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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 279, Issue 41, 42889-42897, October 8, 2004

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Functional Characterization of Sonic Hedgehog Mutations Associated with Holoprosencephaly^*

Elisabeth Traiffort, Christèle Dubourg¶, Hélène Faure, Didier Rognan||, Sylvie Odent**, Marie-Renée Durou¶, Véronique David¶, and Martial Ruat

From the Institut de Neurobiologie Alfred Fessard, IFR 2118 CNRS, Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire, UPR 9040 CNRS, Btiment 33, 1 avenue de la terrasse 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France, ^¶Génétique Humaine, UMR 6061, Faculté de Médecine, 2 avenue du Pr Léon Bernard, CS 34317, 35043 Rennes, France, ^||Laboratoire de Pharmacochimie de la Communication Cellulaire, UMR 7081 CNRS, 74 route du Rhin, B.P. 24, 67401 Illkirch, France, and ^**Unité de Génétique Médicale, Hôpital Sud, 16 boulevard de Bulgarie, BP 90347, 35023 Rennes, France

Mutations of the developmental gene Sonic hedgehog (SHH) and alterations of SHH signaling have been associated with holoprosencephaly (HPE), a rare disorder characterized by a large spectrum of brain and craniofacial anomalies. Based on the crystal structure of mouse N-terminal and Drosophila C-terminal hedgehog proteins, we have developed three-dimensional models of the corresponding human proteins (SHH-N, SHH-C) that have allowed us to identify within these two domains crucial regions associated with HPE missense mutations. We have further characterized the functional consequences linked to 11 of these mutations. In transfected HEK293 cells, the production of the active SHH-N fragment was dramatically impaired for eight mutants (W117R, W117G, H140P, T150R, C183F, L271P, I354T, A383T). The supernatants from these cell cultures showed no significant SHH-signaling activity in a reporter cell-based assay. Two mutants (G31R, D222N) were associated with a lower production of SHH-N and signaling activity. Finally, one mutant harboring the A226T mutation displays an activity comparable with the wild-type protein. This work demonstrates that most of the HPE-associated SHH mutations analyzed have a deleterious effect on the availability of SHH-N and its biological activity. However, because of the lack of correlation between genotype and phenotype for SHH-associated mutations, our study suggests that other factors intervene in the development of the spectrum of HPE anomalies.

Received for publication, May 10, 2004 , and in revised form, July 26, 2004.

^* This work was supported by the Groupement d'Intérêt Scientifique "Institut des Maladies Rares" (to V. D., M. R., D. R., and S. O.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 33-1-69-82-43-01; Fax: 33-1-69-82-36-39; E-mail: Elisabeth.Traiffort{at}nbcm.cnrs-gif.fr.

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