Developmental or degenerative--NR2E3 gene mutations in two patients with enhanced S cone syndrome

Enhanced S Cone Syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized clinically by an absence of rod function, a replacement of most L and M cone function by S cone activity (Goldmann-Favre Syndrome) and by variable degrees of retinal degeneration in different families. The causative gene, nuclear receptor subfamily 2, group E, member 3 (NR2E3), controls the developmental sequence for rods and cones. The purpose of this study was to compare the nature and implications of mutations in two subjects with Enhanced S Cone Syndrome who have significantly different degrees of degenerative damage.

A direct sequencing approach was used to identify the mutations. Genomic DNA was amplified from all the exons of NR2E3 and used as a template for sequencing. Of the two families studied, Case 1 is of Persian ethnicity while Case 2 is Brazilian. A total of six individuals within the two families were studied.

Case 1 (original propositus of the syndrome) has the characteristic developmental rod/cone abnormality with large amplitude electroretinogram responses and no retinal degeneration. She was homozygous for a novel mutation, c.[del196-201del6] (p.G66-C67del), which lies entirely within the P-box for this gene. By comparison, Case 2 had Goldmann-Favre Syndrome with retinal degeneration and low electroretinogram signals. She was a compound heterozygote for c.[119-2A>C]+[del194-202del9] (p.N65-C67del), mutations that have been reported previously. Her second mutation overlaps that of Case 1 within the P-box.

The novel in-frame homozygous deletion of Case 1, within the P-box motif of the DNA binding domain, caused a developmental abnormality without retinal degeneration. Case 2, with more traditional Goldmann-Favre Syndrome with retinal degeneration, was a compound heterozygote where one allele had a similar P-box deletion but the other was a splicing defect. Case 1 is the first reported homozygous deletion within the P-box. This is the first report of NR2E3 mutations in a Persian and a Brazilian family.