Homozygous frameshift mutation in TMCO1 causes a syndrome with craniofacial dysmorphism, skeletal anomalies, and mental retardation

Abstract

We identified an autosomal recessive condition in 11 individuals in the Old Order Amish of northeastern Ohio. The syndrome was characterized by distinctive craniofacial dysmorphism, skeletal anomalies, and mental retardation. The typical craniofacial dysmorphism included brachycephaly, highly arched bushy eyebrows, synophrys, long eyelashes, low-set ears, microdontism of primary teeth, and generalized gingival hyperplasia, whereas Sprengel deformity of scapula, fusion of spine, rib abnormities, pectus excavatum, and pes planus represented skeletal anomalies. The genome-wide homozygosity mapping using six affected individuals localized the disease gene to a 3.3-Mb region on chromosome 1q23.3-q24.1. Candidate gene sequencing identified a homozygous frameshift mutation, c.139_140delAG, in the transmembrane and coiled-coil domains 1 (TMCO1) gene, as the pathogenic change in all affected members of the extended pedigree. This mutation is predicted to result in a severely truncated protein (p.Ser47Ter) of only one-fourth the original length. The TMCO1 gene product is a member of DUF841 superfamily of several eukaryotic proteins with unknown function. The gene has highly conserved amino acid sequence and is universally expressed in all human tissues examined. The high degree of conservation and the ubiquitous expression pattern in human adult and fetal tissues suggest a critical role for TMCO1. This report shows a TMCO1 sequence variant being associated with a genetic disorder in human. We propose "TMCO1 defect syndrome" as the name of this condition.