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Background: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability. The aim of our longitudinal study was to describe ageing‐related cognitive changes in men with FXS. Method: A neuropsychologist determined the raw scores (RSs) of 19 men with FXS twice with the Leiter International Performance Scale at an average interval of 22 years. The ages of the participants at baseline ranged from 16 to 50 (mean 27) years. Results: At follow‐up, the RSs improved in two men, remained the same in two men and declined in 15 men. Overall, the RS of the study group deteriorated by an average 4 points in RSs (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Cognitive ageing in men with FXS started earlier than that in men in the general population; in many cases, cognitive ageing in men with FXS began before middle age, usually without any medical or other underlying cause.

Background Phelan–McDermid syndrome (PMD) is usually not only caused by 22q13.3 deletion but also pathogenic variants (mutations) of SHANK3 gene. PMD is characterized by global intellectual disability, severely delayed or absent speech, and features of autism spectrum disorder and susceptibility to psychotic behavior. Here, we describe a neurocognitive follow‐up and genetic etiology for two siblings with PMD. Method Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array test was normal and no 22q13.3 deletion was observed. For this reason, whole exome sequencing (WES) analyzed the siblings’ and the parents’ DNA sample. Results The results of the siblings strongly suggest that the SHANK3 gene variant c.2313+1G>A is pathogenic and PMD can be inherited from a mosaic father for this gene variant. Both siblings learned new skills until puberty but experienced a neuropsychiatric disaster after the age of 14 years experienced neurocognitive decline and it was sharp for one of the siblings. Conclusion The long‐term observations are sparse in PMD and SHANK3 mutations. This is the neurocognitive follow‐up from childhood to middle ages, where a sharp neurocognitive decline was observed. We conclude that progressive neuropsychiatric symptoms in adolescence are a universal clinical clue for PMD diagnosis and an underlying SHANK3 splicing site mutation., Here, we describe two siblings with a novel SHANK3 gene variant of c.2313+1G>A which is inherited from the healthy mosaic father. The results of the siblings point that the variant is pathogenic. The long‐term observations are sparse in PMD and SHANK3 mutations. This is the neurocognitive follow‐up from childhood to middle ages, where a sharp neurocognitive decline was observed.

Background Although autosomal recessive hematologic disorders are individually rare and difficult to ascertain, studies involving one or more homozygous affected children and their unaffected heterozygous parents have led to expanded understanding of known and discovery of previously unknown processes. The son and daughter of two Salvadoran parents were diagnosed with congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (cTTP) at 6 and 2 years of age, respectively, after presenting with fever, respiratory symptoms, hemolytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia and being found to have ADAMTS13 activities Methods Prior to a plasma infusion, blood samples were collected from the children and parents. Genomic DNA was isolated for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and direct Sanger sequencing of all ADAMTS13 exons and flanking intronic segments was performed; all variants identified were confirmed by bidirectional sequencing of a second, independently generated amplicon. Total RNA was isolated and the steady-state level of ADAMTS13 mRNA was measured using a quantitative real-time PCR (q-RT-PCR)-based assay. ADAMTS13 was characterized enzymatically using the fluorogenic FRETS-VWF73 substrate and antigenically by ELISA. Results Both children were found to be homozygous and parents to be heterozygous for the previously described, cTTP-causing ADAMTS13 single-base-substitution mutation 20506C>T, a missense mutation that encodes cDNA-nucleotide 2518 (c.2518C>T) and ADAMTS13 residue 692 (692Arg>Cys [692R>C]) (Fig. A). As expected, the children9s ADAMTS13 antigen and activity levels were undetectable, although notably, steady-state levels of the ADAMTS13 mRNA were >2.5-fold higher in the daughter than in the son. The re-sequenced regions of the ADAMTS13 loci segregating within this family contained 26 additional SNVs, seven of which were nonsynonymous (ns) including two previously unreported ns-SNVs: 27852C>T (c.3362C>T; 972Arg>Trp) and 33325G>A (c.3733G>A; 1096Arg>His) (Fig. A, left panel). The parents9 genotypes differed at nine positions, including three ns-SNVs, creating two distinct, non-mutant haplotypes (designated I and III) at the gene, mRNA and protein levels. The q-RT-PCR assay revealed >4-fold higher steady-state mRNA levels in the father compared to the mother (p Discussion We capitalized on the fortuitous finding of children with complete homozygosity across ancestrally-related ADAMTS13 alleles harboring a null-type, loss-of-function mutation, as this enabled the substantially different levels of gene expression and function observed in the parents to be attributed to their two previously unreported, SNV-based, ADAMTS13 haplotypes. Additional investigation at the molecular, biochemical, cellular, and organismal levels will be necessary to determine which of the myriad potential individual SNV- and/or haplotype-based mechanisms are responsible for the observed parental differences in circulating ADAMTS13 antigen and activity. Disclosures: Kim: Haplomics, Inc.: Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Baxter: Honoraria. Marder: Baxter: Research Funding. Howard: Haplomics, Inc.: Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Baxter: Research Funding.

Haemophilia B is an X-linked recessive disorder caused by deficiency of functional coagulation factor IX, which results almost exclusively from mutations in the F9 gene. We sought to determine features, which could distinguish between mutations that cause severe disease symptoms from those that cause non-severe disease symptoms. Towards this objective, we have performed a statistical analysis of reported point mutations in F9. These include: potential local changes in mRNA free energy, codon usage, charge and type of mutated amino acid, location of the mutation with regard to protein secondary structure and functional domain and amino acids' evolutionary conservation scores. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed highly significant differences between severe and non-severe disease causing mutations in their effect on free energy of small mRNA fragments and evolutionarily conserved amino acids. Our results suggest that information at the mRNA level as well as conservation of the amino acid correlate well with disease severity. This study demonstrates that computational tools may be used to characterize the severity of haemophilia B associated with point mutations and suggests their utility in predicting the outcome of sequence changes in recombinant proteins.

ADAMTS13 is a secreted metalloprotease that cleaves von Willebrand Factor multimers in order to maintain proper homeostasis. A severe deficiency in ADAMTS13 triggers a disorder known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. At present, ADAMTS13 expression levels are determined by immunoblotting. We established a flow cytometry methodology to detect intracellular ADAMTS13 in liver and kidney cells using a polyclonal antibody, BL154G, and several monoclonal antibodies previously used to detect ADAMTS13 by immunoblotting. The results were validated using confocal microscopy, immunoblotting, and an activity assay (FRETS-VWF73). We show that labeling ADAMTS13 with specific antibodies and detection by flow cytometry yields results that are comparable with previously established methods for ADAMTS13 detection. Specifically, we compared the endogenous expression levels of ADAMTS13 in various liver cell lines using flow cytometry and obtained results that parallel immunoblot analysis. Knockdown of ADAMTS13 expression via targeted siRNA resulted in significantly reduced median signal, displaying the sensitivity of this detection method. A further analysis of reliability and specificity was achieved through plasmid DNA and transfection reagent dose response studies. The flow cytometry method described here is useful in determining the expression of both endogenous and recombinant forms of intracellular ADAMTS13. Flow cytometry is a convenient, efficient, and cost-effective way to measure the expression levels of ADAMTS13. Published 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters represent one of the largest families of proteins, and transport a variety of substrates ranging from ions to amphipathic anticancer drugs. The functional unit of an ABC transporter is comprised of two transmembrane domains and two cytoplasmic ABC ATPase domains. The energy of the binding and hydrolysis of ATP is used to transport the substrates across membranes. An ABC domain consists of conserved regions, the Walker A and B motifs, the signature (or C) region and the D, H and Q loops. We recently described the A-loop (Aromatic residue interacting with the Adenine ring of ATP), a highly conserved aromatic residue approximately 25 amino acids upstream of the Walker A motif that is essential for ATP-binding. Here, we review the mutational analysis of this subdomain in human P-glycoprotein as well as homology modeling, structural and data mining studies that provide evidence for a functional role of the A-loop in ATP-binding in most members of the superfamily of ABC transporters.

The genetic code is degenerate, that is, several codons are translated into the same amino acid. Synonymous codon changes that do not alter the protein sequence were considered as having no functional consequence and referred to as ‘silent’. This viewpoint has changed drastically in the past decade. Studies in molecular evolution have established that in all organisms, synonymous codons are under selection pressure and consequently used with different frequencies. These observations have been complemented by biochemical, biophysical and genetic studies that provide mechanistic explanations of how such a codon bias is exploited by the translation machinery of cells to control gene expression, the efficiency of protein folding and the coordinated expression of functionally related gene families. Interest in this phenomenon has been heightened by the association between many synonymous mutations and human diseases. Thus, synonymous mutations, once considered innocuous are increasingly being demonstrated to be important in human diseases, evolution and biotechnology. Key Concepts: Synonymous codon changes do not change the amino acid sequence of the translated protein. Until recently synonymous changes were thought to have no effect on the protein and were called silent. New studies show that even synonymous nucleotide changes can affect protein folding and function. Studies in molecular evolution show that even synonymous codons are under selection pressure. Over 50 human diseases are associated with synonymous mutations. Synonymous mutations can affect the splicing of precursor mRNAs. Synonymous mutations can alter the secondary structure of the mRNA and thus affect mRNA stability. Several codons encode the same amino acid but are not used with the same frequency, this is called codon bias. Codon bias is used by the translation machinery to regulate the translation speed and accuracy. Keywords: single nucleotide polymorphisms; synonymous mutations; codon bias; genetic code; genome-wide association studies; protein folding; molecular evolution; ribosomal profiling

Bovine spermatozoa were shown to exhibit rapid regulatory volume decrease (RVD) when exposed to hypotonic saline media. This quinine- and quinidine-sensitive regulatory volume decrease was coincident with K+ release due to stretch-activation of inhibitor-specific presumptive K+ channels. The regulatory volume decrease response was much faster than a similar phenomenon observed in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Studies on volume changes in different electrolyte and nonelectrolyte media suggested that: (1) this inhibitor-specific channel could also be a nonspecific pore in the spermatozoal membrane for nonelectrolytes below 150 daltons; (2) subpopulations (of nearly equal size) of the spermatozoa differ in the expression of the pore; (3) capacitation abolishes this distinction between subpopulations of spermatozoa; and (4) the general case of RVD for other mammalian spermatozoa was also established.

A series of five homodimeric polyethylene glycol (PEG) linked homodimers based on the multidrug resistance reversal agent (−)-stipiamide were made and tested for their ability to interact with P-glycoprotein, the protein responsible for multidrug resistance, using ATPase and photoaffinity displacement assays. Key reactions include a new alkoxide-mesylate displacement for the assembly of the PEG linkers and a double Sonogashira coupling reaction.