Nonsyndromic X-linked mental retardation: mapping of MRX58 to the pericentromeric region

An Austrian family with nonsyndromic X-linked mental retardation (MRX) is reported in which the obligatory carrier females are normal, and 5 affected males have mild to moderate mental retardation. Linkage analysis indicated an X pericentromeric localization, with flanking markers DXS989 and DXS1111 and a maximum multipoint LOD score of 2.09 (straight theta = 0) for the 7 cosegregating markers DXS1243, CybB, MAOB, DXS988, ALAS2, DXS991, and AR. MRX58 thus mapped within a 50-cM interval between Xp11.3 and Xq13.1 and overlapped with 23 other MRX families already described. This pericentromeric clustering of MRX families suggests allelism, with a minimum of 2 X-linked mental retardation (XLMR) genes in this region.