Copyright © 2000 The American Society of Human Genetics. All rights reserved.
The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 66, Issue 1, 92-99, 1 January 2000
doi:10.1086/302700
Maria Pia Sperandeo1, *, Maria Teresa Bassi2, *, Mirko Riboni2, Giancarlo Parenti1, Anna Buoninconti1, Marta Manzoni2, Barbara Incerti2, Maria Rosaria Larocca1, Maja Di Rocco5, Pietro Strisciuglio6, Irma Dianzani7, Rossella Parini3, Miranda Candito8, Fumio Endo9, Andrea Ballabio2, 4, Generoso Andria1, Gianfranco Sebastio1,
,
and Giuseppe Borsani2,
, 
1 Department of Pediatrics, Federico II University, Naples
2 Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park, Milan
3 Clinica Pediatrica II, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milan
4 Università Vita e Salute, San Raffaele, Milan
5 II Divisione di Pediatria, Istituto G. Gaslini, Genoa
6 Department of Pediatrics, University of Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro
7 Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche, Università del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro,” Novara, Italy
8 Laboratoire de Biochimie, Hôpital Pasteur, Nice, France
9 Department of Pediatrics, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Kumamoto, Japan
Addresses for correspondence and reprints: Dr. Gianfranco Sebastio, Department of Pediatrics, Federico II University, Via Sergio Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy
Dr. Giuseppe Borsani, Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park, Via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, ItalyAbstract
Lysinuric protein intolerance (LPI) is a rare autosomal recessive defect of cationic amino acid transport caused by mutations in the SLC7A7 gene. We report the genomic structure of the gene and the results of the mutational analysis in Italian, Tunisian, and Japanese patients. The SLC7A7 gene consists of 10 exons; sequences of all of the exon-intron boundaries are reported here. All of the mutant alleles were characterized and eight novel mutations were detected, including two missense mutations, 242A→C (M1L) and 1399C→A (S386R); a nonsense mutation 967G→A (W242X); two splice mutations IVS3 +1G→A and IVS6 +1G→T; a single-base insertion, 786insT; and two 4-bp deletions, 455delCTCT and 1425delTTCT. In addition, a previously reported mutation, 1625insATCA, was found in one patient. It is noteworthy that 242A→C causes the change of Met1 to Leu, a rare mutational event previously found in a few inherited conditions. We failed to establish a genotype/phenotype correlation. In fact, both intrafamilial and interfamilial phenotypic variability were observed in homozygotes for the same mutation. The DNA-based tests are now easily accessible for molecular diagnosis, genetic counseling, and prenatal diagnosis of LPI.
| Deleterious Mutations in the Zinc-Finger 469 Gene Cause Brittle Cornea Syndrome The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 82, Issue 5, 9 May 2008, Pages 1217-1222 Almogit Abu, Moshe Frydman, Dina Marek, Eran Pras, Uri Nir, Haike Reznik-Wolf and Elon Pras Abstract Brittle cornea syndrome (BCS) is an autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by a thin cornea that tends to perforate, causing progressive visual loss and blindness. Additional systemic symptoms such as joint hypermotility, hyperlaxity of the skin, and kyphoscoliosis place BCS among the connective-tissue disorders. Previously, we assigned the disease gene to a 4.7 Mb interval on chromosome 16q24. In order to clone the BCS gene, we first narrowed the disease locus to a 2.8 Mb interval and systematically sequenced genes expressed in connective tissue in this chromosomal segment. We have identified two frameshift mutations in the Zinc-Finger 469 gene (ZNF469). In five unrelated patients of Tunisian Jewish ancestry, we found a 1 bp deletion at position 5943 (5943 delA), and in an inbred Palestinian family we detected a single-nucleotide deletion at position 9527 (9527 delG). The function of ZNF469 is unknown. However, a 30% homology to a number of collagens suggests that it could act as a transcription factor involved in the synthesis and/or organization of collagen fibers. Abstract | | |
| Ancestral Origins and Worldwide Distribution of the PRNP 200K Mutation Causing Familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 64, Issue 4, 1 April 1999, Pages 1063-1070 Hee Suk Lee, Nyamkhishig Sambuughin, Larisa Cervenakova, Joab Chapman, Maurizio Pocchiari, Svetlana Litvak, Hai Yan Qi, Herbert Budka, Teodoro del Ser, Hisako Furukawa, Paul Brown, D. Carleton Gajdusek, Jeffrey C. Long, Amos D. Korczyn and Lev G. Goldfarb Abstract Summary:
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) belongs to a group of prion diseases that may be infectious, sporadic, or hereditary. The 200K point mutation in the PRNP gene is the most frequent cause of hereditary CJD, accounting for >70% of families with CJD worldwide. Prevalence of the 200K variant of familial CJD is especially high in Slovakia, Chile, and Italy, and among populations of Libyan and Tunisian Jews. To study ancestral origins of the 200K mutation–associated chromosomes, we selected microsatellite markers flanking the PRNP gene on chromosome 20p12-pter and an intragenic single-nucleotide polymorphism at the PRNP codon 129. Haplotypes were constructed for 62 CJD families originating from 11 world populations. The results show that Libyan, Tunisian, Italian, Chilean, and Spanish families share a major haplotype, suggesting that the 200K mutation may have originated from a single mutational event, perhaps in Spain, and spread to all these populations with Sephardic migrants expelled from Spain in the Middle Ages. Slovakian families and a family of Polish origin show another unique haplotype. The haplotypes in families from Germany, Sicily, Austria, and Japan are different from the Mediterranean or eastern European haplotypes. On the bais of this study, we conclude that founder effect and independent mutational events are responsible for the current geographic distribution of hereditary CJD associated with the 200K mutation. Abstract | | |
| Ataxia with Isolated Vitamin E Deficiency: Heterogeneity of Mutations and Phenotypic Variability in a Large Number of Families The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 62, Issue 2, 1 February 1998, Pages 301-310 Laurent Cavalier, Karim Ouahchi, Herbert J. Kayden, Stephano Di Donato, Laurence Reutenauer, Jean-Louis Mandel and Michel Koenig Abstract Summary:
Ataxia with vitamin E deficiency (AVED), or familial isolated vitamin E deficiency, is a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by symptoms with often striking resemblance to those of Friedreich ataxia. We recently have demonstrated that AVED is caused by mutations in the gene for α-tocopherol transfer protein (α-TTP). We now have identified a total of 13 mutations in 27 families. Four mutations were found in ⩾2 independent families: 744delA, which is the major mutation in North Africa, and 513insTT, 486delT, and R134X, in families of European origin. Compilation of the clinical records of 43 patients with documented mutation in the α-TTP gene revealed differences from Friedreich ataxia: cardiomyopathy was found in only 19% of cases, whereas head titubation was found in 28% of cases and dystonia in an additional 13%. This study represents the largest group of patients and mutations reported for this often misdiagnosed disease and points to the need for an early differential diagnosis with Friedreich ataxia, in order to initiate therapeutic and prophylactic vitamin E supplementation before irreversible damage develops. Abstract | | |