Functional and structural characterization of missense mutations in PAX6 gene

Abstract

The PAX6 gene belongs to the Paired box (PAX) family of transcription factors that is tissue specific and required for the differentiation and proliferation of cells in embryonic development. PAX6 regulates the pattern formation in early developmental stages. This function of PAX6 protein enables the successful completion of neurogenesis and oculogenesis in most animals such as mice, Drosophila and some other model organisms including humans. Avariation in the sequence of PAX6 gene may alter the function and structure of the protein. Such changes can produce adverse effects on functioning of the PAX6 protein which were clinically observed to occur in a broad range of ocular defects such as aniridia in humans.We employed in silico prediction methods such as SIFT, PolyPhen 2; I mutant 3.0, SNAP, SNPs&GO, and PHD-SNP to screen the pathogenic missense mutation in PAX6 and DNA binding sites by BindN and BindN +. Furthermore, we employed KD4V server to examine the structural and functional modifications that occur in the PAX6 protein as a result of mutation. Based on the results obtained from the in silico prediction methods, we carried out modeling analysis for V53L, I56T, G64V, and I87R to visualize the impact of mutation in structural context.