SHMT2

Chr 12AR

serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2

Also known as: GLYA, HEL-S-51e, NEDCASB, SHMT, mSHMT

SHMT2 encodes the mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase that catalyzes the conversion of serine to glycine while generating 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate, which is essential for purine biosynthesis, mitochondrial DNA maintenance, and mitochondrial protein translation. Biallelic mutations cause autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder with cardiomyopathy, spasticity, and brain abnormalities. The gene is extremely intolerant to loss-of-function variants (pLI near 1), indicating that complete loss of function is likely incompatible with survival.

OMIMResearchSummary from RefSeq, OMIM, UniProt
DNmechanismARLOEUF 0.851 OMIM phenotype
Clinical SummarySHMT2
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Gene-Disease Validity (ClinGen)
neurodevelopmental disorder with cardiomyopathy, spasticity, and brain abnormalities · ARLimited

Limited evidence — not for standalone diagnostic reporting

Population Constraint (gnomAD)
Low constraint (pLI 0.00) — loss-of-function variants are relatively tolerated in the population.

Population Genetics & Constraint

gnomAD v4 — loss-of-function & missense intolerance

Tolerant — LoF & missense variants common in population
LoF Constraint
0.85LOEUF
pLI 0.000
Z-score 2.16
OE 0.56 (0.380.85)
Tolerant

Typical tolerance to LoF variation

Missense Constraint
1.52Z-score
OE missense 0.76 (0.680.84)
234 obs / 309.4 exp
Tolerant

Mild missense constraint

Observed / Expected Ratios
LoF OE0.56 (0.380.85)
00.351.4
Missense OE0.76 (0.680.84)
00.61.4
Synonymous OE1.08
01.21.6
LoF obs/exp: 16 / 28.4Missense obs/exp: 234 / 309.4Syn Z: -0.68
Curated Mechanism (G2P)Gene2Phenotype (DDG2P) ↗
strongSHMT2-related neurodevelopmental syndromeOTHERAR

Predictions shown for reference only — model trained on dominant genes, not applicable to AR conditions.

DN
0.7133th %ile
GOF
0.4480th %ile
LOF
0.3744th %ile

The Badonyi & Marsh prediction model was trained exclusively on dominant disease genes. Predictions are not reliable for genes with autosomal recessive inheritance and are shown at reduced opacity for reference only.

Predictions from Badonyi M, Marsh JA. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(8):e0307312.

ClinVar Variant Classifications

0 submitted variants in ClinVar

Protein Context — Lollipop Plot

SHMT2 · protein map & ClinVar variants

Showing all ClinVar variants across the protein. Search a specific variant to highlight its position.

3D Protein StructureAlphaFold

Clinical Trials

Active and recruiting trials from ClinicalTrials.gov

No active trials found for this gene.

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Clinical Literature
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