Scanning for unstable trinucleotide repeats in neuropsychiatric disorders: Detection of a large CTG expansion in a schizophrenic patient
- and others
Expansion of unstable trinucleotide repeats have been associated so far with seven human genetic disorders including fragile X, myotonic dystrophy and Huntington disease. This newly discovered class of genetic mutations is almost invariably associated with genetic anticipation. Anticipation has been recently reported in bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia pedigrees, suggesting a possible implication of genes with unstable triplets in these disorders. To explore this hypothesis we have analyzed large schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder kindreds by means of the Repeat Expansion Detection Method (RED) described by Schalling and modified in our laboratory. This method uses genomic DNA as a template for the annealing and ligation of repeat-specific oligonucleotides. The reactions were subjected to denaturing PAGE and then transferred onto nylon membrane by capillary transfer. The multimers were revealed after hybridization with an oligoprobe and 5 hours exposure on film. To date the kindreds have been screened for the presence of unstable (CTG)n. CTG multimers ranging from 51 to 119 CTG units were detected in both affected and normal individuals corresponding to a normal variation in length of one or more CTG loci. Although our results indicate that (CTG)n expansions are not the mechanism causing schziophrenia or bipolar affective disorder, in one schizophrenia patient we have detected a large (CTG)n constituted by at least 204 CTG units. The incomplete structure of the family does not allow us to determine if this large repeat segregates with the disease. Localization of this expanded locus by in situ hybridization is underway. Similar in situ studies using PCR-generated CCA multimers up to 1 kb in length as a probe have revealed the presence of long tracts of CCA repeats at discrete sites in the human genome. This shows the feasibility of the in situ approach to localize large arrays of triplets in the human genome.
- OSTI ID:
- 134119
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941009--; CNN: Grant MH44876; Grant MH39239; Grant MH50390
- Journal Information:
- American Journal of Human Genetics, Journal Name: American Journal of Human Genetics Journal Issue: Suppl.3 Vol. 55; ISSN 0002-9297; ISSN AJHGAG
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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