Homozygous silencing of T-box transcription factor EOMES leads to microcephaly with polymicrogyria and corpus callosum agenesis

Abstract

Neural progenitor proliferation and migration influence brain size during neurogenesis. We report an autosomal recessive microcephaly syndrome cosegregating with a homozygous balanced translocation between chromosomes 3p and 10q, and we show that a position effect at the breakpoint on chromosome 3 silences the eomesodermin transcript (EOMES), also known as T-box-brain2 (TBR2). Together with the expression pattern of EOMES in the developing human brain, our data suggest that EOMES is involved in neuronal division and/or migration. Thus, mutations in genes encoding not only mitotic and apoptotic proteins but also transcription factors may be responsible for malformative microcephaly syndromes.