Mutation causing congenital myasthenia reveals acetylcholine receptor β/δ subunit interaction essential for assembly

• Text
• PDF

Abstract

We describe a severe postsynaptic congenital myasthenic syndrome with marked endplate acetylcholine receptor (AChR) deficiency caused by 2 heteroallelic mutations in the β subunit gene. One mutation causes skipping of exon 8, truncating the β subunit before its M1 transmembrane domain, and abolishing surface expression of pentameric AChR. The other mutation, a 3-codon deletion (β426delEQE) in the long cytoplasmic loop between the M3 and M4 domains, curtails but does not abolish expression. By coexpressing β426delEQE with combinations of wild-type subunits in 293 HEK cells, we demonstrate that β426delEQE impairs AChR assembly by disrupting a specific interaction between β and δ subunits. Studies with related deletion and missense mutants indicate that secondary structure in this region of the β subunit is crucial for interaction with the δ subunit. The findings imply that the mutated residues are positioned at the interface between β and δ subunits and demonstrate contribution of this local region of the long cytoplasmic loop to AChR assembly.

Authors

Polly A. Quiram, Kinji Ohno, Margherita Milone, Marc C. Patterson, Ned J. Pruitt, Joan M. Brengman, Steven M. Sine, Andrew G. Engel