An error in dystrophin mRNA processing in golden retriever muscular dystrophy, an animal homologue of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. |
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| Authors: | N J Sharp J N Kornegay S D Van Camp M H Herbstreith S L Secore S Kettle W Y Hung C D Constantinou M J Dykstra A D Roses |
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| Institution: | Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710. |
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| Abstract: | Golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) is a spontaneous, X-linked, progressively fatal disease of dogs and is also a homologue of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Two-thirds of DMD patients carry detectable deletions in their dystrophin gene. The defect underlying the remaining one-third of DMD patients is undetermined. Analysis of the canine dystrophin gene in normal and GRMD dogs has failed to demonstrate any detectable loss of exons. Here, we have demonstrated a RNA processing error in GRMD that results from a single base change in the 3' consensus splice site of intron 6. The seventh exon is then skipped, which predicts a termination of the dystrophin reading frame within its N-terminal domain in exon 8. This is the first example of dystrophin deficiency caused by a splice-site mutation. |
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