Despite the fact that tRNA abundances are thought to play a major role in determining translation error rates, their distribution across the genetic code and the resulting implications have received little attention. In general, studies of codon usage bias (CUB) assume that codons with higher tRNA abundance have lower missense error rates. Using a model of protein translation based on tRNA comp...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the degree of genetic heterogeneity of myophosphorylase deficiency (McArdle disease) in Spain through molecular studies of 10 new patients. DESIGN The coding sequence of the entire myophosphorylase gene was sequenced in DNA extracted from muscle and blood. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of polymerase chain reaction fragments was used to confirm and ...

We report on a Saudi infant with Holt-Oram syndrome caused by a de novo missense mutation of the TBX5 gene. The mutation (Thr72Lys) is novel and has not been previously reported. The cardiac and limb defects in our patient were both severe, and the infant also had micrognathia and cleft palate. Previously reported cases of the Holt-Oram syndrome caused by missense mutations were reviewed and th...

The AML1 gene encoding the DNA-binding a-subunit in the Runt domain family of heterodimeric transcription factors has been noted for its frequent involvement in chromosomal translocations associated with leukemia. Using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) combined with nonisotopic RNase cleavage assay (NIRCA), we found point mutations of the AML1 gene in 8 of 160 leukemia p...

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) is a form of X-linked leukodystrophy caused by mutations in the proteolipid protein 1 (PLP1) gene. Although PLP1 proteins with missense mutations have been shown to accumulate in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in disease model animals and cell lines transfected with mutant PLP1 genes, the exact pathogenetic mechanism of PMD has not previously been clarif...

The clinical progression of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease in a family of Alsatian origin is reported. The age of onset and the duration of evolution were variable. The clinical picture became more complex over the generations: in the first generations, isolated dementia and in later generations a triad of pyramidal, pseudobulbar syndromes and dementia associated with spinal cord and ce...

To illustrate the variable clinical presentations and rates of progression in familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC), phenotypes and genotypes were compared in three FHC families with different genetic defects. In the first family, the FHC abnormality was a protein truncating mutation (Gln969X) in the cardiac myosin binding protein C gene. The second family had a missense change (Asn755Lys)...

Benign familial neonatal convulsion is a rare autosomal dominant inherited epilepsy syndrome characterized by unprovoked seizures in the first few days of life, normal psychomotor development, and a positive intergenerational family history of neonatal seizures. Over 90% of the affected individuals have inherited causal mutations in KCNQ2, which encodes for the potassium voltage-gated channel s...

During next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis, many missense mutations were found in a well-known oncogene, many of which were variant of uncertain significance mutations. We recently treated an adult patient with pancreatoblastoma by chemotherapy. Using an NGS cancer panel, we found a previously unreported missense mutation in the 1835 codon of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene. We ...

Non-clustered δ-protocadherins are homophilic cell adhesion molecules essential for the development of the vertebrate nervous system, as several are closely linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. Mutations in protocadherin-19 (PCDH19) result in a female-limited, infant-onset form of epilepsy (PCDH19-FE). Over 100 mutations in PCDH19 have been identified in patients with PCDH19-FE, about half o...