A familial form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (type 2d) caused by a previously unreported variant in GARS1

Genetic variants in GARS1 gene, encoding for the glycyl tRNA synthetase 1, cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, type 2D (CMT2D). Here we describe a 14-year-old boy affected by neuropathy with prominent weakness in the upper extremities carrying two in cis missense variants in GARS1 gene: the c.803C > T, p.Thr268Ile and the c.842T > A, p.Met281Lys. The mutated allele segregates in affected member of the family, thus supporting its pathogenic role. Although a combined role of these variants cannot be excluded, we suggest a strong association of the variant c.842T > A (p.Met281Lys), never reported in patients neither in controls, with the disease. In Italian patients, pathogenic variants in GARS1 are very rare, so our result expands the mutational spectrum of the gene and the genetic epidemiology of CMT2D.