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Updated: May 16, 2026

In Vivo Functional Study of Disease-associated Rare Human Variants Using Drosophila
Published on: August 20, 2019
De Novo 2.2 Mb 19q13.42-q13.43 Microdeletion Encompassing U2AF2: Support for a Haploinsufficiency Model
Amanda Toledo1, Sarah Araji2,3, Weimin Bi4
1Department of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA.
Abstract:
U2 small nuclear RNA auxiliary factor 2 (U2AF2) is an essential pre-mRNA splicing factor involved in the early stages of pre-mRNA splicing. To date, multiple individuals have been reported with predominantly heterozygous missense variants presenting intellectual disability, speech and motor delays, seizures, hypotonia, and thin or hypoplastic corpus callosum. Here, we describe a patient with a de novo 2.2 Mb interstitial deletion involving chromosome 19q13.42-q13.43, encompassing U2AF2, presenting with intellectual disability, epilepsy, corpus callosum hypoplasia, dysmorphic features, and congenital heart disease. The patient's clinical features overlap substantially with those reported in individuals harboring heterozygous U2AF2 variants, supporting haploinsufficiency as a plausible disease mechanism. To our knowledge, this represents the first postnatal report of complete U2AF2 gene deletion. In addition, this is the first detailed phenotypic characterization of a distal 19q chromosomal interstitial deletion, further delineating the clinical spectrum associated with this genomic region.
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