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Darier disease ( DD) is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited skin disorder caused by mutations in ATP2A2, which is expressed in both the skin and the brain and encodes for SERCA2. We have screened the coding regions of ATP2A2 in a total of 95 unrelated individuals with DD to identify the pathogenic mutations. We identified 66 potentially pathogenic mutations in ATP2A2 for 74 of the 95 individuals with DD of which 45 (68%) are thought to be novel. Forty-nine (74%) are unique to an individual and 17 (26%) were found in more than one individual or overlap with previously identified variants. The results suggest that mutations in ATP2A2 may not be as family-specific as first thought. The spectrum of mutations identified will inform understanding of the pathogenesis of DD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have previously reported evidence that variation at GABA(A) receptor genes is associated with susceptibility to bipolar disorder with schizophrenia-like psychotic features (Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type) with gene-wide significance at GABRB1, GABRA4, GABRB3, GABRA5, and GABRR3. Here we provide suggestive evidence implicating a sixth member of the gene family, GABRR1 (gene-wide P = 0.0058; experiment-wide corrected significance P = 0.052).

The chromosomal region 12q24 has been previously implicated by linkage studies of both bipolar disorder and unipolar mood disorder and we have reported two pedigrees segregating both bipolar disorder and Darier's disease that show linkage across this region. The gene P2RX7 is located in this chromosomal region and has been recently reported as a susceptibility gene for bipolar disorder and unipolar depression. The non-synonymous SNP rs2230912 (resulting in amino-acid polymorphism Q460R) showed the strongest association and has been postulated to be pathogenically relevant. We have investigated this gene in a large UK case-control sample (bipolar I disorder N = 687, unipolar recurrent major depression N = 1,036, controls N = 1,204). Neither rs2230912 nor any of 8 other SNPs genotyped across P2RX7 was found to be associated with mood disorder in general, nor specifically with bipolar or unipolar disorder. Further, sequencing of our two chromosome 12-linked bipolar-Darier families showed no evidence of rare variants at P2RX7 that could explain the linkage. Our data do not provide support for rs2230912 or the other polymorphisms studied within the P2RX7 locus, being involved in susceptibility to mood disorders., (2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)