Unequal interchromosomal rearrangements may result in elastin gene deletions causing the Williams-Beuren syndrome

Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is generally the consequence of an interstitial microdeletion at 7q11.23, which includes the elastin gene, thus causing hemizygosity at the elastin gene locus. The origin of the deletion has been reported by many authors to be maternal in approximately 60% and paternal in 40% of cases. Segregation analysis of grandparental markers flanking the microdeletion region in WBS patients and their parents indicated that in the majority of cases a recombination between grandmaternal and grandpaternal chromosomes 7 at the site of the deletion had occurred during meiosis in the parent from whom the deleted chromosome stemmed. Thus, the majority of deletions were considered a consequence of unequal crossing-over between homologous chromosomes 7 (interchromosomal rearrangement) while in the remaining cases an intrachromosomal recombination (between the chromatids of one chromosome 7) may have occurred. These results suggest that the majority of interstitial deletions of the elastin gene region occur during meiosis, due to unbalanced recombination while a minority could occur before or during meiosis probably due to intrachromosomal rearrangements. The recurrence risk of the interchromosomal rearrangements for sibs of a proband with non-affected parents must be negligible, which fits well with the observation of sporadic occurrence of almost all cases of WBS.