Intellectual disability - microarray and sequencing
Gene: POU3F3 Green List (high evidence)Green List (high evidence)
POU3F3 has been identified by Konstantinos Varvagiannis following a publication by Snijders Blok et al. (PMID: 31303265) who reported on 19 individuals with heterozygous POU3F3 variants. Variants consisted of 12 nonsense/frameshift variants, 5 missense ones as well as 1 in-frame deletion.
Nearly all individuals underwent trio WES it was found that all variants were de novo, except individuals 18 & 19 who were a mother and daughter and only duo sequenced.
All individual reported to have some form of developmental delay and ID. Although severity of ID varied from mild to severe and level of severity was not recorded in 9/19 cases.
POU3F3 is currently not associated with any phenotypes in OMIM or in Gene2Phenotype. Although the ID phenotype was broad there are sufficient number of variants in unrelated cases to classify POU3F3 as Green.Created: 5 Aug 2019, 2:37 p.m. | Last Modified: 5 Aug 2019, 2:37 p.m.
Panel Version: 2.995
Green List (high evidence)
Snijders Blok et al. (2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.06.007) report on 19 individuals with heterozygous POU3F3 variants.
Features included hypotonia in some, DD/ID (19/19) with impairment in speech and language skills, and autism-like symptoms with formal ASD diagnosis in 7(/19). Epilepsy was reported for 2 individuals. Overlapping facial features were noted among these individuals.
POU3F3 encodes a member of the class III POU family of transcription factors expressed in the central nervous system (Sumiyama et al. 1996, PMID: 8703082 cited in OMIM) and as the authors comment holds a role in regulation of key processes, eg. cortical neuronal migration, upper-layer specification and production and neurogenesis (PMIDs cited: 11859196, 12130536, 22892427, 17141158).
In almost all subjects (17/19) the variant had occurred as a de novo event, while one individual had inherited the variant from a similarly affected parent.
In total 12 nonsense/frameshift variants, 5 missense ones as well as 1 in-frame deletion were identified following (mostly) trio exome sequencing. All variants were absent from gnomAD, with in silico predictions in favour of pathogenicity.
The few missense variants and the in-frame deletion were found either in the POU-specific (NM_006236.2:c.1085G>T / p.Arg362Leu found in 2 subjects) or the POU-homeobox domain (where 2 variants affected the same residue, namely p.Arg407Gly/Leu, the other variant was p.Asn456Ser).
POU3F3 is an intronless gene and as a result truncating variants are not subject to NMD. The gene appears to be intolerant to LoF variants (pLI of 0.89 in gnomAD).
Western blot analysis of YFP-tagged POU3F3 variants (in HEK293 cell lysates) showed that the YFP-fusion proteins were expressed and had the expected molecular weights.
For several truncating variants tested as well as the in-frame deletion, aberrant subcellular localization pattern was demonstrated although this was not the case for 4 missense variants.
In vitro studies were carried out and suggested that POU3F3, as is known to be the case for POU3F2, is able to activate an intronic binding site in FOXP2. Using a luciferase assay, transcriptional activation was severely impaired for truncating variants tested, significantly lower for many missense ones with the exception of those affecting Arg407 in which case luciferase expression was either similar to wt (for Arg407Gly) or even increased in the case of Arg407Leu.
As the authors comment, both loss- and gain- of function mechanisms may underly pathogenicity of variants.
The ability of mutant proteins to form dimers either with wt or themselves was tested. Dimerization capacity was intact for most missense variants but was lost/decreased for truncating variants. The in-frame deletion resulted in impaired dimerization with wt, although homo-dimerization was found to be normal.
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Dheedene et al. (2014 - PMID: 24550763) had previously reported on a boy with ID. aCGH had demonstrated a de novo 360-kb deletion of 2q12.1 spanning only POU3F3 and MRPS9 the latter encoding a mitochondrial ribosomal protein (which would be most compatible with a - yet undescribed - recessive inheritance pattern / disorder).
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POU3F3 is not associated with any phenotype in OMIM/G2P.
The gene is included in gene panels for ID offered by some diagnostic laboratories (incl. Radboudumc, among the principal authors of the study).
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As a result POU3F3 seems to fulfill criteria for inclusion in the current panel probably as green [DD/ID was a universal feature - severity of ID was relevant in 5/10 individuals for whom details were available, functional evidence provided] or amber.
Sources: Literature, Radboud University Medical Center, NijmegenCreated: 14 Jul 2019, 10:20 a.m.
Mode of inheritance
MONOALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal, imprinted status unknown
Phenotypes
Generalized hypotonia; Delayed speech and language development; Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Autistic behavior
Publications
Variants in this GENE are reported as part of current diagnostic practice
Phenotypes for gene: POU3F3 were changed from Generalized hypotonia; Delayed speech and language development; Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Autistic behavior to Snijders Blok-Fisher syndrome, 618604; Generalized hypotonia; Delayed speech and language development; Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Autistic behavior
Gene: pou3f3 has been classified as Green List (High Evidence).
Publications for gene: POU3F3 were set to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.06.007; 24550763
gene: POU3F3 was added gene: POU3F3 was added to Intellectual disability. Sources: Literature,Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen Mode of inheritance for gene: POU3F3 was set to MONOALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal, imprinted status unknown Publications for gene: POU3F3 were set to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.06.007; 24550763 Phenotypes for gene: POU3F3 were set to Generalized hypotonia; Delayed speech and language development; Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Autistic behavior Penetrance for gene: POU3F3 were set to unknown Review for gene: POU3F3 was set to GREEN gene: POU3F3 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.