Intellectual disability - microarray and sequencing
Gene: METTL23 Green List (high evidence)Comment on list classification: New gene added by external expert and reviewed by curation team: Sufficient evidence has been provided by the external expert review for this gene to be rated green.Created: 19 Feb 2019, 9:43 a.m.
Green List (high evidence)
Biallelic pathogenic variants in METTL23 cause Mental retardation, autosomal recessive 44 (MIM 615942).
Reiff et al. (PMID: 24501276) report on a consanguineous pedigree of Yemeni origin with 7 individuals presenting intellectual disability. Clinical details are provided for 3 subjects from one branch of the family. Findings included moderate (2/3) or severe (1/3) ID, seizures (2/3) and some common facial features. Seizures were not observed in individuals from other branch of the family. The affected individuals were homozygous for a 4-bp deletion.
Bernkopf et al. (PMID: 24626631) report on a consanguineous family from Pakistan with 2 affected sibs as well as a non-consanguineous family from Austria with 4 affected sibs. The parents in the latter family originated from a small - geographically isolated - village. Individuals from the Pakistani family were homozygous for a nonsense variant, while the sibs from the Austrian family for a frameshift variant. Mild ID was noted in all.
In total 3 different LoF variants have been reported. Extensive functional studies have been performed in both articles.
METTL23 (methyltransferase like 23) is expressed at low-to-moderate levels in the developping human brain. Bernkopf et al. suggest that METTL23 is indeed a methyltransferase.
The gene has 7 transcripts of which one is non-coding. 3 transcripts encode isoform 1 and 3 other encode isoform 2.
The variant reported by Reiff et al. affects the coding region of 3 (of the 6 coding) transcripts (corresponding to isoform 1) and the 5'-UTR of the other 3 transcripts. It is however shown that this first coding exon (specific to isoform 1) is expressed in the developing human brain, though at lower levels than downstream exons common to both isoforms. In addition, only isoform 1 appears to be conserved in most other species.
The variants described by Bernkopf et al. affect all 6 coding trancripts and as a result both isoforms. [However, the individuals reported by Bernkopf et al. were less severely affected compared to those reported by Reiff et al.]
Nonsense-mediated decay appeared unlikely since mRNA levels for both isoforms in lymphoblasts from affected individuals were similar to controls (upon qRT-PCR) [The specific nonsense variant tested would be expected to be subject to NMD given its localization].
METTL23 is not associated with any phenotype in G2P.
This gene is included in gene panels for intellectual disability offered by various diagnostic laboratories.
As a result, METTL23 can be considered for inclusion in the ID panel as green (or amber).
Sources: LiteratureCreated: 10 Dec 2018, 1:39 a.m.
Mode of inheritance
BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Phenotypes
Mental retardation, autosomal recessive 44 (MIM 615942)
Publications
Variants in this GENE are reported as part of current diagnostic practice
Gene: mettl23 has been classified as Green List (High Evidence).
Phenotypes for gene: METTL23 were changed from Mental retardation, autosomal recessive 44 (MIM 615942) to Mental retardation, autosomal recessive 44, 615942
gene: METTL23 was added gene: METTL23 was added to Intellectual disability. Sources: Literature Mode of inheritance for gene: METTL23 was set to BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal Publications for gene: METTL23 were set to 24501276; 24626631 Phenotypes for gene: METTL23 were set to Mental retardation, autosomal recessive 44 (MIM 615942) Penetrance for gene: METTL23 were set to Complete Review for gene: METTL23 was set to GREEN gene: METTL23 was marked as current diagnostic
If promoting or demoting a gene, please provide comments to justify a decision to move it.
Genes included in a Genomics England gene panel for a rare disease category (green list) should fit the criteria A-E outlined below.
These guidelines were developed as a combination of the ClinGen DEFINITIVE evidence for a causal role of the gene in the disease(a), and the Developmental Disorder Genotype-Phenotype (DDG2P) CONFIRMED DD Gene evidence level(b) (please see the original references provided below for full details). These help provide a guideline for expert reviewers when assessing whether a gene should be on the green or the red list of a panel.
A. There are plausible disease-causing mutations(i) within, affecting or encompassing an interpretable functional region(ii) of this gene identified in multiple (>3) unrelated cases/families with the phenotype(iii).
OR
B. There are plausible disease-causing mutations(i) within, affecting or encompassing cis-regulatory elements convincingly affecting the expression of a single gene identified in multiple (>3) unrelated cases/families with the phenotype(iii).
OR
C. As definitions A or B but in 2 or 3 unrelated cases/families with the phenotype, with the addition of convincing bioinformatic or functional evidence of causation e.g. known inborn error of metabolism with mutation in orthologous gene which is known to have the relevant deficient enzymatic activity in other species; existence of an animal model which recapitulates the human phenotype.
AND
D. Evidence indicates that disease-causing mutations follow a Mendelian pattern of causation appropriate for reporting in a diagnostic setting(iv).
AND
E. No convincing evidence exists or has emerged that contradicts the role of the gene in the specified phenotype.
(i)Plausible disease-causing mutations: Recurrent de novo mutations convincingly affecting gene function. Rare, fully-penetrant mutations - relevant genotype never, or very rarely, seen in controls. (ii) Interpretable functional region: ORF in protein coding genes miRNA stem or loop. (iii) Phenotype: the rare disease category, as described in the eligibility statement. (iv) Intermediate penetrance genes should not be included.
It’s assumed that loss-of-function variants in this gene can cause the disease/phenotype unless an exception to this rule is known. We would like to collect information regarding exceptions. An example exception is the PCSK9 gene, where loss-of-function variants are not relevant for a hypercholesterolemia phenotype as they are associated with increased LDL-cholesterol uptake via LDLR (PMID: 25911073).
If a curated set of known-pathogenic variants is available for this gene-phenotype, please contact us at [email protected]
We classify loss-of-function variants as those with the following Sequence Ontology (SO) terms:
Term descriptions can be found on the PanelApp homepage and Ensembl.
If you are submitting this evaluation on behalf of a clinical laboratory please indicate whether you report variants in this gene as part of your current diagnostic practice by checking the box
Standardised terms were used to represent the gene-disease mode of inheritance, and were mapped to commonly used terms from the different sources. Below each of the terms is described, along with the equivalent commonly-used terms.
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease, and imprinting has not been implicated.
A variant on the paternally-inherited allele of this gene can cause the disease, if the alternate allele is imprinted (function muted).
A variant on the maternally-inherited allele of this gene can cause the disease, if the alternate allele is imprinted (function muted).
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease. This is the default used for autosomal dominant mode of inheritance where no knowledge of the imprinting status of the gene required to cause the disease is known. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal dominant, dominant, AD, DOMINANT.
A variant on both alleles of this gene is required to cause the disease. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal recessive, recessive, AR, RECESSIVE.
The disease can be caused by a variant on one or both alleles of this gene. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal recessive or autosomal dominant, recessive or dominant, AR/AD, AD/AR, DOMINANT/RECESSIVE, RECESSIVE/DOMINANT.
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease, however a variant on both alleles of this gene can result in a more severe form of the disease/phenotype.
A variant in this gene can cause the disease in males as they have one X-chromosome allele, whereas a variant on both X-chromosome alleles is required to cause the disease in females. Mapped to the following commonly used term from different sources: X-linked recessive.
A variant in this gene can cause the disease in males as they have one X-chromosome allele. A variant on one allele of this gene may also cause the disease in females, though the disease/phenotype may be less severe and may have a later-onset than is seen in males. X-linked inactivation and mosaicism in different tissues complicate whether a female presents with the disease, and can change over their lifetime. This term is the default setting used for X-linked genes, where it is not known definitately whether females require a variant on each allele of this gene in order to be affected. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: X-linked dominant, x-linked, X-LINKED, X-linked.
The gene is in the mitochondrial genome and variants within this can cause this disease, maternally inherited. Mapped to the following commonly used term from different sources: Mitochondrial.
Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: Unknown, NA, information not provided.
For example, if the mode of inheritance is digenic, please indicate this in the comments and which other gene is involved.