Major mutation p.His281Tyr in Gene <Emphasis Type="Italic">GLB1</Emphasis> in patients with GM1-gangliosidosis in Ukraine

Mutation analysis of gene GLB1 in 26 patients from different regions of Ukraine diagnosed with GM1-gangliosidosis identified 15 pathogenic mutations. The most common was missense mutation p.His281Tyr (c.841C>T) in exon 8, which was found in at least one allele in 16 of 26 patients (61.5%), accounting for 20 of 52 (38.5%) mutant alleles. Mutation p.His281Tyr (c.841C>T) was described in rare cases in patients from Germany, Italy, and Portugal, while no alleles with such a replacement were found in other countries. This may indicate a much higher frequency of this mutation in Ukraine compared to other countries. Analysis of the information about the spatial distribution of the families with mutation p.His281Tyr (c.841C>T) revealed that most of the alleles with this mutation (14 of 20 or 70%) were found in patients from the western regions of the country, which may be due to the founder effect.     

Expression and characterization of 14 GLB1 mutant alleles found in GM1-gangliosidosis and Morquio B patients

GM1-gangliosidosis and Morquio B disease are lysosomal storage disorders caused by beta-galactosidase deficiency attributable to mutations in the GLB1 gene. On reaching the endosomal-lysosomal compartment, the beta-galactosidase protein associates with the protective protein/cathepsin A (PPCA) and neuraminidase proteins to form the lysosomal multienzyme complex (LMC). The correct interaction of these proteins in the complex is essential for their activity. More than 100 mutations have been described in GM1-gangliosidosis and Morquio B patients, but few have been further characterized. We expressed 12 mutations suspected to be pathogenic, one known polymorphic change (p.S532G), and a variant described as either a pathogenic or a polymorphic change (p.R521C). Ten of them had not been expressed before. The expression analysis confirmed the pathogenicity of the 12 mutations, whereas the relatively high activity of p.S532G is consistent with its definition as a polymorphism. The results for p.R521C suggest that this change is a low-penetrant disease-causing allele. Furthermore, the effect of these beta-galactosidase changes on the LMC was also studied by coimmunoprecipitations and Western blotting. The alteration of neuraminidase and PPCA patterns in several of the Western blotting analyses performed on patient protein extracts indicated that the LMC is affected in at least some GM1-gangliosidosis and Morquio B patients.     

Human beta-galactosidase gene mutations in GM1-gangliosidosis: a common mutation among Japanese adult/chronic cases.

Molecular analysis of the human beta-galactosidase gene revealed six different mutations in 10 of 11 Japanese GM1-gangliosidosis patients. They were the only abnormalities in each allele examined in this study. A 165-nucleotide duplication (positions 1103-1267) was found in two infantile patients, producing an abnormally large mRNA; one patient was probably a homozygote, and the other was a heterozygote of this mutation. The other two infantile patients had different mutations; a 123 Gly(GGG)----Arg(AGG) mutation in one patient and a 316 Tyr(TAT)----Cys(TGT) mutation in the other. A 201 Arg(CGC)----Cys(TGC) mutation, eliminating a BspMI site, was detected in a late-infantile/juvenile patient; the restriction-site analysis of amplified genomic DNA confirmed his heterozygosity for this mutation. A 51 Ile(ATC)----Thr(ACC) mutation was found in all five adult/chronic patients examined in this study. It created a SauI site, and restriction-site analysis confirmed that four patients were homozygous mutants. The other was a compound heterozygote for this mutation and another 457 Arg(CGA)----Gln(CAA) mutation. These mutant genes expressed markedly decreased or completely deficient enzyme activities in beta-galactosidase-deficient human fibroblasts transformed by adenovirus-SV40 recombinants. We conclude that gene mutations are heterogeneous in GM1-gangliosidosis but that the 51 Ile(ATC)----Thr(ACC) mutation is common among the Japanese adult/chronic cases. Genotype-phenotype correlations in GM1-gangliosidosis are briefly discussed.     

Processing of human beta-galactosidase in GM1-gangliosidosis and Morquio B syndrome

The nature of the molecular defect resulting in the beta-galactosidase deficiency in different forms of GM1-gangliosidosis and mucopolysaccharidosis IV B (Morquio B syndrome) was investigated. Normal and mutant cultured skin fibroblasts were labeled in vivo with [3H]leucine and immunoprecipitation studies with human anti-beta-galactosidase antiserum were performed, followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fluorography. In Morquio B syndrome, the mutation does not interfere with the normal processing and intralysosomal aggregation of beta-galactosidase. In cells from infantile and adult GM1-gangliosidosis, 85-kDa precursor beta-galactosidase was found to be synthesized normally but more than 90% of the enzyme was subsequently degraded at one of the early steps in posttranslational processing. The residual 5-10% beta-galactosidase activity in adult GM1-gangliosidosis is 64-kDa mature lysosomal enzyme with normal catalytic properties but with a reduced ability of the monomeric form to aggregate into high molecular weight multimers. Knowledge of the exact nature of the molecular defect underlying beta-galactosidase deficiency in man may lead to a better understanding of the clinical and pathological heterogeneity among patients with different types of GM1-gangliosidosis and Morquio B syndrome.     

A novel 9-bp insertion detected in steroid 21-hydroxylase gene (CYP21A2): prediction of its structural and functional implications by computational methods

Background

Steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency is the most common cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Detection of underlying mutations in CYP21A2 gene encoding steroid 21-hydroxylase enzyme is helpful both for confirmation of diagnosis and management of CAH patients. Here we report a novel 9-bp insertion in CYP21A2 gene and its structural and functional consequences on P450c21 protein by molecular modeling and molecular dynamics simulations methods.

Methods

A 30-day-old child was referred to our laboratory for molecular diagnosis of CAH. Sequencing of the entire CYP21A2 gene revealed a novel insertion (duplication) of 9-bp in exon 2 of one allele and a well-known mutation I172N in exon 4 of other allele. Molecular modeling and simulation studies were carried out to understand the plausible structural and functional implications caused by the novel mutation.

Results

Insertion of the nine bases in exon 2 resulted in addition of three valine residues at codon 71 of the P450c21 protein. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the mutant exhibits a faster unfolding kinetics and an overall destabilization of the structure due to the triple valine insertion was also observed.

Conclusion

The novel 9-bp insertion in exon 2 of CYP21A2 genesignificantly lowers the structural stability of P450c21 thereby leading to the probable loss of its function.     

A novel mutation in the invariant AG of the acceptor splice site of intron 4 of the beta-hexosaminidase alpha-subunit gene in two unrelated American black GM2-gangliosidosis (Tay-Sachs disease) patients.

Samples of genomic DNA from three unrelated American black infants having both biochemical and clinical features of classical infantile Tay-Sachs disease were sequenced following PCR amplification. A G----T transversion was observed in the AG acceptor splice site preceding exon 5 of the beta-hexosaminidase alpha-subunit gene in the first black family. This transversion changed the acceptor splice site from the consensus sequence, AG, to AT, thereby interfering with splicing at this intron 4/exon 5 junction. The proband was homozygous for this mutation; his mother and a brother are heterozygous. The same mutation was found in a second, apparently unrelated, black GM2-gangliosidosis patient. The second patient was a compound heterozygote, as only one allele carried this mutation. The mother and a brother in this second family are carriers for this mutation, while the father and a noncarrier sister are normal for this region of the gene. The third proband did not have this mutation; nor did the mother of a fourth black proband. Eight other independently ascertained non-black, non-Jewish, GM2-gangliosidosis families did not have this mutation. The observation of the same novel mutation in two unrelated black GM2-gangliosidosis patients indicates that the American black population has segregating within it at least one GM2-gangliosidosis mutation which may be specific to this population and not a result of migration.     

Mutations in acid beta-galactosidase cause GM1-gangliosidosis in American patients.

We describe four new mutations in the beta-galactosidase gene. These are the first mutations causing infantile and juvenile GM1-gangliosidosis to be described in American patients. Cell lines from two patients with juvenile and from six patients with infantile GM1-gangliosidosis were analyzed. Northern blot analysis showed the acid beta-galactosidase message to be of normal size and quantity in two juvenile and four infantile cases and of normal size but reduced quantity in two infantile cases. The mutations are distinct from the Japanese mutations. All are point mutations leading to amino acid substitutions: Lys577-->Arg, Arg590-->His, and Glu632-->Gly. The fourth mutation, Arg208-->Cys, accounts for 10 of 16 possible alleles. Two infantile cases from Puerto Rico of Spanish ancestry are homozygous for this mutation, suggesting that this allele may have come to South America and North America via Puerto Rico. That these mutations cause clinical disease was confirmed by marked reduction in catalytic activity of the mutant proteins in the Cos-1 cell expression system.     

Impaired elastic-fiber assembly by fibroblasts from patients with either Morquio B disease or infantile GM1-gangliosidosis is linked to deficiency in the 67-kD spliced variant of beta-galactosidase

We have previously shown that intracellular trafficking and extracellular assembly of tropoelastin into elastic fibers is facilitated by the 67-kD elastin-binding protein identical to an enzymatically inactive, alternatively spliced variant of beta-galactosidase (S-Gal). In the present study, we investigated elastic-fiber assembly in cultures of dermal fibroblasts from patients with either Morquio B disease or GM1-gangliosidosis who bore different mutations of the beta-galactosidase gene. We found that fibroblasts taken from patients with an adult form of GM1-gangliosidosis and from patients with an infantile form, carrying a missense mutations in the beta-galactosidase gene-mutations that caused deficiency in lysosomal beta-galactosidase but not in S-Gal-assembled normal elastic fibers. In contrast, fibroblasts from two cases of infantile GM1-gangliosidosis that bear nonsense mutations of the beta-galactosidase gene, as well as fibroblasts from four patients with Morquio B who had mutations causing deficiency in both forms of beta-galactosidase, did not assemble elastic fibers. We also demonstrated that S-Gal-deficient fibroblasts from patients with either GM1-gangliosidosis or Morquio B can acquire the S-Gal protein, produced by coculturing of Chinese hamster ovary cells permanently transected with S-Gal cDNA, resulting in improved deposition of elastic fibers. The present study provides a novel and natural model validating functional roles of S-Gal in elastogenesis and elucidates an association between impaired elastogenesis and the development of connective-tissue disorders in patients with Morquio B disease and in patients with an infantile form of GM1-gangliosidosis.     

Identification of a novel splicing mutation and 1-bp deletion in the 17α-hydroxylase gene of Japanese patients with 17α-hydroxylase deficiency

We report studies of two unrelated Japanese patients with 17α-hydroxylase deficiency caused by mutations of the 17α-hydroxylase (CYP17) gene. We amplified all eight exons of the CYP17 gene, including the exon-intron boundaries, by the polymerase chain reaction and determined their nucleotide sequences. Patient 1 had novel, compound heterozygous mutations of the CYP17 gene. One mutant allele had a guanine to thymine transversion at position +5 in the splice donor site of intron 2. This splice-site mutation caused exon 2 skipping, as shown by in vitro minigene expression analysis of an allelic construct, resulting in a frameshift and introducing a premature stop codon (TAG) 60 bp downstream from the exon 1-3 boundary. The other allele had a missense mutation of His (CAC) to Leu (CTC) at codon 373 in exon 6. These two mutations abolished the 17α-hydroxylase and 17,20-lyase activities. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with a mismatch oligonucleotide showed that the patient’s mother and brother carried the splice-site mutation, but not the missense mutation. Patient 2 was homozygous for a novel 1-bp deletion (cytosine) at codon 131 in exon 2. This 1-bp deletion produces a frameshift in translation and introduces a premature stop codon (TAG) proximal to the highly conserved heme iron-binding cysteine at codon 442 in microsomal cytochrome P450 steroid 17α-hydroxylase (P450c17). RFLP analysis showed that the mother was heterozygous for the mutation. Received: 15 November 1997 / Accepted: 15 March 1998     

GM2-gangliosidosis B1 variant: analysis of beta-hexosaminidase alpha gene abnormalities in seven patients

A single nucleotide transition within exon 5 of the beta-hexosaminidase alpha chain gene was identified in a Puerto Rican patient with GM2-gangliosidosis B1 variant as the mutation responsible for the unusual enzymological characteristics of this variant (G533----A; Arg178----His) (the DN-allele). A total of seven patients with enzymological characteristics of B1 variant have since been studied. They were Puerto Rican (DN), Italian, French, Spanish, two patients of mixed ethnic origin (English/Italian/Hungarian and English/French/Azores), and a Czechoslovakian. In confirmation of our earlier finding based on screening with allele-specific probes, all patients except the one from Czechoslovakia carried the same DN-allele. A new point mutation found in this patient changed the same codon affected in the DN-allele (C532----T; Arg178----Cys). An asymptomatic Japanese individual included as a control also carried one allele with the DN-mutation. Site-directed mutagenesis and expression studies in COS I cells demonstrated that either of the two point mutations abolishes the catalytic activity of the alpha subunit. The Spanish patient was homozygous for the DN-allele, but others were all compound heterozygotes. The Puerto Rican patient was a compound heterozygote with the DN-mutation in one allele and with the four-base insertion in exon 11, one of the two mutations found in the classical Ashkenazi Jewish Tay-Sachs disease, in the other allele. Abnormalities of the other allele were not identified in all other compound heterozygous patients. In these patients, the level of mRNA derived from the other allele was variable, ranging from being undetectable to being much lower than normal. This series of studies uncovered a new B1 variant mutation, confirmed our preliminary finding that the DN-allele has a surprisingly wide geographic and ethnic distribution, and pointed out the highly complex nature of the molecular genetics of this rare disorder. They also support our working hypothesis that mutations responsible for the unique enzymological characteristics of the B1 variant should be located in or near exon 5 of the gene and that this region of the enzyme protein is critical for its catalytic function.