Congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA, OMIM: 121050) is an autosomal dominant condition that shares skeletal features with Marfan syndrome (MFS, OMIM: 154700), including contractures, arachnodactyly, dolichostenomelia, scoliosis, crumpled ears and pectus deformities but excluding the ocular and cardiovascular complications that characterize MFS. These two similar syndromes result from mut...

Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) disorder is a rare lysosomal storage disorder that leads to severe neurological symptoms and an early death. MLD occurs due to the deficiency of enzyme arylsulfatase A (ARSA) in leukocytes, and patients with MLD excrete sulfatide in their urine. In this study, the ARSA gene in 12 non-consanguineous MLD patients and 40 healthy individuals was examined using pol...

Germline mutations in the human DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes MSH2 and MLH1 are associated with the inherited cancer disorder Lynch syndrome (LS). Up to 30% of MLH1 variants found are missense mutations. The functional consequences in regard to pathogenicity of many of these variants are unclear. Missense mutations affect protein structure or function, but may also cause aberrant splicing. In...

Next-generation sequencing has opened up new avenues for the genetic study of complex traits. However, because of the small number of observations for any given rare allele and high sequencing error, it is a challenge to identify functional rare variants associated with the phenotype of interest. Recent research shows that grouping variants by gene and incorporating computationally predicted fu...

Recent reports have indicated the role of the prokineticin receptor 2 gene (PROKR2) in the etiology of congenital hypopituitarism, including septo-optic dysplasia and Kallmann syndrome. In the present study, using next-generation targeted sequencing, we identified a novel heterozygous PROKR2 variant (c.742C>T; p.R248W) in a female patient who had combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD), mo...

Glucokinase maturity-onset diabetes of the young (GCK-MODY) represents a distinct subgroup of MODY that does not require hyperglycemia-lowering treatment and has very few diabetes-related complications. Three patients from two families who presented with clinical signs of GCK-MODY were evaluated. Whole-exome sequencing was performed and the effects of the identified mutations were assessed usin...

Hairs are complex structures, making a protective layer and serves different biological functions. TRPS1, a transcription factor is one of the candidate genes causing congenital hypertrichosis, an excessive hair growth at inappropriate body parts. SNPs of TRPS1 were retrieved from dbSNP which were screened by SIFT and PolyPhen servers based on their functional impacts. Out of the screened SNPs,...

Lynch syndrome, also known as hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC), is the most common known genetic syndrome for colorectal cancer (CRC). MLH1/MSH2 mutations underlie approximately 90% of Lynch syndrome families. A total of 24% of these mutations are missense. Interpreting missense variation is extremely challenging. We have therefore developed multivariate analysis of protein polymorp...

Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is a heterogeneous group of autosomal recessive disorders resulting from mutations of the tyrosinase (TYR) gene and presents with either complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to a defect in an enzyme involved in the production of melanin. In this study, mutations in the TYR gene of 30 unrelated Iranian OCA1 patients and 100 healthy i...

Lamellar ichthyosis is one form of congenital autosomal recessive ichthyosis. To date, seven causative genes for ARCI have been identified. To understand further the genetic spectrum of the disease, we analyzed a four-generation Iranian family with ARCI that had observable inheritance. Exome sequencing data for one of the affected individuals with ichthyosis from a consanguineous Iranian family...