Lamin A/C Assembly Defects in <i>LMNA</i>-Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Is Responsible for the Increased Severity of the Disease Compared with Emery–Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy

• Main Authors: Anne T. Bertrand, Astrid Brull, Feriel Azibani, Louise Benarroch, Khadija Chikhaoui, Colin L. Stewart, Ohad Medalia, Rabah Ben Yaou, Gisèle Bonne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Cells
• Subjects: Emery–Dreifuss muscular dystrophy; <i>LMNA</i>-related congenital muscular dystrophy; Lamin A/C; <i>LMNA</i>
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/9/4/844

<i>LMNA</i> encodes for Lamin A/C, type V intermediate filaments that polymerize under the inner nuclear membrane to form the nuclear lamina. A small fraction of Lamin A/C, less polymerized, is also found in the nucleoplasm. Lamin A/C functions include roles in nuclear resistance to mechanical stress and gene regulation. <i>LMNA</i> mutations are responsible for a wide variety of pathologies, including Emery–Dreifuss (EDMD) and <i>LMNA</i>-related congenital muscular dystrophies (L-CMD) without clear genotype–phenotype correlations. Both diseases presented with striated muscle disorders although L-CMD symptoms appear much earlier and are more severe. Seeking for pathomechanical differences to explain the severity of L-CMD mutations, we performed an in silico analysis of the UMD-<i>LMNA</i> database and found that L-CMD mutations mainly affect residues involved in Lamin dimer and tetramer stability. In line with this, we found increased nucleoplasmic Lamin A/C in L-CMD patient fibroblasts and mouse myoblasts compared to the control and EDMD. L-CMD myoblasts show differentiation defects linked to their inability to upregulate muscle specific nuclear envelope (NE) proteins expression. NE proteins were mislocalized, leading to misshapen nuclei. We conclude that these defects are due to both the absence of Lamin A/C from the nuclear lamina and its maintenance in the nucleoplasm of myotubes.