Mutations in PEX13 and other peroxin proteins are associated with Zellweger syndrome spectrum (ZSS) disorders, a subtype of peroxisome biogenesis disorder characterized by prominent neurological, hepatic, and renal abnormalities leading to neonatal death.
Taken together, these results provide strong evidence that mutations in PEX13 are responsible for disease in patient PBD222 and, by extension, in complementation group 13 of the PBDs.
We now have evidence that the complete human cDNA encoding Pex13p, an SH3 protein of a docking factor for the peroxisome targeting signal 1 receptor (Pex5p), rescues peroxisomal matrix protein import and its assembly in fibroblasts from PBD patients of complementation group H. In addition, we detected mutations on the human PEX13 cDNA in two patients of group H. A severe phenotype of a ZS patient (H-02) was homozygous for a nonsense mutation, W234ter, which results in the loss of not only the SH3 domain but also the putative transmembrane domain of Pex13p.
Taken together, these results provide strong evidence that mutations in PEX13 are responsible for disease in patient PBD222 and, by extension, in complementation group 13 of the PBDs.
We examined the ability of PEX13 expression to rescue the peroxisomal protein import defects of fibroblast cells representing all known PBD complementation groups.