Kabuki syndrome
Gene: RLF
ESHG 2026
22 unrelated individuals with rare heterozygous de novo variants (14 frameshift, 8 nonsense) located in the last exon of RLF gene. Individuals presented with developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism-type behaviour, and Kabuki syndrome-like facial features.
RLF is a poly-ZNF protein which acts as a transcription factor. In vitro assays showed the variants profoundly altered the epigenome, the transcriptome and the DNA secondary structure. ONT whole genome sequencing in patient IPSCs showed hypermethylation and hypo-5-hydroxymethylation at multiple CpG sites. ATAC-seq demonstrated altered chromatin accessibility at promoters and enhancers in patient IPSCs. RNA-seq unveiled several differentially expressed genes enriched for disease-relevant gene ontology terms. RLP variants upregulated neuronal differentiation genes. RLF-ChIP-seq data showed a marked reduction in G4 access signal in patient iPSCs. Methylation arrays revealed a distinct methylation profile overlapping with Kabuki syndrome.
Sources: OtherCreated: 17 Aug 2026, 3:07 p.m.
Mode of inheritance
MONOALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal, NOT imprinted
Phenotypes
Neurodevelopmental disorder, MONDO:0700092, RLF-related
Gene: rlf has been classified as Amber List (Moderate Evidence).
gene: RLF was added gene: RLF was added to Kabuki syndrome. Sources: Expert Review Amber,Other Mode of inheritance for gene: RLF was set to MONOALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal, NOT imprinted Phenotypes for gene: RLF were set to Neurodevelopmental disorder, MONDO:0700092, RLF-related