Inherited microcephaly exposes Zika culprit Microcephaly has been the terrifying hallmark of the recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) in the Americas. How the virus damages brain development in the fetus is enigmatic. Chavali et al. found that in congenital microcephaly, mutations in a neural precursor protein, Musashi-1 (MSI1), impede RNA binding to neural stem cell targets, resulting in abnor...

OBJECTIVE to describe the prevalence coefficients and characterize cases of microcephaly at birth in Brazil from 2000-2015. METHODS this is a descriptive study with data from the Information System on Live Births (Sinasc). The coefficients were calculated by region and characteristics of mothers and live births (LB). RESULTS the annual average number of microcephaly cases was 164 for the pe...

Microcephaly is a neurodevelopmental disorder causing significantly reduced cerebral cortex size. Many known microcephaly gene products localize to centrosomes, regulating cell fate and proliferation. Here, we identify and characterize a nuclear zinc finger protein, ZNF335/NIF-1, as a causative gene for severe microcephaly, small somatic size, and neonatal death. Znf335 null mice are embryonica...

Nonsense mutations in the ASPM gene have been most frequently identified among familial microcephaly patients. Depletion of ASPM causes spindle pole unfocusing during mitosis in multiple cell types of Drosophila. However, it remains unknown whether human ASPM has a similar function. Here, using CRISPR-based gene knockout (KO) and RNA interference combined with chemical inhibitors and auxin-indu...

OBJECTIVE The maternal phenylketonuria (PKU) syndrome is caused by high blood phenylalanine (Phe) levels during pregnancy, leading to a host of birth defects, especially microcephaly and congenital heart disease (CHD). For finding whether the maternal PKU syndrome could be prevented, an international collaborative study was organized to evaluate treatment with a Phe-restricted diet. Blood Phe l...

BACKGROUND Primary autosomal recessive microcephaly (MCPH) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that results in severe microcephaly at birth with pronounced reduction in brain volume, particularly of the neocortex, simplified cortical gyration and intellectual disability. Homozygous mutations in the Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 2 gene CDK5RAP2 are the cause o...

BACKGROUND Recently there has been a large outbreak of Zika virus infections in Colombia, South America. The epidemic began in September 2015 and continued to April 2017, for the total number of Zika cases reported of 107,870. For those confirmed Zika cases, there were nearly 20,000 (18.5%) suspected to be pregnant women, resulting in 157 confirmed cases of microcephaly in newborns reported by ...

Nonsense mutations in the ASPM gene have been most frequently identified among familial microcephaly patients. Depletion of the Drosophila orthologue (asp) causes spindle pole unfocusing during mitosis in multiple cell types. However, it remains unknown whether human ASPM has a similar function. Here, by performing CRISPR-based gene knockout (KO) and RNA interference combined with auxin-inducib...

CONTEXT The autosomal recessive form of microcephaly-chorioretinopathy syndrome is a rare genetic condition that is considered to be an important differential diagnosis with congenital toxoplasmosis. CASE REPORT Our patient was a seven-year-old white boy who was initially diagnosed with congenital toxoplasmosis. However, his serological tests for congenital infections, including toxoplasmosis...

Microcephaly affects approximately 1% of the population and is associated with mental retardation, motor defects and, in some cases, seizures. We analyzed the mechanisms underlying brain size determination in a mouse model of human microcephaly. The Hertwig's anemia (an) mutant shows peripheral blood cytopenias, spontaneous aneuploidy and a predisposition to hematopoietic tumors. We found that ...