed significant locomotor impairment in the climbing assay. Pan-neuronal overexpression b had no effect, but c glial and a motoneuronal driven overexpression ofCtcf resulted in significant locomotor impairment. The numbers below the columns represent the samples in groups of ten flies tested per genotype. d In the courtship conditioning paradigm, the hypomorphic Ctcf mutant line showed highly significant impairment of learning (L) and short-term memory (STM) and significant impairment of long-term memory (LTM). e In accordance, mushroom body–driven (UAS-Dcr-2;247-GAL4) knockdown of Ctcf resulted in significantly reduced short-term memory (STM). Similar tendencies were observed for L and LTM, but not reaching significance. f Overexpression of Ctcf in the mushroom body did not result in a significant effect on L and STM, but in a significant impairment of long-term memory. Graphs display mean values of the number of animals indicated below the columns per genotype from at least three independent test days. Differences between learning indexes of control and mutant flies were statistically compared by a randomization test with 10,000 bootstrap replicates with a custom R script. Error bars depict SEM. Asterisks indicate statistical significance (p value: *≤0.05, **≤0.01, ***≤0.001).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gerasimova TI, Byrd K, Corces VG. A chromatin insulator determines the nuclear localization of DNA. Mol Cell. 2000;6:1025–1035. doi: 10.1016/S1097-2765(00)00101-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ji X, Dadon DB, Powell BE, et al. 3D chromosome regulatory landscape of human pluripotent cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2016;18:262–275. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2015.11.007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bell AC, Felsenfeld G. Methylation of a CTCF-dependent boundary controls imprinted expression of the Igf2 gene. Nature. 2000;405:482–485. doi: 10.1038/35013100. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chao W, Huynh KD, Spencer RJ, Davidow LS, Lee JT. CTCF, a candidate trans-acting factor for X-inactivation choice. Science. 2002;295:345–347. doi: 10.1126/science.1065982. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Klenova EM, Nicolas RH, Paterson HF, et al. CTCF, a conserved nuclear factor required for optimal transcriptional activity of the chicken c-myc gene, is an 11-Zn-finger protein differentially expressed in multiple forms. Mol Cell Biol. 1993;13:7612–7624. doi: 10.1128/MCB.13.12.7612. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources