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Pober, Barbara

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Pober

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Barbara

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Pober, Barbara

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2005 - 200922010 - 20131

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Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.932438f0-2df0-440d-b867-882172733b65

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    Cellular Interference in Craniofrontonasal Syndrome: Males Mosaic for Mutations in the X-Linked EFNB1 Gene Are More Severely Affected than True Hemizygotes
    (Oxford University Press, 2013) Twigg, Stephen R.F.; Babbs, Christian; van den Elzen, Marijke E.P.; Goriely, Anne; McGowan, Simon J.; Giannoulatou, Eleni; Lonie, Lorne; Ragoussis, Jiannis; Akha, Elham Sadighi; Knight, Samantha J.L.; Zechi-Ceide, Roseli M.; Hoogeboom, Jeannette A.M.; Toriello, Helga V.; Wall, Steven A.; Rita Passos-Bueno, M.; Brunner, Han G.; Mathijssen, Irene M.J.; Wilkie, Andrew O.M.; Pober, Barbara; Taylor, Stephen
    Craniofrontonasal syndrome (CFNS), an X-linked disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations of EFNB1, exhibits a paradoxical sex reversal in phenotypic severity: females characteristically have frontonasal dysplasia, craniosynostosis and additional minor malformations, but males are usually more mildly affected with hypertelorism as the only feature. X-inactivation is proposed to explain the more severe outcome in heterozygous females, as this leads to functional mosaicism for cells with differing expression of EPHRIN-B1, generating abnormal tissue boundaries—a process that cannot occur in hemizygous males. Apparently challenging this model, males occasionally present with a more severe female-like CFNS phenotype. We hypothesized that such individuals might be mosaic for EFNB1 mutations and investigated this possibility in multiple tissue samples from six sporadically presenting males. Using denaturing high performance liquid chromatography, massively parallel sequencing and multiplex-ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) to increase sensitivity above standard dideoxy sequencing, we identified mosaic mutations of EFNB1 in all cases, comprising three missense changes, two gene deletions and a novel point mutation within the 5′ untranslated region (UTR). Quantification by Pyrosequencing and MLPA demonstrated levels of mutant cells between 15 and 69%. The 5′ UTR variant mutates the stop codon of a small upstream open reading frame that, using a dual-luciferase reporter construct, was demonstrated to exacerbate interference with translation of the wild-type protein. These results demonstrate a more severe outcome in mosaic than in constitutionally deficient males in an X-linked dominant disorder and provide further support for the cellular interference mechanism, normally related to X-inactivation in females.
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    Fog2 is required for normal diaphragm and lung development in mice and humans
    (Public Library of Science, 2005) Ackerman, Kate G; Herron, Bruce J; Huang, Hailu; Tevosian, Sergei G; Kochilas, Lazaros; Rao, Cherie; Babiuk, Randal P; Epstein, Jonathan A; Greer, John J; Vargas, Sara; Pober, Barbara; Beier, D
    Congenital diaphragmatic hernia and other congenital diaphragmatic defects are associated with significant mortality and morbidity in neonates; however, the molecular basis of these developmental anomalies is unknown. In an analysis of E18.5 embryos derived from mice treated with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea, we identified a mutation that causes pulmonary hypoplasia and abnormal diaphragmatic development. Fog2 (Zfpm2) maps within the recombinant interval carrying the N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mutation, and DNA sequencing of Fog2 identified a mutation in a splice donor site that generates an abnormal transcript encoding a truncated protein. Human autopsy cases with diaphragmatic defect and pulmonary hypoplasia were evaluated for mutations in FOG2. Sequence analysis revealed a de novo mutation resulting in a premature stop codon in a child who died on the first day of life secondary to severe bilateral pulmonary hypoplasia and an abnormally muscularized diaphragm. Using a phenotype-driven approach, we have established that Fog2 is required for normal diaphragm and lung development, a role that has not been previously appreciated. FOG2 is the first gene implicated in the pathogenesis of nonsyndromic human congenital diaphragmatic defects, and its necessity for pulmonary development validates the hypothesis that neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia may also have primary pulmonary developmental abnormalities.
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    Functional Analysis of a Novel Potassium Channel (KCNA1) Mutation in Hereditary Mokymia
    (Springer-Verlag, 2007) Chen, Haijun; von Hehn, Christian A.; Kaczmarek, Leonard K.; Ment, Laura R.; Pober, Barbara; Hisama, Fuki Marie
    Myokymia is characterized by spontaneous, involuntary muscle fiber group contraction visible as vermiform movement of the overlying skin. Myokymia with episodic ataxia is a rare, autosomal dominant trait caused by mutations in KCNA1, encoding a voltage-gated potassium channel. In the present study, we report a family with four members affected with myokymia. Additional clinical features included motor delay initially diagnosed as cerebral palsy, worsening with febrile illness, persistent extensor plantar reflex, and absence of epilepsy or episodic ataxia. Mutation analysis revealed a novel c.676C>A substitution in the potassium channel gene KCNA1, resulting in a T226K nonconservative missense mutation in the Kv1.1 subunit in all affected individuals. Electrophysiological studies of the mutant channel expressed in Xenopus oocytes indicated a loss of function. Co-expression of WT and mutant cRNAs significantly reduced whole-oocyte current compared to expression of WT Kv1.1 alone.