cytidylyl-3--5--guanosine and Tay-Sachs-Disease

Tay-Sachs disease is a lipidosis due to the deficiency of the lysosomal hexosaminidase A. In order to understand the molecular mechanisms of this enzyme deficiency we studied 42 patients of different ethnic origins diagnosed in Europe. The strategy used consists in HEXA cDNA amplification followed by allele-specific oligonucleotide analysis for the frequent mutations, and by chemical cleavage mismatch and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis for the detection of new mutations. 90% of alleles were clarified in this way, showing a high heterogeneity of HEXA lesions in Tay-Sachs disease. 28 different mutations were found, 20 being identified for the first time in this group of patients.

Topics: Adult; Alleles; Base Composition; Base Sequence; beta-N-Acetylhexosaminidases; Child, Preschool; Dinucleoside Phosphates; DNA Mutational Analysis; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Frameshift Mutation; Genotype; Hexosaminidase A; Humans; Infant; Molecular Epidemiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutagenesis, Insertional; Mutation; Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; Oligonucleotide Probes; Phenotype; Point Mutation; RNA Splicing; Sequence Deletion; Tay-Sachs Disease