Null and missense mutations of ERI1 cause a recessive phenotypic dichotomy in humans

Guo L, Salian S, Xue JY, Rath N, Rousseau J, Kim H, Ehresmann S, Moosa S, Nakagawa N, Kuroda H, Clayton-Smith J, Wang J, Wang Z, Banka S, Jackson A, Zhang YM, Wei ZJ, Hüning I, Brunet T, Ohashi H, Thomas MF, Bupp C, Miyake N, Matsumoto N, Mendoza-Londono R, Costain G, Hahn G, Di Donato N, Yigit G, Yamada T, Nishimura G, Ansel KM, Wollnik B, Hrabě de Angelis M, Mégarbané A, Rosenfeld JA, Heissmeyer V, Ikegawa S, Campeau PM (2023 Jul 6) Null and missense mutations of ERI1 cause a recessive phenotypic dichotomy in humans. Am J Hum Genet. 110(7):1068-1085. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.06.001.

Abstract cited directly from the article:

ERI1 is a 3′-to-5′ exoribonuclease involved in RNA metabolic pathways including 5.8S rRNA processing and turnover of histone mRNAs. Its biological and medical significance remain unclear. Here, we uncover a phenotypic dichotomy associated with bi-allelic ERI1 variants by reporting eight affected individuals from seven unrelated families. A severe spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia (SEMD) was identified in five affected individuals with missense variants but not in those with bi-allelic null variants, who showed mild intellectual disability and digital anomalies. The ERI1 missense variants cause a loss of the exoribonuclease activity, leading to defective trimming of the 5.8S rRNA 3′ end and a decreased degradation of replication-dependent histone mRNAs. Affected-individual-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) showed impaired in vitro chondrogenesis with downregulation of genes regulating skeletal patterning. Our study establishes an entity previously unreported in OMIM and provides a model showing a more severe effect of missense alleles than null alleles within recessive genotypes, suggesting a key role of ERI1-mediated RNA metabolism in human skeletal patterning and chondrogenesis.