Non-coding deletions identify Maenli lncRNA as a limb-specific En1 regulator.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can be important components in gene-regulatory networks1, but the exact nature and extent of their involvement in human Mendelian disease is largely unknown. Here we show that genetic ablation of a lncRNA locus on human chromosome 2 causes a severe congenital limb malformation. We identified homozygous 27-63-kilobase deletions located 300 kilobases upstream of the engrailed-1 gene (EN1) in patients with a complex limb malformation featuring mesomelic shortening, syndactyly and ventral nails (dorsal dimelia). Re-engineering of the human deletions in mice resulted in a complete loss of En1 expression in the limb and a double dorsal-limb phenotype that recapitulates the human disease phenotype. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis in the developing mouse limb revealed a four-exon-long non-coding transcript within the deleted region, which we named Maenli. Functional dissection of the Maenli locus showed that its transcriptional activity is required for limb-specific En1 activation in cis, thereby fine-tuning the gene-regulatory networks controlling dorso-ventral polarity in the developing limb bud. Its loss results in the En1-related dorsal ventral limb phenotype, a subset of the full En1-associated phenotype. Our findings demonstrate that mutations involving lncRNA loci can result in human Mendelian disease.

Citation

Lila Allou, Sara Balzano, Andreas Magg, Mathieu Quinodoz, Beryl Royer-Bertrand, Robert Schöpflin, Wing-Lee Chan, Carlos E Speck-Martins, Daniel Rocha Carvalho, Luciano Farage, Charles Marques Lourenço, Regina Albuquerque, Srilakshmi Rajagopal, Sheela Nampoothiri, Belinda Campos-Xavier, Carole Chiesa, Florence Niel-Bütschi, Lars Wittler, Bernd Timmermann, Malte Spielmann, Michael I Robson, Alessa Ringel, Verena Heinrich, Giulia Cova, Guillaume Andrey, Cesar A Prada-Medina, Rosanna Pescini-Gobert, Sheila Unger, Luisa Bonafé, Phillip Grote, Carlo Rivolta, Stefan Mundlos, Andrea Superti-Furga. Non-coding deletions identify Maenli lncRNA as a limb-specific En1 regulator. Nature. 2021 Apr;592(7852):93-98

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PMID: 33568816

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