Impaired complex I repair causes recessive Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy

Stenton, Sarah L.; Sheremet, Natalia L.; Catarino, Claudia B.; Andreeva, Natalia A.; Assouline, Zahra; Barboni, Piero; Barel, Ortal; Berutti, Riccardo; Bychkov, Igor; Caporali, Leonardo; Capristo, Mariantonietta; Carbonelli, Michele; Cascavilla, Maria L.; Issa, Peter Charbel; Freisinger, Peter; Gerber, Sylvie; Ghezzi, Daniele; Graf, Elisabeth; Heidler, Juliana; Hempel, Maja; Heon, Elise; Itkis, Yulya S.; Javasky, Elisheva; Kaplan, Josseline; Kopajtich, Robert; Kornblum, Cornelia; Kovacs-Nagy, Reka; Krylova, Tatiana D.; Kunz, Wolfram S.; La Morgia, Chiara; Lamperti, Costanza; Ludwig, Christina; Malacarne, Pedro F.; Maresca, Alessandra; Mayr, Johannes A.; Meisterknecht, Jana; Nevinitsyna, Tatiana A.; Palombo, Flavia; Pode-Shakked, Ben; Shmelkova, Maria S.; Strom, Tim M.; Tagliavini, Francesca; Tzadok, Michal; Ven, Amelie T. van der; Vignal-Clermont, Catherine; Wagner, Matias; Zakharova, Ekaterina Y.; Zhorzholadze, Nino V.; Rozet, Jean-Michel; Carelli, Valerio; Tsygankova, Polina G.; Klopstock, Thomas ; Wittig, Ilka and Prokisch, Holger (2021): Impaired complex I repair causes recessive Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. In: Journal of Clinical Investigation, Vol. 131, No. 6, e138267

Abstract

Leber?s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is the most frequent mitochondrial disease and was the first to be genetically defined by a point mutation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). A molecular diagnosis is achieved in up to 95% of cases, the vast majority of which are accounted for by 3 mutations within mitochondrial complex I subunit?encoding genes in the mtDNA (mtLHON). Here, we resolve the enigma of LHON in the absence of pathogenic mtDNA mutations. We describe biallelic mutations in a nuclear encoded gene, DNAJC30, in 33 unsolved patients from 29 families and establish an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance for LHON (arLHON), which to date has been a prime example of a maternally inherited disorder. Remarkably, all hallmarks of mtLHON were recapitulated, including incomplete penetrance, male predominance, and significant idebenone responsivity. Moreover, by tracking protein turnover in patient-derived cell lines and a DNAJC30-knockout cellular model, we measured reduced turnover of specific complex I N-module subunits and a resultant impairment of complex I function. These results demonstrate that DNAJC30 is a chaperone protein needed for the efficient exchange of complex I subunits exposed to reactive oxygen species and integral to a mitochondrial complex I repair mechanism, thereby providing the first example to our knowledge of a disease resulting from impaired exchange of assembled respiratory chain subunits.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Form of publication: Publisher's Version
• Faculties: Medicine; Medicine > Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy)
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0021-9738
• Language: English
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - 390857198