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Liegel RP, Michalski MN, Vaidya S, Bittermann E, Finnerty E, Menke CA, Diegel CR, Zhong ZA, Williams BO, Stottmann RW. Successful therapeutic intervention in new mouse models of frizzled 2-associated congenital malformations. Development 2023; 150:dev201038. [PMID: 36789910 PMCID: PMC10112907 DOI: 10.1242/dev.201038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Frizzled 2 (FZD2) is a transmembrane Wnt receptor. We previously identified a pathogenic human FZD2 variant in individuals with FZD2-associated autosomal dominant Robinow syndrome. The variant encoded a protein with a premature stop and loss of 17 amino acids, including a region of the consensus dishevelled-binding sequence. To model this variant, we used zygote microinjection and i-GONAD-based CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing to generate a mouse allelic series. Embryos mosaic for humanized Fzd2W553* knock-in exhibited cleft palate and shortened limbs, consistent with patient phenotypes. We also generated two germline mouse alleles with small deletions: Fzd2D3 and Fzd2D4. Homozygotes for each allele exhibit a highly penetrant cleft palate phenotype, shortened limbs compared with wild type and perinatal lethality. Fzd2D4 craniofacial tissues indicated decreased canonical Wnt signaling. In utero treatment with IIIC3a (a DKK inhibitor) normalized the limb lengths in Fzd2D4 homozygotes. The in vivo replication represents an approach for further investigating the mechanism of FZD2 phenotypes and demonstrates the utility of CRISPR knock-in mice as a tool for investigating the pathogenicity of human genetic variants. We also present evidence for a potential therapeutic intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan P. Liegel
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
| | - Megan N. Michalski
- Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Sanika Vaidya
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
| | - Elizabeth Bittermann
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
| | - Erin Finnerty
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
| | - Chelsea A. Menke
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
| | - Cassandra R. Diegel
- Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Zhendong A. Zhong
- Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Bart O. Williams
- Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Rolf W. Stottmann
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
- Division of Developmental Biology, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45215, USA
- Institute for Genomic Medicine, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43205, USA
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Bittermann E, Abdelhamed Z, Liegel RP, Menke C, Timms A, Beier DR, Stottmann RW. Differential requirements of tubulin genes in mammalian forebrain development. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1008243. [PMID: 31386652 PMCID: PMC6697361 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2018] [Revised: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Tubulin genes encode a series of homologous proteins used to construct microtubules which are essential for multiple cellular processes. Neural development is particularly reliant on functional microtubule structures. Tubulin genes comprise a large family of genes with very high sequence similarity between multiple family members. Human genetics has demonstrated that a large spectrum of cortical malformations are associated with de novo heterozygous mutations in tubulin genes. However, the absolute requirement for many of these genes in development and disease has not been previously tested in genetic loss of function models. Here we directly test the requirement for Tuba1a, Tubb2a and Tubb2b in the mouse by deleting each gene individually using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. We show that loss of Tubb2a or Tubb2b does not impair survival but does lead to relatively mild cortical malformation phenotypes. In contrast, loss of Tuba1a is perinatal lethal and leads to significant forebrain dysmorphology. We also present a novel mouse ENU allele of Tuba1a with phenotypes similar to the null allele. This demonstrates the requirements for each of the tubulin genes and levels of functional redundancy are quite different throughout the gene family. The ability of the mouse to survive in the absence of some tubulin genes known to cause disease in humans suggests future intervention strategies for these devastating tubulinopathy diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Bittermann
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Zakia Abdelhamed
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine (Girl’s Section), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Ryan P. Liegel
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Chelsea Menke
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Andrew Timms
- Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - David R. Beier
- Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Rolf W. Stottmann
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
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Liegel RP, Finnerty E, Blizzard L, DiStasio A, Hufnagel RB, Saal HM, Sund KL, Prows CA, Stottmann RW. Using human sequencing to guide craniofacial research. Genesis 2018; 57:e23259. [DOI: 10.1002/dvg.23259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2018] [Revised: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 10/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan P. Liegel
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Erin Finnerty
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Lauren Blizzard
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Andrew DiStasio
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Robert B. Hufnagel
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Howard M. Saal
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
- Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Kristen L. Sund
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
- Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Cynthia A. Prows
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
- Division of Patient Services, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
- Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
| | - Rolf W. Stottmann
- Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
- Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Ohio 45229
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Park AK, Liegel RP, Ronchetti A, Ebert AD, Geurts A, Sidjanin DJ. Targeted disruption of Tbc1d20 with zinc-finger nucleases causes cataracts and testicular abnormalities in mice. BMC Genet 2014; 15:135. [PMID: 25476608 PMCID: PMC4266191 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-014-0135-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2014] [Accepted: 11/24/2014] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Loss-of-function mutations in TBC1D20 cause Warburg Micro syndrome 4 (WARBM4), which is an autosomal recessive syndromic disorder characterized by eye, brain, and genital abnormalities. Blind sterile (bs) mice carry a Tbc1d20-null mutation and exhibit cataracts and testicular phenotypes similar to those observed in WARBM4 patients. In addition to TBC1D20, mutations in RAB3GAP1, RAB3GAP2 and RAB18 cause WARBM1-3 respectively. However, regardless of which gene harbors the causative mutation, all individuals affected with WARBM exhibit indistinguishable clinical presentations. In contrast, bs, Rab3gap1-/-, and Rab18-/- mice exhibit distinct phenotypes; this phenotypic variability of WARBM mice was previously attributed to potential compensatory mechanisms. Rab3gap1-/- and Rab18-/- mice were genetically engineered using standard approaches, whereas the Tbc1d20 mutation in the bs mice arose spontaneously. There is the possibility that another unidentified mutation within the bs linkage disequilibrium may be contributing to the bs phenotypes and thus contributing to the phenotypic variability in WARBM mice. The goal of this study was to establish the phenotypic consequences in mice caused by the disruption of the Tbc1d20 gene. Results The zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) mediated genomic editing generated a Tbc1d20 c.[418_426del] deletion encoding a putative TBC1D20-ZFN protein with an in-frame p.[H140_Y143del] deletion within the highly conserved TBC domain. The evaluation of Tbc1d20ZFN/ZFN eyes identified severe cataracts and thickened pupillary sphincter muscle. Tbc1d20ZFN/ZFN males are infertile and the analysis of the seminiferous tubules identified disrupted acrosomal development. The compound heterozygote Tbc1d20ZFN/bs mice, generated from an allelic bs/+ X Tbc1d20ZFN/+ cross, exhibited cataracts and aberrant acrosomal development indicating a failure to complement. Conclusions Our findings show that the disruption of Tbc1d20 in mice results in cataracts and aberrant acrosomal formation, thus establishing bs and Tbc1d20ZFN/ZFN as allelic variants. Although the WARBM molecular disease etiology remains unclear, both the bs and Tbc1d20ZFN/ZFN mice are excellent model organisms for future studies to establish TBC1D20-mediated molecular and cellular functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Kyunglim Park
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
| | - Ryan P Liegel
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
| | - Adam Ronchetti
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
| | - Allison D Ebert
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
| | - Aron Geurts
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA. .,Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
| | - Duska J Sidjanin
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA. .,Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
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Liegel RP, Ronchetti A, Sidjanin DJ. Alkylglycerone phosphate synthase (AGPS) deficient mice: models for rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctate type 3 (RCDP3) malformation syndrome. Mol Genet Metab Rep 2014; 1:299-311. [PMID: 25197626 PMCID: PMC4151185 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymgmr.2014.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCDP) is a genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive syndrome characterized by congenital cataracts, shortening of the proximal limbs, neurological abnormalities, seizures, growth delays, and severe intellectual disability. Most RCDP children die in the first decade of life due to respiratory complications. Mutations in alkylglycerone phosphate synthase (AGPS) cause RCDP type 3 (RCDP3). We've previously established that cataracts and male infertility in blind sterile 2 (bs2) mice are caused by a spontaneous hypomorphic mutation in Agps. As a part of this study, we set out to further explore the bs2 phenotypes and how they correlate to the clinical presentations of RCDP3 patients. Our results show that ∼50% bs2 mice die embryonically and surviving bs2 mice exhibit growth delays that they overcome by adulthood. The X-ray analysis of adult bs2 mice revealed significant humeral, but not femoral shortening. Clinical and histological eye evaluations revealed that bs2 lenses undergo normal development with first opacities developing at P21 that by P28 rapidly progress to mature cataracts. Evaluation of testes determined that infertility in bs2 mice is due to the aberrant formation of multicellular cellular clusters that undergo apoptosis. Given that the bs2 locus is a hypomorphic Agps mutation, we set out to generate Agps knockout mice utilizing Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP) resource. Our results showed that ∼85% of Agps knock-out mice die embryonically whereas surviving adult Agps knock-out mice phenotypically exhibit cataracts and testicular abnormalities similar to those observed in bs2 mice. Given that the majority of Agps knock-out mice die embryonically presented a challenge for further analyses of Agps deficiency in mouse models. Although not done as a part of this study, Agps-KOMP mice or ES cells can be further modified with FLP recombinase to generate mice suitable for subsequent matings with a transgenic Cre strain of choice, thereby providing an opportunity to study conditional Agps deficiency in a specific tissue or desired developmental time points without Agps deficiency-mediated embryonic lethality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan P Liegel
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
| | - Adam Ronchetti
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
| | - D J Sidjanin
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI ; Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
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