Currently, the identification of areas that are at risk of FMD virus incursion and spread is a priority for FMD target surveillance after FMD is eradicated from a given country or region.
Using whole-exome sequencing and targeted Sanger sequencing in 19 FMD-affected individuals with no identifiable FLNA mutation, we identified mutations in two genes-MAP3K7, encoding transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-activated kinase (TAK1), and TAB2, encoding TAK1-associated binding protein 2 (TAB2).
We hypothesize that the presently reported patients represent further evidence that phenotypes strongly resembling FMD exist that are not accounted for by mutations in FLNA.
This highlights the importance of the 3A-DCTN3 interaction in FMD virus virulence and provides possible mechanisms of virus attenuation for the development of improved FMD vaccines.
Our data may indicate that in females, genotype-phenotype correlation between certain FLNA mutations and OPD1 and FMD, respectively, is less strict than previously assumed.
OPD1 belongs to a group of X-linked skeletal dysplasias known as oto-palato-digital syndrome spectrum disorders that also include OPD2, Melnick-Needles syndrome (MNS), and frontometaphyseal dysplasia (FMD).