Disruption of major Ptchd1 isoforms causes autistic traits in social behavior and communication.

Authors

Sangyoon Y Ko, Stephen F Pastore, Sungmo Park, Jonathan R Epp, Anna Mikhailov, Leon French, Hidekiyo Harada, Philippe P Monnier, Paul A Hamel, Sheena A Josselyn, John B Vincent, Paul W Frankland

Published in

Molecular psychiatry. Jun 16, 2026. Epub Jun 16, 2026.

Abstract

PTCHD1 is an X-linked three-exon gene associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or intellectual disability (ID). Mice lacking Ptchd1 exon 2 (Ptchd1^Δexon2) exhibit hyperactivity and learning impairments, but do not recapitulate ASD-like traits. Through mapping of clinically reported loss-of-function mutations in human patients, we determined that PTCHD1 exon 3 is a high-risk locus. We therefore generated an alternative Ptchd1 knockout mouse model by targeting Ptchd1 exon 3 (Ptchd1^Δexon3) using CRISPR/Cas9. Our analyses revealed that two major PTCHD1/Ptchd1 transcripts-a (full-length) and c (shorter)-were expressed in the brain. In Ptchd1^Δexon2 mice, Ptchd1_a was lost, but Ptchd1_c was compensatorily upregulated, and these mice showed no ASD-like social deficits. In Ptchd1^Δexon3 mutants, both Ptchd1_a and Ptchd1_c were lost, along with dysregulation of social and communication behaviors, increased repetitive behavior, and motor and learning impairments. Our side-by-side analyses of Ptchd1^Δexon2 and Ptchd1^Δexon3 mice suggest a functional link between PTCHD1/Ptchd1 and ASD, demonstrating that loss-of-function mutations disrupting C-terminal Ptchd1 lead to robust ASD-relevant phenotypes in mice, more faithfully recapitulating clinically observed traits.

PMID:
42297937
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Jun 2026.

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