AI Article Synopsis

  • - Koolen-de Vries syndrome (KdVS) is a genetic disorder linked to developmental issues like intellectual disability, friendly behavior, and physical malformations, caused by deletions or variants in the 17q21.31 region or the KANSL1 gene.
  • - Research used mouse models to explore the effects of these genetic alterations, revealing changes in weight, activity, social behavior, and memory, along with brain structure differences.
  • - Findings indicated a connection between the KANSL1 gene and KdVS symptoms, highlighting distinct social behavior patterns and suggesting other genes in the 17q21.31 region may also play a role, thus aiding future therapeutic strategies.

Article Abstract

Koolen-de Vries syndrome (KdVS) is a multi-system disorder characterized by intellectual disability, friendly behavior, and congenital malformations. The syndrome is caused either by microdeletions in the 17q21.31 chromosomal region or by variants in the KANSL1 gene. The reciprocal 17q21.31 microduplication syndrome is associated with psychomotor delay, and reduced social interaction. To investigate the pathophysiology of 17q21.31 microdeletion and microduplication syndromes, we generated three mouse models: 1) the deletion (Del/+); or 2) the reciprocal duplication (Dup/+) of the 17q21.31 syntenic region; and 3) a heterozygous Kansl1 (Kans1+/-) model. We found altered weight, general activity, social behaviors, object recognition, and fear conditioning memory associated with craniofacial and brain structural changes observed in both Del/+ and Dup/+ animals. By investigating hippocampus function, we showed synaptic transmission defects in Del/+ and Dup/+ mice. Mutant mice with a heterozygous loss-of-function mutation in Kansl1 displayed similar behavioral and anatomical phenotypes compared to Del/+ mice with the exception of sociability phenotypes. Genes controlling chromatin organization, synaptic transmission and neurogenesis were upregulated in the hippocampus of Del/+ and Kansl1+/- animals. Our results demonstrate the implication of KANSL1 in the manifestation of KdVS phenotypes and extend substantially our knowledge about biological processes affected by these mutations. Clear differences in social behavior and gene expression profiles between Del/+ and Kansl1+/- mice suggested potential roles of other genes affected by the 17q21.31 deletion. Together, these novel mouse models provide new genetic tools valuable for the development of therapeutic approaches.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5531616PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006886DOI Listing

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