New mutation and prenatal diagnosis in ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency

Ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) (E.C.2.1.3.3) is an X-linked hepatic enzyme in the urea cycle necessary for ammonia detoxification. Deficiency of OTC results in neonatal hyperammonemia, coma, and death in childhood. Because fibroblasts do not express OTC, prenatal diagnosis in the past has required fetal liver biopsy. Using a complementary DNA (cDNA) for OTC for Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA, we have found probands with complete OTC deficiency from two unrelated families in whom the same TaqI restriction endonuclease site has been altered because of independent, but not necessarily identical, mutations in the OTC gene, suggesting that this site may be a relative hotspot for mutation at a location that is critical for normal gene function. This TaqI alteration has allowed the identification of the individual in each family in whom the mutation originated as well as the exclusion of a recurrence of OTC deficiency in a male fetus at risk for the disease. OTC deficiency joins the growing list of genetic disorders for which Southern blot analysis allows accurate heterozygote detection and prenatal diagnosis in conditions for which they were not previously available.