Molecular basis of Zellweger syndrome, beta-ketothiolase deficiency and mucopolysaccharidoses

1. A human peroxisome assembly factor-1 (PAF-1) complementary DNA has been cloned that restores the morphological and biochemical abnormalities (including defective peroxisome assembly) in fibroblasts from a patient with group F Zellweger syndrome. The cause of the syndrome in this patient was a point mutation that resulted in the premature termination of PAF-1. The homozygous patient apparently inherited the mutation from her parents, each of whom was heterozygous for that mutation. Furthermore, we cloned and characterized the rat and human cDNAs for peroxisome-assembly factor-2 (PAF-2), which restores peroxisomes of the complementary group C Zellweger cells, by functional complementation, and identified two pathogenic mutations in the PAF-2 gene in two patients. 2. Seventeen mutations have been identified in 13 mitochondrial acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase-deficient patients. 3. We purified N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate (GalNAc6S) sulfatase and cloned the full-length cDNA of human N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate sulfatase (GALNS). The gene encoding GalNAc6S sulfatase has been localized by fluorescence in situ hybridization to chromosome 16q24, and the entire genomic gene structure has been characterized. About 40 different GALNS gene mutations have been identified in the patients with mucopolysaccharidosis IV A.