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We report three cases of ring chromosome 5 [r(5)], two familial (mother and daughter) and one sporadic. The phenotype resembled that of the "ring syndrome" with prenatal onset of short stature, growth retardation, mild facial dysmorphism and normal psychomotor development. Extended metaphase and prometaphase chromosome preparations using G-, R- and Q-banding and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) failed to demonstrate deletion in the ring 5. Flow karyotype using the FACS cell sorter and peak area analysis showed the r(5) to be in the same position as the normal chromosome 5. The deletion that is presumably associated with ring formation appears to involve less that one megabase of DNA. In the "complex" rings, high resolution SEM showed fragile sites at the 5q34 and 5q35 region with frequent deletions at that site. A literature survey suggests that when a parent carries a ring chromosome about 80% of recognised pregnancies result in live birth. Of these, about half have a normal phenotype and karyotype, and half inherit the parental ring; about half of those acquiring the ring (20%) show significant mental retardation.

Two patients with typical Langer-Giedion or trichorhino-phalangeal type II syndrome are reported. One had an apparently normal karyotype. The second had an intercalary del 8q23. Attention is drawn to the severe bone defects seen in the latter and observations from the literature are discussed. The critical segment is assigned to band 8q23. The syndrome may result in a number of cases from a visible deletion, and in other instances from a more conventional gene mutation, although the molecular mechanism is uncertain.

Three 45,X males have been studied with Y-DNA probes by Southern blotting and in situ hybridization. Southern blotting studies with a panel of mapped Y-DNA probes showed that in all three individuals contiguous portions of the Y chromosome including all of the short arm, the centromere, and part of the euchromatic portion of the long arm were present. The breakpoint was different in each case. The individual with the largest portion (intervals 1-6) is a fertile male belonging to a family in which the translocation is inherited in four generations. The second adult patient, who has intervals 1-5, is an azoospermic, sterile male. These phenotypic findings suggest the existence of a gene involved in spermatogenesis in interval 6 in distal Yq11. The third case, a boy with penoscrotal hypospadias, has intervals 1-4B. In situ hybridization with the pseudoautosomal probe pDP230 and the Y chromosome specific probe pDP105 showed that Y-derived DNA was translocated onto the short arm of a chromosome 15, 14, and 14, respectively. One of the patients was a mosaic for the 14p+ translocation chromosome. Our data and those reported by others suggest the following conclusions based on molecular studies in eight 45,X males: The predominant aetiological factor is Y;autosome translocation observed in seven of the eight cases. As the remaining case was a low-grade mosaic involving a normal Y chromosome, the maleness in all cases was due to the effect of the testis determining factor, TDF. There is preferential involvement of the short arm of an acrocentric chromosome (five out of seven translocations) but other autosomal regions can also be involved. The reason why one of the derivative translocation chromosomes becomes lost may be that it has no centromere.

A phenotypically normal 32-year-old male with azoospermia was found to have a 45,X karyotype with presence of excess euchromatic material on 14p. The parent's karyotypes are normal. This observation is interpreted as a Y/14 translocation with loss of the heterochromatic Y chromosome material.

Two cases of del(13)-retinoblastoma are reported. Case 1, a 13-month-old male, was monosomic due to the malsegregation of the maternal ins(20;13)(p12;q1307q14.3). The patients's sister was trisomic for 13q1307q14.3 with no evident phenotypic effect. Case 2 was a 20-month-old female with a denovo del(13)(q1303q14.3). In both instances esterase D activity showed a remarkable gene-dosage effect in monosomy, disomy, and trisomy, thus confirming the assignment of the gene locus to 13q14, and more precisely to the proximal half of this band. In all instances, the ESTD phenotypes were 1-1. It is suggested that esterase D activity should become an important diagnostic criteria for the various etiological forms of retinoblastoma.

Quantitative red cell adenylate kinase (AK-1) assay has been used in 8 patients with partial duplication or deletion of chromosome 9 in an attempt to find the precise intrachromosomal location of the structural gene locus. All regions of chromosome 9 are represented in abnormal dosage in at least one patient. A 43% increase in AK-1 activity was found to be associated with duplication of the terminal band of the long arm of chromosome 9. Duplication of all other parts of chromosome 9 were associated with normal enzyme activity. These findings not only confirm the assignment of the AK-1 locus to chromosome 9 made previously in somatic cell hybrids, but suggest a more precise assignment to region 9q33 leads to qter. This places the ABO:Np-1:AK-1 linkage group at the distal end of the long arm of chromosome 9.

A patient with the phenotype of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) was found to have a normal karyotype in blood lymphocytes and fibroblasts. Assessment of the chromosome 21 markers SOD1, CBS, ETS2, D21S11, and BCEI showed partial trisomy by duplication of a chromosome segment carrying the SOD1, CBS, and ETS2 loci and flanked by the BCEI and D21S11 loci, which are not duplicated. This submicroscopic duplication at the interface of 21q21 and 21q22.1 reduces to about 2000-3000 kb the critical segment the trisomy of which is responsible for the phenotype of trisomy 21.

A 20-month-old male patient was referred because of severe growth and mental retardation, bilateral glaucoma, hypospadias, and cryptorchidism. Karyotyping revealed a de novo complex three-chromosome rearrangement as well as deletion of band 11p13:46,XY,t(4;7;15)(q212;p14;q26),del(11) (p13p14). Trabeculectomia revealed bilateral aniridia. Surgery on the genitalia revealed male pseudohermaphroditism and bilateral gonadoblastoma. The kidneys were normal. A deficiency in catalase (CAT) activity allowed the regional assignment of the CAT gene to band 11p13.

Hypomelanosis of Ito (incontinentia pigmenti achromians), a sacrococcygeal complex dysembryoma, seizures, severe cerebral lesions, mental retardation, chorioretinal atrophy, hemihypotrophy of the body, and skeletal anomalies are reported in a female infant of North African origin. Karyotype analysis revealed mosaicism for a microdeletion of the proximal region of 15q similar to that observed in Willi-Prader syndrome. The possibility of gene assignment of Ito's disease or that it may represent a nonspecific marker for mosaicism are discussed.

Recently, a unique cellular DNA segment, representing the normal allele counterpart of hepatitis B virus integration site, has been isolated. It has allowed the identification of a cellular domain in which rearrangements occur in approximately 10% of primary liver tumours. We here report on the assignment of this probe, D4S112, by in situ hybridization to band 4q32.1.

A patient is reported with del11p13, low catalase level, nephroblastoma, chordee and cryptorchidism, no evident mental retardation, and with normal irides. This unique observation suggests the following order of loci in 11p13, from centromere to telomere: catalase, Wilms tumor, aniridia. The chromosomal origin of nephroblastoma may be more frequent than estimated on the basis of its association with aniridia.

To define more precisely, in molecular terms, the region involved in Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), we have studied patients with BWS and a constitutional duplication of 11p15 using eight 11p15 markers. In the first case with a de novo duplication and extra material on 11p, the region spanning pter to CALCA, excluded, was duplicated. In the second case, the rearrangement was characterized using somatic cell hybrids established with lymphocytes from the father who carried a balanced translocation t(11;18)(p15.4;p11.1). The breakpoint lay exactly in the same region. It could thus be inferred that the two sons, who were the first cases reported of BWS with dup11p15 and adrenocortical carcinoma (ADCC), carried a duplication similar to that observed in the first case. Together with evidence for specific somatic chromosomal events leading to loss of 11p15 alleles in familial cases of ADCC, it can be hypothesized that a gene involved in predisposition to ADCC maps to region 11p15.5.

The pro alpha 1 (I) collagen structural gene (COL1A1), the acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA), and the thymidine kinase (TK) genes, known to be closely linked in man (HSA) and mapped to HSA17, were found syntenic in two Cercopithecoidae species, the baboon (Papio papio, PPA) and the African green monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops, CAE) and assigned to homoeologous chromosomes, PPA16 and CAE19, respectively. The assignment of COL1A1 was obtained using two human cDNA probes. Hind III restriction sites found in man were present in the two species. The particular CAE individual used in the experiment showed a polymorphism for one DNA fragment.

Blood clotting factors were investigated in a patient with trisomy 8 mosaicism, a patient with an r(13), and a patient with distal trisomy 13q. Results are compatible with the assignment of the structural genes of factors VII and X to 13q34 and the existence of a regulatory mechanism associated with chromosome 8 controlling the expression of factor VII alone.

The interferons have been classified into alpha, beta, and gamma (leukocyte, fibroblast, and immune). We used a human genomic clone for beta 1 interferon IFB to determine the gene copy number in two patients with unbalanced rearrangements of 9p. Our results provide evidence for regional assignment of this gene to 9p21.

Comparative karyotyping of the Hylobatidae has revealed only very few chromosome homoeologies with other primates. Their position in the phylogenetic tree thus remains uncertain. With the hope that comparative gene mapping might allow overcoming these difficulties, somatic cell hybrids were obtained by fusion of fibroblasts from a Hylobates (Nomascus) concolor and cells from a HPRT-Chinese hamster cell line. Of 34 investigated enzyme markers, 20 could be mapped, and 7 syntenies were established. When compared with man, there were 7 synteny disruptions. These results strongly suggest that the Hylobatidae diverged from the common stem leading to the Pongidae after the Cercopithecoidae had diverged.

The two probes H3-8 and H2-42, known to be located in 13q14, were mapped by in situ hybridization to either side of the 13 breakpoint of an apparently balanced de novo t(2;13)(p24.3;q14.2) detected in a patient with retinoblastoma as the only phenotypic manifestation.

A familial t(X;2) (p223;q323) is responsible for partial trisomy 2q in the proposita, a 3-year-old girl with severe mental retardation and hypotrophia. It is present in the balanced state in the mother, two daughters, and one son. X-replication was studied after BUDR incroporation and acridine orange staining. The reproductive impairment of balanced X/autosome translocations is discussed.

Drash syndrome associates a nephropathy characterized by a diffuse mesangial sclerosis of early onset, Wilms tumor, and male pseudohermaphroditism (MPH). A patient with Drash syndrome is reported with the following: karyotype 46,XY, external genitalia near normal female, mixed gonadal dysgenesis, severe androgen receptor deficiency demonstrated for the first time in this syndrome. The possibility of a common genetic denominator with the del 11p13 WAGR complex is suggested. MPH/nephroblastoma association is common. Androgen receptor deficiency has been observed in one case of each syndrome, respectively.