PUBLICATION

Abrogation of MAP4K4 protein function causes congenital anomalies in humans and zebrafish

Authors
Patterson, V., Ullah, F., Bryant, L., Dong, L.I., Griffin, J.N., Sidhu, A., Saliganan, S., Blaile, M., Saenz, M.S., Smith, R., Ellingwood, S., Grange, D.K., Hu, X., Mireguli, M., Luo, Y., Shen, Y., Mulhern, M., Zackai, E., Ritter, A., Izumi, K., Hoefele, J., Wagner, M., Riedhammer, K.M., Seitz, B., Robin, N.H., Goodloe, D., Mignot, C., Keren, B., Cox, H., Jarvis, J., Hempel, M., Gibson, C.F., Tran Mau-Them, F., Vitobello, A., Bruel, A.L., Sorlin, A., Mehta, S., Raymond, F.L., Gilmore, K., Powell, B.C., Weck, K., Li, C., Vulto-van Silfhout, A.T., Giacomini, T., Mancardi, M.M., Accogli, A., Salpietro, V., Zara, F., Vora, N.L., Davis, E.E., Burdine, R.D., Bhoj, E.
ID
ZDB-PUB-230502-40
Date
2023
Source
Science advances   9: eade0631eade0631 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Burdine, Rebecca
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Zebrafish*
PubMed
37126546 Full text @ Sci Adv
Abstract
We report 21 families displaying neurodevelopmental differences and multiple congenital anomalies while bearing a series of rare variants in mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 4 (MAP4K4). MAP4K4 has been implicated in many signaling pathways including c-Jun N-terminal and RAS kinases and is currently under investigation as a druggable target for multiple disorders. Using several zebrafish models, we demonstrate that these human variants are either loss-of-function or dominant-negative alleles and show that decreasing Map4k4 activity causes developmental defects. Furthermore, MAP4K4 can restrain hyperactive RAS signaling in early embryonic stages. Together, our data demonstrate that MAP4K4 negatively regulates RAS signaling in the early embryo and that variants identified in affected humans abrogate its function, establishing MAP4K4 as a causal locus for individuals with syndromic neurodevelopmental differences.
Errata / Notes
This article is corrected by ZDB-PUB-231125-7.
Genes / Markers
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Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
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