Transcriptional signal cointegrators associate with transcription factors or nuclear receptors and coregulate tissue-specific gene transcription. This study reports on recessive loss-of-function mutations in two genes (TRIP4 and ASCC1) that encode subunits of the nuclear activating signal cointegrator 1 (ASC-1) complex. Autozygosity mapping and whole-exome sequencing were used to search for pathogenic mutations in four families. Affected individuals presented with prenatal-onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), multiple congenital contractures (arthrogryposis multiplex congenita), respiratory distress, and congenital bone fractures. Homozygous and compound-heterozygous nonsense and frameshift TRIP4 and ASCC1 mutations were identified that led to a truncation or the entire absence of the respective proteins and cosegregated with the disease phenotype. Trip4 and Ascc1 have identical expression patterns in 17.5-day-old mouse embryos with high expression levels in the spinal cord, brain, paraspinal ganglia, thyroid, and submandibular glands. Antisense morpholino-mediated knockdown of either trip4 or ascc1 in zebrafish disrupted the highly patterned and coordinated process of α-motoneuron outgrowth and formation of myotomes and neuromuscular junctions and led to a swimming defect in the larvae. Immunoprecipitation of the ASC-1 complex consistently copurified cysteine and glycine rich protein 1 (CSRP1), a transcriptional cofactor, which is known to be involved in spinal cord regeneration upon injury in adult zebrafish. ASCC1 mutant fibroblasts downregulated genes associated with neurogenesis, neuronal migration, and pathfinding (SERPINF1, DAB1, SEMA3D, SEMA3A), as well as with bone development (TNFRSF11B, RASSF2, STC1). These findings indicate that the dysfunction of a transcriptional coactivator complex can result in a clinical syndrome affecting the neuromuscular system.
