AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit defects are a cause of neurodevelopmental disorders

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 3094 - 16
• Main Authors: Salpietro, Vincenzo, Dixon, Christine L., Guo, Hui, Bello, Oscar D., Vandrovcova, Jana, Efthymiou, Stephanie, Maroofian, Reza, Heimer, Gali, Burglen, Lydie, Valence, Stephanie, Torti, Erin, Hacke, Moritz, Rankin, Julia, Tariq, Huma, Colin, Estelle, Procaccio, Vincent, Striano, Pasquale, Mankad, Kshitij, Lieb, Andreas, Chen, Sharon, Pisani, Laura, Bettencourt, Conceicao, Männikkö, Roope, Manole, Andreea, Brusco, Alfredo, Grosso, Enrico, Ferrero, Giovanni Battista, Armstrong-Moron, Judith, Gueden, Sophie, Bar-Yosef, Omer, Tzadok, Michal, Monaghan, Kristin G., Santiago-Sim, Teresa, Person, Richard E., Cho, Megan T., Willaert, Rebecca, Yoo, Yongjin, Chae, Jong-Hee, Quan, Yingting, Wu, Huidan, Wang, Tianyun, Bernier, Raphael A., Xia, Kun, Blesson, Alyssa, Jain, Mahim, Motazacker, Mohammad M., Jaeger, Bregje, Schneider, Amy L., Boysen, Katja, Muir, Alison M., Myers, Candace T., Gavrilova, Ralitza H., Gunderson, Lauren, Schultz-Rogers, Laura, Klee, Eric W., Dyment, David, Osmond, Matthew, Parellada, Mara, Llorente, Cloe, Gonzalez-Peñas, Javier, Carracedo, Angel, Van Haeringen, Arie, Ruivenkamp, Claudia, Nava, Caroline, Heron, Delphine, Nardello, Rosaria, Iacomino, Michele, Minetti, Carlo, Skabar, Aldo, Fabretto, Antonella, Raspall-Chaure, Miquel, Chez, Michael, Tsai, Anne, Fassi, Emily, Shinawi, Marwan, Constantino, John N., De Zorzi, Rita, Fortuna, Sara, Kok, Fernando, Keren, Boris, Bonneau, Dominique, Choi, Murim, Benzeev, Bruria, Zara, Federico, Mefford, Heather C., Scheffer, Ingrid E., Clayton-Smith, Jill, Macaya, Alfons, Rothman, James E., Eichler, Evan E., Kullmann, Dimitri M., Houlden, Henry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12.07.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 45; 45/23; 45/61; 45/77; 49; 49/22; 631/208/514/2254; 631/378/2571/2577; 631/378/2586; 692/617/375/366; 82/1; 9/26; 9/74; Abnormalities; Adolescent; Adult; Autism; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Calcium; Calcium ions; Channels; Child; Child, Preschool; Cognitive science; Cohort Studies; Disorders; Electric potential; Encephalopathy; Epilepsy; Female; Genetics; Glutamatergic transmission; Heterozygote; Human health and pathology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Infant; Intellectual Disability - genetics; Life Sciences; Loss of Function Mutation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; multidisciplinary; Mutation; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Neurodevelopmental Disorders - genetics; Neuroscience; Pediatrics; Post-transcription; Receptors; Receptors AMPA/genetics; Rett syndrome; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seizures; Synaptic transmission; Voltage; Young Adult; α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid; α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptors
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10910-w

AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are tetrameric ligand-gated channels made up of combinations of GluA1-4 subunits encoded by GRIA1-4 genes. GluA2 has an especially important role because, following post-transcriptional editing at the Q607 site, it renders heteromultimeric AMPARs Ca 2+ -impermeable, with a linear relationship between current and trans-membrane voltage. Here, we report heterozygous de novo GRIA2 mutations in 28 unrelated patients with intellectual disability (ID) and neurodevelopmental abnormalities including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Rett syndrome-like features, and seizures or developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE). In functional expression studies, mutations lead to a decrease in agonist-evoked current mediated by mutant subunits compared to wild-type channels. When GluA2 subunits are co-expressed with GluA1, most GRIA2 mutations cause a decreased current amplitude and some also affect voltage rectification. Our results show that de-novo variants in GRIA2 can cause neurodevelopmental disorders, complementing evidence that other genetic causes of ID, ASD and DEE also disrupt glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Genetic variants in ionotropic glutamate receptors have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, the authors report heterozygous de novo mutations in the GRIA2 gene in 28 individuals with intellectual disability and neurodevelopmental abnormalities associated with reduced Ca 2+ transport and AMPAR currents.”