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Updated: Jan 7, 2026

In Vivo Functional Study of Disease-associated Rare Human Variants Using Drosophila
Published on: August 20, 2019
Whole-genome sequencing identifies HOXD13 variants in syndactyly pedigrees
Yi-Feng Xu1, Jing Zhang2, Tian-Ying Wei1
1Beijing Jiaen Hospital, Heen Life Medical Research Institute, Beijing, China.
Background:
Syndactyly demonstrates high genetic heterogeneity, with many cases lacking molecular diagnosis despite known HOXD13 involvement, suggesting conventional methods may miss a sub-class of variants.
Results:
Integrated whole-exome sequencing (WES) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analyses identified three novel HOXD13 variants: one 2-bp heterozygous deletion c.314_315del, p.(Lys105ArgfsTer131), and two heterozygous polyalanine expansions (PAE): c.186_212dup, p.(Ala63_Ala71dup) and c.203_204insAGCAGCGGCGGCTGCGGCGGCGGC, p.(Ala64_Ala71dup). WGS successfully identified cryptic variants undetectable by WES technology.
Conclusions:
Our findings demonstrate the utility of WGS in identifying HOXD13 variants and support the genotype-phenotype correlation of polyalanine expansions in limb malformations, providing new insights for molecular diagnosis.
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