Learning from Lassa virus: Researchers discover gene mutations that can result in a congenital

Researchers have known that two seemingly distant human maladies—a devastating set of hereditary disorders called Walker-Warburg syndrome and infection with the virus that causes hemorrhagic Lassa fever—both involve a cellular protein involving sugar. Now an international team has discovered new genetic mutations that cause the severe brain, muscle and eye defects found in children with Walker-Warburg syndrome but also make cells insensitive to the Lassa virus. The scientists found all known gene defects and identified new mutations in genes critical for coupling sugar groups to a particular protein receptor for Lassa virus, called glycosylated alpha-dystroglycan. The team, which includes Sean Whelan, HMS professor of microbiology and immunobiology; Hans van Bokhoven of Radboud University Medical Center; and Thijn Brummelkamp of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, published their findings in Science. Defects in how sugar modifies the dystroglycan complex causes Walker-Warburg syndrome, in which affected children usually die at an early age. The Lassa virus is...