A novel, likely pathogenic variant in UBTF-related neurodegeneration with brain atrophy is associated with a severe divergent neurodevelopmental phenotype

Rory J Tinker, Vanderbilt University
Tiffany Guess, Vanderbilt University
David C Rinker, Vanderbilt University
Jonathan H Sheehan, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Daniel Lubarsky, Vanderbilt University
Binu Porath, Vanderbilt University
Mackenzie Mosera, Vanderbilt University
Ping Mayo, Vanderbilt University
Emily Solem, Vanderbilt University
Laura A Lee, Vanderbilt University
Asha Sharam, Vanderbilt University
Jennifer Brault, Vanderbilt University

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A de novo, pathogenic, missense variant in UBTF, c.628G>A p.Glu210Lys, has been described as the cause of an emerging neurodegenerative disorder, Childhood-Onset Neurodegeneration with Brain Atrophy (CONDBA). The p.Glu210Lys alteration yields a positively charged stretch of three lysine residues. Functional studies confirmed this change results in a stronger interaction with negatively charged DNA and gain-of-function activity when compared to the wild-type sequence. The CONDBA phenotype reported in association with p.Glu210Lys consists of normal early-neurodevelopment followed by progressive motor, cognitive, and behavioral regression in early-to-middle childhood.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The current proband presented at 9 months of age with baseline developmental delay and more extensive neuroradiological findings, including pontine hypoplasia, thalamic volume loss and signal abnormality, and hypomyelination. Like the recurrent CONDBA p.Glu210Lys variant, this novel variant, c.608A>G p.(Gln203Arg) lies within the highly conserved second HMG-box homology domain and involves the replacement of the wild-type residue with a positively charged residue, arginine. Computational structural modeling demonstrates that this amino acid substitution potentiates the interaction between UBTF and DNA, likely resulting in a gain-of-function effect for the UBTF protein, UBF.

CONCLUSION: Here we present a new divergent phenotype associated with a novel, likely pathogenic, missense variant at a different position in the UBTF gene, c.608A>G p.(Gln203Arg).