A novel point mutation in the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) gene associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A

We studied the peripheral myelin protein gene PMP-22 in a large Sardinian family with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A), in which the duplication commonly found in CMT1A was absent, but with evidence of linkage on chromosome 17. Sequencing of DNA and cDNA showed a missense point mutation G368-->T in exon 5 of PMP22, predicted to determine a valine for glycine substitution at codon 107, which could be plotted in the center of the PMP22 protein putative transmembrane domain III. Using sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (SSOP), we found the point mutation in all affected CMT1A subjects but not in healthy family members or in 314 chromosomes of controls, thus indicating that the G368-->T point mutation is not a polymorphism. In the hypothetical model of PMP22, the amino acid at position 107 plots deeply into alpha-helical transmembrane domain III, a domain where point mutations have never previously been found. Although the same mutation was present in all CMT1A subjects examined, clinical findings showed a different stereotyped pattern in relation to the generation examined, for a progressive increase in severity and an earlier onset from the first to the third generation examined. Molecular analysis suggests that CMT1A disease in this family is due to the G368-->T point mutation, although other mechanisms may account for the clinical variability in the members of different generations.