Homozygous deletion or mutation of the survival of motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1) causes spinal muscular atrophy. SMN1 has been duplicated in humans to create SMN2, which produces a low level of functional SMN protein. However, most SMN2 transcripts lack exon 7, resulting in a non-functional protein. A single nucleotide difference near the 5' end of exon 7 largely accounts for SMN2 exon 7 skipping,...

 Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the second most common lethal autosomal recessive disease. It is a neuromuscular disorder caused by degenerative of lower motor neurons and occasionally bulbar neurons leading to progressive limb paralysis and muscular atrophy. The SMN1 gene is recognized as a SMA causing gene while NAIP has been characterized as a modifying factor for the clinical ...

Spinal muscular atrophy linked to chromosome 5q (SMA) is a recessive, progressive, neuromuscular disorder caused by bi-allelic mutations in the SMN1 gene, resulting in motor neuron degeneration and variable presentation in relation to onset and severity. A prevalence of approximately 1-2 per 100,000 persons and incidence around 1 in 10,000 live births have been estimated with SMA type I account...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is one of the most common inherited causes of pediatric mortality. SMA is caused by deletions or mutations in the survival of motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene, which results in SMN protein deficiency. Humans have a centromeric copy of the survival of motor neuron gene, SMN2, which is nearly identical to SMN1. However, SMN2 cannot compensate for the loss of SMN1 because S...

The association between survivor motor neuron (SMN) gene deletions and motor neuron diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suggest that sporadic lower motor neuron disease (LMND) may be related to SMN gene deletion. We examined the association between copy numbers of SMN and the risk of LMND among Koreans. We genotyped the copy number of SMN1 and ...

Humans have two nearly identical copies of the survival motor neuron (SMN ) gene, SMN1 and SMN2. Homozygous loss of SMN1 causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMN2 is unable to prevent the disease due to skipping of exon 7. Using a systematic approach of in vivo selection, we have previously demonstrated that a weak 5' splice site (ss) serves as the major cause of skipping of SMN2 exon 7. Here ...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the second most common lethal autosomal recessive disorder. It is divided into the acute Werdnig-Hoffmann disease (type I), the intermediate form (type II), the Kugelberg-Welander disease (type III), and the adult form (type IV). The gene involved in all four forms of SMA, the so-called survival motor neuron (SMN) gene, is duplicated, with a telomeric (tel SMN o...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the leading genetic cause of infant mortality. Most SMA cases are associated with the low levels of SMN owing to deletion of Survival Motor Neuron 1 (SMN1). SMN2, a nearly identical copy of SMN1, fails to compensate for the loss of SMN1 due to predominant skipping of exon 7. Hence, correction of aberrant splicing of SMN2 exon 7 holds the potential for cure of SM...

Calcium channels SMA A paralyzing disease might best be treated by exciting motoneurons rather than saving them, report Jablonka et al. The paralysis that occurs in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) stems from defective SMN1, a protein that interacts with mRNA transport factors. Motoneurons seem to be particularly sensitive to the transport problems, perhaps due to their considerable ...