NGLY1 deficiency

NGLY1 deficiency is a very rare genetic disorder caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in NGLY1. It is an autosomal recessive disorder. Errors in deglycosylation are responsible for the symptoms of this condition. Clinically, most affected individuals display developmental delay, lack of tears, elevated liver transaminases and a movement disorder. NGLY1 deficiency is difficult to diagnose, and most individuals have been identified by exome sequencing.

NGLY1 deficiency causes a dysfunction in the endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation pathway. NGLY1 encodes an enzyme, N-glycanase 1, that cleaves N-glycans. Without N-glycanase, N-glycosylated proteins that are misfolded in the endoplasmic reticulum cannot be degraded, and thus accumulate in the cytoplasm of cells.