Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS; MIM# 122470) is a rare developmental disorder. Pathogenic variants in 5 genes explain approximately 50% cases, leaving the other 50% unsolved. We performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) ± RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in 5 unsolved trios fulfilling the following criteria: (i) clinical diagnosis of classic CdLS, (ii) negative gene panel sequencing from blood and saliva-isolated DNA, (iii) unaffected parents' DNA samples available and (iv) proband's blood-isolated RNA available. A pathogenic de novo mutation (DNM) was observed in a CdLS differential diagnosis gene in 3/5 patients, namely POU3F3, SPEN, and TAF1. In the other two, we identified two distinct deep intronic DNM in NIPBL predicted to create a novel splice site. RT-PCRs and RNA-Seq showed aberrant transcripts leading to the creation of a novel frameshift exon. Our findings suggest the relevance of WGS in unsolved suspected CdLS cases and that deep intronic variants may account for a proportion of them.
Keywords: Cornelia de Lange syndrome; NIPBL; clustered mutations; kataegis; neurodevelopmental disorder; noncoding sequence; whole genome sequencing.
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