A case of autism spectrum disorder arising from a de novo missense mutation in POGZ

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a clinically heterogeneous psychiatric disorder with various genetic backgrounds. Here, we report a novel mutation in the pogo transposable element-derived protein with zinc finger domain gene (POGZ) identified by trio-based whole exome sequencing. To date, a total of seven de novo POGZ mutations in ASD have been reported. POGZ contains a total of five functional domains, and this study reports the first de novo missense mutation in the centromere protein B-like DNA-binding domain. POGZ is highly expressed in the human fetal brain and is involved in mitosis and the regulation of neuronal proliferation. Therefore its loss-of-function or pathogenic missense mutations are likely to be causative of ASD.