Lijia Huang, Katarzyna Szymanska, Victor L Jensen, Andreas R Janecke, A Micheil Innes, Erica E Davis, Patrick Frosk, Chunmei Li, Jason R Willer, Bernard N Chodirker, Cheryl R Greenberg, D Ross McLeod, Francois P Bernier, Albert E Chudley, Thomas Müller, Mohammad Shboul, Clare V Logan, Catrina M Loucks, Chandree L Beaulieu, Rachel V Bowie, Sandra M Bell, Jonathan Adkins, Freddi I Zuniga, Kevin D Ross, Jian Wang, Matthew R Ban, Christian Becker, Peter Nürnberg, Stuart Douglas, Cheryl M Craft, Marie-Andree Akimenko, Robert A Hegele, Carole Ober, Gerd Utermann, Hanno J Bolz, Dennis E Bulman, Nicholas Katsanis, Oliver E Blacque, Dan Doherty, Jillian S Parboosingh, Michel R Leroux, Colin A Johnson, Kym M Boycott
Joubert syndrome related disorders (JSRDs) have broad but variable phenotypic overlap with other ciliopathies. The molecular etiology of this overlap is unclear but probably arises from disrupting common functional module components within primary cilia. To identify additional module elements associated with JSRDs, we performed homozygosity mapping followed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) and uncovered mutations in TMEM237 (previously known as ALS2CR4). We show that loss of the mammalian TMEM237, which localizes to the ciliary transition zone (TZ), results in defective ciliogenesis and deregulation of Wnt signaling...
December 9, 2011: American Journal of Human Genetics