De novo del(6)(q25) associated with macular degeneration

An eight-month-old girl with a de novo del(6)(q25) is described. She and other previous cases of 6q deletion showed concordance for developmental retardation associated with multiple unspecific congenital abnormalities, which do not yet allow the delineation of a syndrome. However, bilateral macular degeneration was found in the proposita and had been observed in another similar case, so it probably represents a distinctive feature of 6q terminal monosomy. This observation also suggests the existence of a dominant macular degeneration locus within 6q25----qter.