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Updated: Jul 14, 2025

Focus Formation: A Cell-based Assay to Determine the Oncogenic Potential of a Gene
Published on: December 31, 2014
Biallelic MAD2L1BP (p31comet) mutation is associated with mosaic aneuploidy and juvenile granulosa cell tumors
Ghada M H Abdel-Salam1, Susanne Hellmuth2, Elise Gradhand3
1Department of Clinical Genetics, Human Genetics and Genome Research Institute, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract:
MAD2L1BP-encoded p31comet mediates Trip13-dependent disassembly of Mad2- and Rev7-containing complexes and, through this antagonism, promotes timely spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) silencing, faithful chromosome segregation, insulin signaling, and homology-directed repair (HDR) of DNA double-strand breaks. We identified a homozygous MAD2L1BP nonsense variant, R253*, in 2 siblings with microcephaly, epileptic encephalopathy, and juvenile granulosa cell tumors of ovary and testis. Patient-derived cells exhibited high-grade mosaic variegated aneuploidy, slowed-down proliferation, and instability of truncated p31comet mRNA and protein. Corresponding recombinant p31comet was defective in Trip13, Mad2, and Rev7 binding and unable to support SAC silencing or HDR. Furthermore, C-terminal truncation abrogated an identified interaction of p31comet with tp53. Another homozygous truncation, R227*, detected in an early-deceased patient with low-level aneuploidy, severe epileptic encephalopathy, and frequent blood glucose elevations, likely corresponds to complete loss of function, as in Mad2l1bp-/- mice. Thus, human mutations of p31comet are linked to aneuploidy and tumor predisposition.
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