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Analysis of cilia dysfunction phenotypes in zebrafish embryos depleted of origin recognition complex factors

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posted on 2023-06-09, 17:04 authored by Lars D Maerz, Teresa Casar Tena, Julian Gerhards, Cornelia Donow, Penny Jeggo, Melanie Philipp
Meier–Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a rare, congenital primordial microcephalic dwarfism disorder. MGS is caused by genetic variants of components of the origin recognition complex (ORC) consisting of ORC1–6 and the pre-replication complex, which together enable origin firing and hence genome replication. In addition, ORC1 has previously been shown to play a role in ciliogenesis. Here, we extend this work and investigate the function of ORC1 and two other members of the complex on cilia at an organismal level. Knockdown experiments in zebrafish confirmed the impact of ORC1 on cilia. ORC1-deficiency confers defects anticipated to arise from impaired cilia function such as formation of oedema, kidney cysts, curved bodies and left–right asymmetry defects. We found ORC1 furthermore required for cilium formation in zebrafish and demonstrate that ciliopathy phenotypes in ORC1-depleted zebrafish could not be rescued by reconstitution with ORC1 bearing a genetic variant previously identified in MGS patients. Loss-of-function of Orc4 and Orc6, respectively, conferred similar ciliopathy phenotypes and cilium shortening in zebrafish, suggesting that several, if not all, components of the ORC regulate ciliogenesis downstream to or in addition to their canonical function in replication initiation. This study presents the first in vivo evidence of an influence of the MGS genes of the ORC family on cilia, and consolidates the possibility that cilia dysfunction could contribute to the clinical manifestation of ORC-deficient MGS.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

European Journal of Human Genetics

ISSN

1018-4813

Publisher

Springer Nature

Issue

5

Volume

27

Page range

772-782

Department affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Genome Damage Stability Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Genome Damage and Stability Centre Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-03-01

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-07-29

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-02-27

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