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This study utilized cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) genotypes to explain variability of desipramine pharmacokinetics in a cohort of non-poor metabolizer individuals. In an interaction study utilizing desipramine as a probe, genotyping for the CYP2D63, 4, 5and 6alleles was used to screen out CYP2D6 poor metabolizers. Individuals were categorized according to these and additional alleles (CYP2D62, 9, 10, 17, 41and x2). Genotypes of individuals heterozygous for two or three of 2, 17and 41alleles were confirmed by molecular haplotyping. Pharmacokinetic parameters of desipramine were analysed according to CYP2D6 category. Molecular haplotyping was necessary to definitively categorize four of 16 individuals. A subject who had unusually high plasma elimination half-time, exposure and metabolic ratios carried an intermediate metabolizer (IM) 9allele in combination with a non-functional allele. This combination has a population frequency of less than 1 : 200. Individuals with 1/1, 1/2and 2/2genotypes had lower than average plasma elimination half-time, exposure and metabolic ratios. For desipramine, additional genotyping of CYP2D6IM alleles helped define subgroups of the CYP2D6-positive cohort. This suggests that genotyping for IM alleles will aid in interpretation of clinical trials involving CYP2D6 substrates. Due to the diversity of IM alleles, molecular haplotyping may be necessary to fully characterize CYP2D6genotype–phenotype relationships.

DNA in the macronuclei of Oxytricha fallax, as in other hypotrichous ciliate protozoa, exists as small, achromosomal molecules rather than in chromosomes. We report studies on O. fallaxDNA using physicochemical procedures and nucleic acid hybridization. Macronuclear DNA molecules range in size from 22 kilobase pairs (kb) to about 0.5 kb. The DNA has a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.694 g·cm-3and a melting temperature in 15 mM NaCl/1.5 mM sodium citrate, pH 7, at 65.4°. These values correspond to 34.7% Gua + Cyt and 28.1% Gua + Cyt, respectively, and base composition determined by thin-layer chromatography of nucleotides is 32.4% Gua + Cyt. The only modified nucleotide that is detectable is N6-methyldeoxyadenylate (0.2%), and the amount and kind of modification cannot account for the discrepancies in nucleotide composition determination by the three methods. The genes for 25S and 19S rRNA are contained in DNA molecules 6.67 kb in length, of which at least 6.15 kb is transcribed. These rDNA molecules show no intrastrand complementarity as does rDNA in some other lower eukaryotes, and they have two asymmetric sites recognized by endonuclease EcoRI. The genes for 5S RNA are in DNA molecules 0.69 kb in length. Digestion of this DNA with restriction enzymes BamHI, BsuI, HhaI, and TaqI gives no evidence for a tandemly repeated sequence. It is likely that both 19S + 25S rRNA genes and 5S RNA genes in the Oxytrichamacronucleus exist as single transcription units, and both may have “spacer” regions approximately 0.5 kb long.

Cytochrome P450 2D7 (CYP2D7) has long been considered a pseudogene. A recent report described an indel polymorphism (CYP2D7138delT) that causes a frameshift generating an open reading frame and functional protein. This polymorphism was observed in 6 of 12 samples from an Indian population. Individuals with the 138delT polymorphism expressed CYP2D7 protein from a brain-specific, alternatively spliced transcript (J Biol Chem279:27383–27389, 2004). The unexpectedly high frequency of the variant allele and resulting CYP2D7expression could have important implications for brain-specific metabolism of CYP2D substrates including many psychoactive drugs. However, the 138delT variant has not been detected in other studies (Pharmacogenetics11:45–55, 2001; Biochem Biophys Res Commun336:1241–1250, 2005). Our goal was to determine the frequency of this variant in a larger, ethnically diverse population. CYP2D7138delT genotypes for 163 Caucasians, 95 East Asians, 50 Indians, 68 Hispanic Latinos, and 68 African Americans were determined by Pyrosequencing. The 138delT allele was observed at a frequency of 1.0% in East Asians and 0.74% in Hispanic Latinos. The deletion was not observed in Indians or the other ethnic populations. In addition, in each of the three samples with 138delT, the putative brain-specific transcript contains a premature stop codon that would preclude protein expression. The low frequency of the CYP2D7138delT polymorphism in our ethnically diverse sample, and particularly the absence from 50 Indian samples, is in contrast to the high frequency previously reported. Our results suggest that CYP2D7138delT is unlikely to be highly relevant for population variation of pharmacokinetics or drug response.