Neurodevelopmental disorder-associated ZBTB20 gene variants affect dendritic and synaptic structure.

Dendritic spine morphology and dendritic arborization are key determinants of neuronal connectivity and play critical roles in learning, memory and behavior function. Recently, defects of ZBTB20, a BTB and zinc finger domain containing transcriptional repressor, have been implicated in a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders, including intellectual disability and autism. Here we show distinct effects of expression of two major isoforms, long and short, of ZBTB20, and its neurodevelopmental disorder-linked variants, on dendritic architecture of cultured rat cortical pyramidal neurons.