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Variants of the elongator protein 3 (ELP3) gene are associated with motor neuron degeneration

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 13:41 authored by Claire L Simpson, Nigel LeighNigel Leigh, et al
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a spontaneous, relentlessly progressive motor neuron disease, usually resulting in death from respiratory failure within 3 years. Variation in the genes SOD1 and TARDBP accounts for a small percentage of cases, and other genes have shown association in both candidate gene and genome-wide studies, but the genetic causes remain largely unknown. We have performed two independent parallel studies, both implicating the RNA polymerase II component, ELP3, in axonal biology and neuronal degeneration. In the first, an association study of 1884 microsatellite markers, allelic variants of ELP3 were associated with ALS in three human populations comprising 1483 people (P=1.96 x 10(-9)). In the second, an independent mutagenesis screen in Drosophila for genes important in neuronal communication and survival identified two different loss of function mutations, both in ELP3 (R475K and R456K). Furthermore, knock down of ELP3 protein levels using antisense morpholinos in zebrafish embryos resulted in dose-dependent motor axonal abnormalities [Pearson correlation: -0.49, P=1.83 x 10(-12) (start codon morpholino) and -0.46, P=4.05 x 10(-9) (splice-site morpholino), and in humans, risk-associated ELP3 genotypes correlated with reduced brain ELP3 expression (P=0.01). These findings add to the growing body of evidence implicating the RNA processing pathway in neurodegeneration and suggest a critical role for ELP3 in neuron biology and of ELP3 variants in ALS

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Human Molecular Genetics

ISSN

0964-6906

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Issue

3

Volume

18

Page range

472-81

Department affiliated with

  • Clinical and Experimental Medicine Publications

Notes

Additional authors: Robin Lemmens, Katarzyna Miskiewicz, Wendy J. Broom, Valerie K. Hansen, Paul W.J. van Vught, John E. Landers, Peter Sapp, Ludo Van Den Bosch, Joanne Knight, Benjamin M. Neale, Martin R. Turner1, Jan H. Veldink, Roel A. Ophoff, Vineeta B. Tripathi, Ana Beleza, Meera N. Shah, Petroula Proitsi, Annelies Van Hoecke, Peter Carmeliet, H. Robert Horvitz, Christopher E. Shaw, Leonard H. van den Berg, Pak C. Sham, John F. Powell, Patrik Verstreken, Robert H. Brown Jr, Wim Robberecht and Ammar Al-Chalabi1

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-11-14

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