Abstract EN:

The karyotype detects a chromosomal anomaly in 7. 7% to 10% of neonates with ocular birth defect. The introduction of microarray technology showed a very high rate of rearrangements below the resolution of karyotyping. My objectives in this work were to characterize using comparative genome hybridisation-based microarray analysis (array-CGH) chromosomal regions involved in rare ophthalmologic disorders, and then to identify new genes. In the first part of my work, we performed array-CGH in 65 patients presenting syndromal ocular developmental anomalies. A causal or potentially causal anomaly was found for 15% of them. Four had a pathogenic deletion involving a gene known to be involved in ocular anomalies (FOXC1 or OTX2}, while 4 others had a pathogenic deletion not classically associated with ocular malformations: del(17)(pl3. 3p!3. 3), del(10)(pl4p!5. 3) and del(16)(pl 1. 2pl 1. 2). In collaboration with other teams, we gathered patients to study genotype-phenotype correlations for 6p25 and 17pl3. 3 deletions. The second part of my work focused on a candidate gene study: ARHGEF26. Sequencing this gene in other patients with similar phenotype and studying the index patient family segregation, we could not demonstrate the ARHGEF26 involvement in this phenotype. This second part highlights the limits and difficulties of gene identification using array-CGH. These results demonstrate that array-CGH-based chromosomal analysis, beyond its importance for diagnosis and genetic counselling, can help to establish new genotype-phenotype correlations for chromosomal anomalies as well as identify potential new regions involved in rare ophthalmologic disorders.