Advertisement
Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI113914
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Morel, Y. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by André, J. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Uring-Lambert, B. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Hauptmann, G. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Bétuel, H. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Tossi, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Forest, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by David, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Bertrand, J. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale U34, Lyon, France.
Find articles by Miller, W. in: PubMed | Google Scholar
Published February 1, 1989 - More info
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is caused by disorders of the P450c21B gene, which, with the P450c21A pseudogene, lies in the HLA locus on chromosome 6. The near identity of nucleotide sequences and endonuclease cleavage sites in these A and B loci makes genetic analysis of this disease difficult. We used a genomic DNA probe that detects the P450c21 genes (A pseudogene, 3.2 kb; B gene, 3.7 kb in Taq I digests) and the 3' flanking DNA not detected with cDNA probes (A pseudogene, 2.4 kb; B gene, 2.5 kb) to examine Southern blots of genomic DNA from 68 patients and 165 unaffected family members in 57 families with CAH. Of 116 CAH-bearing chromosomes, 114 could be sorted into five easily distinguished haplotypes based on blots of DNA digested with Taq I and Bgl II. Haplotype I (76 of 116, 65.6%) was indistinguishable from normal and therefore bore very small lesions, presumably point mutations. Haplotype II (4 of 116, 3.4%) and haplotype III (8 of 116, 6.9%) had deletions and duplications of the P450c21A pseudogene but had structurally intact P450c21B genes presumably bearing point mutations; point mutation thus was the genetic defect in 88 of 116 chromosomes (75.9%). Haplotypes IV and V lack the 3.7-kb Taq I band normally associated with the P450c21B gene. Haplotype IV (13 of 116, 11.2%) retains all other bands, indicating that the P450c21B gene has undergone a gene conversion event, so that it is now also associated with a 3.2-kb band. Haplotype V (13 of 116, 11.2%) lacks the 2.4-kb Taq I fragment and the 12-kb Bgl II fragments normally associated with the P450c21A pseudogene, as well as lacking the 3.7-kb Taq I fragment, indicating deletion of approximately 30 kb of DNA, resulting in a single hybrid P450c21A/B gene. Most (114 of 116, 98%) CAH alleles thus can easily be classified with this new probing strategy, eliminating many ambiguities resulting from probing with cDNA.
Images.