THE MOLECULAR DEFECT IN PROPIONIC ACIDEMIA - EXON SKIPPING CAUSED BY AN 8-BP DELETION FROM AN INTRON IN THE PCCB ALLELE
HUMAN GENETICS
Authors: OHURA, T; OGASAWARA, M; IKEDA, H; NARISAWA, K; TADA, K
Abstract
Propionic acidemia is an autosomal recessive metabolic disease resulting from a deficiency of propionyl CoA carboxylase (PCC) activity. To investigate the genetic basis of propionic acidemia, we isolated a cDNA encoding the precursor of the beta subunit of human PCC (betaPCC). The cloned cDNA sequence was 1,832 bp long and the open reading frame of 1,617 nucleotides encoded a polypeptide of 539 amino acids with a molecular mass of 58,202 Da. The human betaPCC sequence shared a high degree of homology (91%) with the full-length cDNA of rat betaPCC at the amino acid level; there were only 47 differences among 539 amino acid residues compared. Polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of cDNA from a beta subunit-deficient Japanese patient revealed a deletion of 101 nucleotides consisting of one exon from mature mRNA. This deletion resulted in a frameshift and a stop codon in the new frame. Analysis of the genomic DNA revealed a homozygous 8-bp deletion from bp3 to bp10 of the intron just downstream of the deleted exon. This deletion disrupted the consensus 5' splice signal and led to exon skipping.
Molecular analysis of PCCB gene in Korean patients with propionic acidemia
MOLECULAR GENETICS AND METABOLISM
Authors: Kim, SN; Ryu, KH; Lee, EH; Kim, JS; Hahn, SH
Abstract
Propionic acidemia (PA) is an autosomal recessive inborn error in the catabolism of methionine, isoleucine, threonine, and valine, odd-numbered chain length fatty acids and cholesterol. Clinical symptoms are very heterogeneous and present as a severe neonatal-onset or a late-onset form. It is caused by a deficiency of propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC, EC 6.4.1.3), a biotin-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the carboxylation of propionyl-CoA to D-methylmalonyl-CoA. PCC is a heteropolymeric enzyme composed of alpha- and beta-subunits. A greater heterogeneity is observed in the PCCA gene, while for the PCCB gene, a limited number of mutations is responsible for the majority of the alleles characterized in both Caucasian and Oriental populations. We identified eight Korean patients with PA by organic acid analysis confirmed in five patients by the PCC enzyme assay in the lymphoblasts. Two neonatal-onset patients showed undetectable PCC activities while three cases with residual enzyme activities had relatively late manifestations. In the molecular analysis, we identified five novel mutations, Y439C, 1527de13, 1357insT, IVS12-8T-->A, and 31del10, and one known mutation, T428I in PCCB gene. Alleleic frequency of T428I in Korean patients with PA was 56.3% in this study. Two neonatal-onset patients with null enzyme activities were homozygotes with 1527de13 and T428I, respectively. This finding implies that T428I and 1527de13 mutation could be responsible for their severe clinical courses and null enzyme activities. The mRNA of PCCB gene in T428I and 1527del3 homozygotes were normal but in Western blot analysis, the betaPCC-subunit was only absent in 1527de13 homozygote patient suggesting different molecular pathology. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.