A coding CAG repeat expansion in EP400 causes Spinocerebellar Ataxia

Several polyglutamine-encoding repeat expansions cause spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) and other movement disorders. SCAs are genetically heterogeneous with a substantial diagnostic gap.

We used genome sequencing data from 266 individuals of European and Asian ancestry and screened genome-wide for repeat expansions using STRling, a dedicated repeat expansion caller. The cohort comprised patients with movement disorders, predominantly dystonia and ataxia, as well as unaffected participants. Further, we screened another 436 individuals with ataxia and 427 ethnically matched controls through fragment analysis of the most promising candidate locus in EP400 . We applied targeted long-read sequencing to expansion carriers and one control individual to resolve the sequence structure of the repeat locus. Finally, we used microsatellite markers in chromosome 12q24.32–33 to test for a common founder.

A genome-wide outlier analysis in STRling revealed a polyglutamine-encoding repeat expansion (GRCh38 chr12:132,062,525–132,062,590) in the E1A binding protein p400 ( EP400 ) gene in two patients with ataxia. Through screening of additional ataxia patients, we identified in total 18 patients from 14 families with heterozygous repeat expansions in EP400. All expansion carriers were from Serbia. The repeat number in affected individuals ranged from 37 to 55, whereas the longest control allele had 32 repeats. We demonstrated that non-expanded alleles carried a CAA interruption within the 5′ CAG tract – this interruption was lost in expanded alleles. Expansion carriers have pure SCA with onset mainly in their 40s and 50s. There is an inverse correlation between the number of repeats and age at onset. The EP400- encoded protein plays an essential role in chromatin remodeling, epigenetic regulation and DNA repair. Pathogenic sequence variants in EP400 have previously been implicated in a neurodevelopmental disorder.

Our study identifies repeat expansions in EP400 as a novel and frequent cause of ataxia in Serbian patients. This finding further increases the diagnostic yield of ataxia testing and warrants investigation in ataxia patients worldwide. We add EP400 to the growing list of ataxia-associated repeat loci, which warrants inclusion in diagnostic ataxia panels.