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Preprints

Neuroectoderm phenotypes in a human stem cell model of O-GlcNAc transferase intellectual disability

Murray M, Davidson L, Ferenbach AT, Lefeber D, van Aalten DMF.
Preprint from
bioRxiv
21 September 2023
PPR
PPR728382
Abstract
Most intellectual disabilities are caused by monogenic variation. Mutations in the O-GlcNAc transferase ( OGT ) gene have recently been linked to a novel congenital disorder of glycosylation (OGT-CDG), involving symptoms of possible neuroectodermal origin. To test the hypothesis that pathology is linked to defects in differentiation during early embryogenesis, we developed an OGT-CDG induced pluripotent stem cell lines together with isogenic controls generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing. Although the OGT-CDG variant leads to a significant decrease in OGT and O-GlcNAcase protein levels, there were no changes in differentiation potential or stemness. However, differentiation into ectoderm resulted in significant differences in O-GlcNAc homeostasis. Further differentiation to neuronal stem cells revealed differences in morphology between patient and control lines, accompanied by disruption of the O-GlcNAc pathway. This suggests a critical role for O-GlcNAcylation in early neuroectoderm architecture, with robust compensatory mechanisms in the earliest stages of stem cell differentiation.