Molecular biology of the adenosine deaminase gene and messenger RNA

The human adenosine deaminase cDNA has been cloned in a lambda-vector. Contained within a sequence of over 1500 nucleotides is an open reading frame of 1089 nucleotides that encodes the amino acids of ADA. The functional ADA gene contains at least six kilobases and has at least two introns. Using in vitro translation, molecular hybridization to ADA cDNA, and S1 nuclease mapping, ADA mRNA has been characterized in lymphoblast lines from seven different ADA-deficient children. All of the lines contain substantial amounts of RNA, which hybridizes specifically to the ADA cDNA. Four of the cell lines contain translatable mRNAs with small defects such as single base substitutions that are not detectable by S1 mapping. Deficiency of ADA activity in these lines appears secondary to synthesis of structurally altered proteins containing simple amino acid substitutions. Three of the lines contain mRNAs with S1 nuclease detectable defects. Some or all of these defective mRNAs are postulated to result from anomalous RNA processing. In these cases the causes of the ADA deficiency may be more complex than simple amino acid substitutions in the protein and could include small insertions or deletions of amino acids as well as changes in the efficiency of translation of the mRNAs.