Restriction analysis of the structural α-L-fucosidase gene and its linkage to fucosidosis

Human alpha-L-fucosidase is a lysosomal enzyme responsible for hydrolysis of alpha-L-fucoside linkages in fucoglycoconjugates. A single gene, FUCA 1, located on chromosome 1p34.1-1p36.1 encodes for alpha-L-fucosidase activity. To gain insight into the nature of the molecular defects leading to fucosidosis, we have characterized the genomic structure of FUCA 1. Restriction-endonuclease analysis suggests that at least seven exons dispersed over 22 kb are present in genomic FUCA 1. Two restriction-fragment-length polymorphisms (RFLPs) have been identified in the Caucasian population. The PvuII and BglI RFLPs each have two codominant alleles in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Allele frequencies for the PvuII RFLP are .70/.30, and those for the BglI RFLP .63/.37. Both RFLPs are in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other, with a correlation coefficient of .94. The polymorphism information content (PIC) of the combined DNA markers is .38, high enough to be useful in the prenatal diagnosis of fucosidosis. The combined lod score for linkage between the fucosidosis mutation and FUCA 1 markers in two families was significant at a recombination fraction of 0. This suggests that the fucosidosis mutation resides in FUCA 1.