A de novo missense mutation in synaptotagmin-1 associated with neurodevelopmental disorder desynchronizes neurotransmitter release

Abstract Synaptotagmin-1 (Syt1) is a presynaptic calcium sensor with two calcium binding domains, C2A and C2B, that triggers action potential-induced synchronous neurotransmitter release, while suppressing asynchronous and spontaneous release. We identified a de novo missense mutation (P401L) in the C2B domain in a patient with developmental delay and autistic symptoms. Expressing the orthologous mouse mutant (P400L) in cultured Syt1 null mutant neurons revealed a reduction in dendrite outgrowth with a proportional reduction in synapses. This was not observed in single Syt1PL-expressing neurons that received normal synaptic input when cultured in a control network. Patch-clamp recordings showed that spontaneous neurotransmitter release per synapse was increased more than 500% in Syt1PL-expressing neurons, even beyond the increased rates in Syt1 KO neurons. Furthermore, action potential induced asynchronous release was increased more than 100%, while synchronous release was not changed. A similar shift to more asynchronous release was observed during train stimulations. These cellular phenotypes were also observed when Syt1PL was expressed in wild type neurons. Our findings show that Syt1PL desynchronizes neurotransmission by reducing the suppression spontaneous and asynchronous release. Neurons respond to this by shortening their dendrites, possibly to counteract the increase in release. Syt1PL acts in a dominant-negative manner supporting a causative role for the mutation in the heterozygous patient. We propose that the substitution of a rigid proline to a more flexible leucine at the bottom of the C2B domain impairs clamping of release by interfering with Syt1’s primary interface with the SNARE complex. This is a novel cellular phenotype, distinct from what was previously found for other Syt1 disease variants, and points to a role for spontaneous and asynchronous release in SYT1-associated neurodevelopmental disorder.