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Eight novel mutations in the HEXA gene
Matthew J McGinniss1, David H Brown, Andrea Fulwiler
1Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, Genetic Services, Children's Hospital, San Diego, California, USA.
Purpose:
To characterize novel mutations in the HEXA gene (alpha-subunit beta-hexosaminidase A).
Methods:
Subjects included participants in the California Tay-Sachs disease prevention program. DNA samples from 49 subjects (47 enzymatically defined carriers and 2 disease afflicted) who were negative for the four common disease-associated and the two pseudodeficient mutations, were subjected to single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis over 14 exons.
Results:
Targeted sequencing of the 39 electrophoretic variants from SSCP analysis revealed eight novel and deleterious mutations and 31 with previously described mutations. Six novel mutations were found in non-Jewish carriers, and two were found in two patients with infantile Tay-Sachs disease.
Conclusion:
Identification of these eight novel mutations provides additional insight to the mutational spectrum for the HEXA gene. Furthermore, this knowledge should enhance diagnosis and prognosis for Tay-Sachs disease, carrier identification, and fundamental studies in structure/function relationships between this gene and its enzymatic product.