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Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.331 WARS2 Rebecca Foulger Source Wessex and West Midlands GLH was added to WARS2.
Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.330 WARS2 Rebecca Foulger Source NHS GMS was added to WARS2.
Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.321 WARS2 Rebecca Foulger commented on gene: WARS2: Kept rating as Green based on Green post-Webex review from Helen Lord.
Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.262 WARS2 Rebecca Foulger reviewed gene: WARS2: Rating: AMBER; Mode of pathogenicity: ; Publications: ; Phenotypes: ; Mode of inheritance:
Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.261 WARS2 Helen Lord reviewed gene: WARS2: Rating: GREEN; Mode of pathogenicity: ; Publications: ; Phenotypes: ; Mode of inheritance: BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.177 WARS2 Catherine Snow Source Expert Review Green was added to WARS2.
Source Expert Review was added to WARS2.
Added phenotypes Neurodevelopmental disorder, mitochondrial, with abnormal movements and lactic acidosis, with or without seizures, 617710 for gene: WARS2
Publications for gene WARS2 were changed from 28236339; 28650581; 28905505; 29783990; 29120065 to 29783990; 28236339; 29120065; 28650581; 28905505
Rating Changed from No List (delete) to Green List (high evidence)
Early onset or syndromic epilepsy v1.21 WARS2 Konstantinos Varvagiannis gene: WARS2 was added
gene: WARS2 was added to Genetic epilepsy syndromes. Sources: Literature
Mode of inheritance for gene: WARS2 was set to BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Publications for gene: WARS2 were set to 28236339; 28650581; 28905505; 29783990; 29120065
Phenotypes for gene: WARS2 were set to Neurodevelopmental disorder, mitochondrial, with abnormal movements and lactic acidosis, with or without seizures, 617710
Penetrance for gene: WARS2 were set to unknown
Review for gene: WARS2 was set to GREEN
Added comment: Several individuals with biallelic pathogenic WARS2 variants have been published to date. DD and ID have been reported among others in most of the affected individuals (only the respective features are commented on below):

PMID: 28236339 (Musante et al. 2017) : 2 sibs compound heterozygous for NM_201263.2:c.325delA (p.Ser109Alafs*159) and c.37T>G (p.Trp13Gly). DD with ID were features in both.

PMID: 28650581 (Theisen et al. 2017) : The authors report on 1 individual with DD, ID and seizures was found to harbor in the compound heterozygous state NM_0158360.3:c.938A>T (p.K313M) and c.298_300delCTT (p.L100del).

PMID: 28905505 (Wortmann et al. 2017) : Details on 6 individuals from 5 unrelated families are provided. DD and ID were observed in 5 of these individuals (Fam 2-5). Severe, neonatal presentation was the case for an additional subject. Confirmed occurrence of epilepsy was reported for 3 individuals from 2 families (and suspected in a further one). Using NM_0158360.3 variants were the following :
Fam1 : c.91-8725_348+27113del36096 (p.Lys31_Glndel116) in trans with c.1045G>C (p.Val349Leu)
Fam2 : c.797del (p.Pro266Argfs*10) in trans with c.938A>T (p.Lys313met) [in 2 individuals]
Fam3 : c.231C>G (p.His77Gln) in trans with c.1054G>A (p.Glu352Lys)
Fam4 : c.532G>C (p.Val178Leu) in homozygous state
Fam5 : c.134G>T (p.Gly45Val) in trans with c.938A>T (p.Lys313Met)

PMID: 29783990 (Vantroys et al. 2018) : The authors report on 1 individual with DD, ID and seizures (among other features), compound heterozygous for c.797del (p.Pro266Argfs*10) and c.938A>T (p.Lys313met), similar to subjects from family 2 in PMID: 28905505.

PMID: 29120065 (Burke et al. 2018) : One 17-year-old boy with infantile-onset Parkinsonism but not DD/ID is described in this study. This individuals was found to harbor in the following variants in the compound heterozygous state: NM_015836.3: c.37T>G (p.Trp13Gly) and c.683C>G (p.Ser228Trp).

Probably 7 missense variants, 3 frameshift ones and an intragenic deletion have been reported in individuals with DD/ID (overview in fig 4. - in PMID: 29783990).
- p.Pro266Argfs*10 is located in the last exon of the gene (NM_015836.3).
- p.Trp13Gly (c.37T>G using either NM_201263.2 or NM_015836.3 as ref) has been commented to be a functional polymorphism 'uncovered' by the presence of a LoF allele in trans in affected individuals (AF : 0.003265 and 6 homozygotes in gnomAD)
- p.Lys313Met is possibly the most frequently reported variant as discussed by Vantroys et al.

WARS2 encodes mitochondrial tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (a cytoplasmic form is encoded by WARS). As commented in most of the articles, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARS) are a group of enzymes responsible for ligating amino acids to cognate tRNA molecules. Mutations in mitochondrial ARSs lead to impaired intramitochondrial translation affecting OXPHOS complexes (with mitochondrial-encoded subunits). Mutations in all 19 mitochondrial ARSs have been linked to disorders affecting different organ systems with variable severity and phenotypic presentation (summarized by Vantroys et al.).

Several lines of evidence have been provided to support a role for specific variants (eg. reduced WARS2 amounts upon Western blot, or impaired mitochondrial localization depending on the different variants and their effect) or WARS2 (expression in brain, impaired aminoacylation, abnormalities in OXPHOS enzymes/biosynthesis , etc).

Alternative causes (disorders of the differential diagnosis) have been ruled out on most - if not all - occasions.

As commented by Wortmann et al. the clinical spectrum appears to be broad as for the age of onset, features and clinical course (as happens to be the case for some other disorders due deficiencies of other ARSs). The same authors state that apart from elevated lactate which is suggestive of mitochondrial dysfunction, no specific metabolite was found to be altered in affected individuals.

Phenotypic variability even between individuals with the same genotype has been reported. Eg. severe neonatal presentation with lactic acidosis/hypoglycaemia was the case for 2 sibs in family 2 from Wortmann et al. but the clinical course was different for the subject reported by Vantroys et al. (DD/ID with seizure onset at the age of 6 yrs).

As a result, investigations (and selection of gene panel) may not be straightforward.

In addition consideration of this gene in the epilepsy panel seems to be relevant given that seizures were noted in at least 5 individuals (from 4 families - 28650581, 28905505, 29783990) and severe adverse effects of valproate administration occurred in the subject reported by Vantroys et al.
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The associated phenotype in OMIM is Neurodevelopmental disorder, mitochondrial, with abnormal movements and lactic acidosis, with or without seizures (# 617710). WARS2 is not associated with any disorder in G2P.
This gene is included in panels for ID offered by some diagnostic laboratories.
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As a result, WARS2 can be considered for inclusion in the ID and epilepsy panels as green (or amber).
Sources: Literature