In-depth molecular profiling of an intronic GNAO1 mutant as the basis for personalized high-throughput drug screening.

Background: The GNAO1 gene, encoding the major neuronal G protein Gαo, is mutated in a subset of pediatric encephalopathies. Most such mutations consist of missense variants.

Methods: In this study, we present a precision medicine workflow combining next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostics, molecular etiology analysis, and personalized drug discovery.

Findings: We describe a patient carrying a de novo intronic mutation (NM_020988.3:c.724-8G>A), leading to epilepsy-negative encephalopathy with motor dysfunction from the second decade. Our data show that this mutation creates a novel splice acceptor site that in turn causes an in-frame insertion of two amino acid residues, Pro-Gln, within the regulatory switch III region of Gαo. This insertion misconfigures the switch III loop and creates novel interactions with the catalytic switch II region, resulting in increased GTP uptake, defective GTP hydrolysis, and aberrant interactions with effector proteins. In contrast, intracellular localization, Gβγ interactions, and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) coupling of the Gαo[insPQ] mutant protein remain unchanged.

Conclusions: This in-depth analysis characterizes the heterozygous c.724-8G>A mutation as partially dominant negative, providing clues to the molecular etiology of this specific pathology. Further, this analysis allows us to establish and validate a high-throughput screening platform aiming at identifying molecules that could correct the aberrant biochemical functions of the mutant Gαo.

Funding: This work was supported by the Joint Seed Money Funding scheme between the University of Geneva and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.