A novel splice site variant in DEGS1 leads to aberrant splicing and loss of DEGS1 enzyme activity, a VUS resolved

Abstract

Pathogenic DEGS1 variants have been reported in individuals with autosomal recessive hypomyelinating leukodystrophy 18 (HLD18; MIM# 618404). Here we describe three participants with HLD features and a previously unreported homozygous DEGS1 5' splice site variant, c.825+4_825 + 5delAGinsTT (NM_003676.4). We used next-generation DNA and transcriptome sequencing, cell-based splicing assays, and tandem mass spectrometry to detect and characterize the variant's impact on DEGS1 expression. We then performed RNA structure probing and conventional antisense oligonucleotide screening to investigate molecular mechanisms for potential therapeutic intervention. We show that the splice site variant: (1) was sufficient to induce exon two skipping in most detected transcripts; (2) resulted in structural changes to the 5' and 3' splice site regions using RNA structure probing; and (3) corresponds to plasma sphingolipid profiles consistent with loss of sphingolipid delta(4)-desaturase activity. Our RNA and lipidomic evidence proved that the DEGS1 variant c.825+4_825 + 5delAGinsTT is pathogenic and suggested a mechanistic model that explains how exon two skipping is induced.