Cited by 169Genetics and Neurodevelopmental DisordersAutism Spectrum Disorder ResearchGenomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities

Altered TAOK2 activity causes autism-related neurodevelopmental and cognitive abnormalities through RhoA signaling

Open access
Richter, Melanie, Murtaza, Nadeem, Scharrenberg, Robin, White, Sean H., Johanns, Ole, Walker, Susan, Yuen, Ryan K. C., Schwanke, Birgit +19 more·2019·Molecular Psychiatry

Abstract

Atypical brain connectivity is a major contributor to the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). TAOK2 is one of several genes in the 16p11.2 microdeletion region, but whether it contributes to NDDs is unknown. We performed behavioral analysis on Taok2 heterozygous (Het) and knockout (KO) mice and found gene dosage-dependent impairments in cognition, anxiety, and social interaction. Taok2 Het and KO mice also have dosage-dependent abnormalities in brain size and neural connectivity in multiple regions, deficits in cortical layering, dendrite and synapse formation, and reduced excitatory neurotransmission. Whole-genome and -exome sequencing of ASD families identified three de novo mutations in TAOK2 and functional analysis in mice and human cells revealed that all the mutations impair protein stability, but they differentially impact kinase activity, dendrite growth, and spine/synapse development. Mechanistically, loss of Taok2 activity causes a reduction in RhoA activation, and pharmacological enhancement of RhoA activity rescues synaptic phenotypes. Together, these data provide evidence that TAOK2 is a neurodevelopmental disorder risk gene and identify RhoA signaling as a mediator of TAOK2-dependent synaptic development.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41380-018-0025-5

Cites

95 of 95 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Knockout of the 16p11.2 gene Taok2 produces cognitive and social deficits in mice, and also results in increased brain volume.

    “Knockout of the 16p11.2 gene Taok2 produces cognitive and social deficits in mice, and also results in increased brain volume [90].”
  • Taok2-deficient mice display reduced dendritic growth and deficient excitatory synaptic transmission in PFC through a mechanism involving reduced RhoA expression, suggesting that the 16p11.2 genes Kctd13 and Taok2 may act upon convergent downstream molecules.

    “Taok2-deficient mice display reduced dendritic growth and deficient excitatory synaptic transmission in PFC through a mechanism involving the reduced RhoA expression [90], suggesting that the 16p11.2 genes Kctd13 and Taok2 may act upon convergent downstream molecules.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Richter, M., Murtaza, N., Scharrenberg, R., White, S. H., Johanns, O., Walker, S., Yuen, R. K. C., Schwanke, B., Bedürftig, B., Henis, M., Scharf, S., Kraus, V., Dörk, R., Hellmann, J., Lindenmaier, Z., Ellegood, J., Hartung, H., Kwan, V., Sedlacik, J., Fiehler, J., Schweizer, M., Lerch, J. P., Hanganu-Opatz, I. L., Morellini, F., Scherer, S. W., Singh, K. K., & Calderon de Anda, F.
Affiliations
  • University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
  • McMaster University (CA)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • Hospital for Sick Children (CA)
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
Corresponding author
  • Scherer, Stephen W.
  • Singh, Karun K.
Venue
Molecular Psychiatry
Published
2018-02-21
Volume
24
Issue
9
Pages
1329-1350
ISSN
  • 1359-4184 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-5578
OpenAlex
W2789447616
Cited by
169
References
95
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 5
FWCI
11.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Molecular Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Autism Speaks
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CA1495/1-1, SFB 936, FOR 2419, project B7)
  • Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (SFB 936, 01EW1410)
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities
Keywords
TAOK2, autism spectrum disorder, neurodevelopmental disorders, RhoA signaling, 16p11.2 microdeletion, de novo mutations, synaptic development, dendritic growth, excitatory neurotransmission, brain connectivity, anxiety, social interaction, cognitive impairment, kinase activity, protein stability
MeSH terms
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Exome Sequencing, Adult, Animals, Anxiety, Child, Dendrites, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Synaptic Transmission, Phenotype, Phosphorylation, Signal Transduction, Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases, Mice, Knockout, rhoA GTP-Binding Protein, Mice, Neurogenesis, Cognitive Dysfunction, Neurodevelopmental Disorders

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review