A novel homozygous C-terminal deletion in BTG4 causes zygotic cleavage failure and female infertility

Purpose: We aimed to identify pathogenic variants in a female patient with primary infertility and recurrent failure of in vitro fertilization with zygotic cleavage failure.

Methods: The genomic DNA from the affected individual was subjected to whole-exome sequencing and the variant was confirmed by Sanger sequencing. The functional effect of the identified variant was further investigated in 293 T cells.

Results: We identified a novel homozygous deletion in BTG4 (c.580_616del) in the affected individual. The deletion results in frameshift and replacement of the last 29 residues (aa195-223) with 66 random amino acids. The mutated amino acid residues are highly conserved among mammalian species. Co-immunoprecipitation in 293 T cells showed that the mutation abolished the interaction between BTG4 and PABPN1L.

Conclusion: This study conforms previous studies and expands the mutational spectrum of BTG4. Our findings prove the functional importance of the C-terminal of BTG4. BTG4 is a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for patients suffering from zygotic cleavage failure.