Essential tremor: Family-based sequencing suggests involvement of neuronal and metabolic pathways

Essential tremor (ET) is the most common adult-onset movement disorder, yet its genetic basis remains incompletely understood. Although familial aggregation is well recognized, ET shows marked genetic heterogeneity, with many rare and family-specific variants reported.

To identify rare candidate genetic variants potentially contributing to ET using family-based sequencing and segregation analyses.

A tiered sequencing strategy was applied in 20 unrelated ET families, including solo, duo, and trio exome sequencing, with additional whole-genome sequencing performed in selected patients as a complementary approach. Variants prioritization was based on population frequency, predicted functional impact, gene-level constraint metrics, and established variant classification frameworks where informative. Segregation analyses were conducted when affected and unaffected family members were available, and identified variants were classified according to the strength of familial evidence.

Among the 20 families analyzed, 16 included more than one affected individual, whereas four were classified as apparently sporadic singleton cases. Rare candidate variants were identified across 18 genes in ET index cases. Of these, nine variants affecting distinct genes notably ABCG4, ADCY5, FTL, GABBR2, GABRP, GCH1, HTRA2, PSEN2, and TMEM230 were prioritized based on the feasibility of segregation analyses. Segregation provided supportive genetic evidence when discriminatory; otherwise, variant interpretation relied on rarity and biological plausibility.

The candidate genes, identified in this study, highlight biological processes relevant to ET, including inhibitory neurotransmission, dopaminergic signaling, membrane trafficking, mitochondrial function, and protein homeostasis, supporting a heterogeneous, pedigree-specific genetic model.