DNA polymorphism in the 5' flanking region of the human carbonic anhydrase II gene on chromosome 8

[Albers-Schönberg's disease with ocular manifestation]

Albers-Schönberg's disease is a rare disease (one case in 100,000 inhabitants), asymptomatic in the majority of cases. It belongs to the four clearly individualized forms of human osteopetrosis and has an autosomal dominant transmission. It induces generalized osteosclerosis, and most symptoms result from complications such as fractures following mild injury, compression of cranial nerves, especially the optic nerve, by stenosis of extracranial ostia, but also osteomyelitis of the lower maxilla. The treatment of Albers-Schönberg's disease is disappointing and only symptomatic, although the responsible genetic anomaly was recently identified. We report here the case of a 54-year-old woman, whose diagnosis of the disease has been known since adolescence, who presented with unilateral loss of vision and perimetric deficit due to papilla edema resulting from stenosis of the optic canal and benign intracranial hypertension.

Diagnostic approaches to renal genetic disorders using DNA analysis

Recent developments in molecular genetic technology have made it possible to diagnose many genetic disorders affecting the kidney before they are clinically manifest. For a disorder to be diagnosed by DNA analysis, either the causative gene must be known and cloned, or a closely linked DNA segment must have been identified. If one of these criteria is met, the disorder may be diagnosed either by direct detection of a mutation, if it is known, or indirectly by linkage analysis of the region using closely linked genetic markers. The methodology currently employed for direct detection of mutation includes the Southern blot, which will detect large structural alterations of genes or mutations altering a restriction recognition site, or the use of allele-specific oligonucleotides, which will detect specific point mutations. Linkage analysis is performed on DNA from multiple family members of the person at risk. Polymorphic markers are "tracked" in the family to determine the allele segregating with the disease gene. These methods are now routinely applied to the diagnosis of mendelian disorders affecting the kidney. It is anticipated that progress over the next decade will extend these applications to detection of the genetic component(s) contributing to multifactorial conditions.

Development of molecular approaches to estimating germinal mutation rates. I. Detection of insertion/deletion/rearrangement variants in the human genome

DNA from 130 individuals was studied with up to 18 (primarily cDNA) probes for the frequency of variants in this initial experiment to determine the feasibility of this approach to screening for germinal gene mutations. This approach, a modification of the usual restriction enzyme mapping strategy, focuses on the detection of insertion/deletion/rearrangement (I/D/R) variants, because the DNA is digested with only two restriction enzymes before transfer to membranes and hybridization with an extensive series of unrelated probes. Some 4000 noncontiguous, independent DNA fragments ("loci"), functional loci, pseudogenes or anonymous fragments, (a total of approximately 77,400 kb) were screened. 19 different classes and 31 copies of presumably I/D/R variants were detected while 4 different classes and 24 individuals exhibiting base substitution variants were observed. 18 of the 19 I/D/R classes were rare variants, that is, each were observed at a frequency, within this population, of less than 0.01; 3 of the base substitution classes existed at polymorphic frequencies and only 1 was a rare variant. 10 of the I/D/R classes, occurring in a total of 18 individuals, were detected with probes which are not known to be associated with repetitive elements. This is a variant frequency for I/D/R variants without known repetitive elements of 0.15 classes and 0.23 copies for each 1000 kb screened; this would extrapolate to 1600 such variant sites in the genome of each individual. Within the context of a mutation screening program, the rare variants, either with or without repetitive elements, would have a higher probability of being de novo mutations than would polymorphic variants; this former group would be the focus of family studies to test for the heritability of the allele (fragment pattern). Sufficient DNA probes are available to screen a significant portion of the human genome for genetic variation and de novo mutations of this type.

Human chromosome 8

The role of human chromosome 8 in genetic disease together with the current status of the genetic linkage map for this chromosome is reviewed. Both hereditary genetic disease attributed to mutant alleles at gene loci on chromosome 8 and neoplastic disease owing to somatic mutation, particularly chromosomal translocations, are discussed.

Cloning, expression, and sequence homologies of cDNA for human carbonic anhydrase II

A cDNA clone for human carbonic anhydrase (CA) II was isolated from a kidney lambda gt10 library. Expression of the cDNA insert in Cos-7 cells produced an immunoprecipitable product and enzymatically active carbonic anhydrase. The cDNA insert is 1551 bp in length and contains an open reading frame which encodes a 260-amino-acid polypeptide. The deduced amino acid sequence is identical to that reported for human CA II. The protein coding region of this cDNA for human CA II shows 81 and 70% nucleotide identity with cDNAs for CA II from mouse and chick, respectively. Even the long 3'-untranslated region of the cDNA for human CA II (703 bp) is 64 and 42% identical to those of CA II from mouse and chick, showing remarkable conservation of the CA II cDNAs in amniotes. The protein coding region of the human CA II cDNA is 64 and 65% identical with those of human CA I and CA III, which are thought to have arisen from a common precursor by gene duplication.

Differentiation of leukemia cells to polymorphonuclear leukocytes in patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia

We used recombinant-DNA techniques to determine the origin of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, at presentation, in remission, and in relapse. Studies using X chromosome-linked DNA polymorphisms strongly suggested that leukemic blast cells in this form of leukemia can differentiate in vivo to form mature granulocytes. Common chromosomal changes seen in blast cells, such as the addition of a chromosome 8 or the loss of a chromosome 7, were found to be present in the mature granulocytes of patients with leukemia. In addition, rearrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene was detected in the polymorphonuclear leukocytes of one patient. Finally, we have observed the persistence of a single dominant hemopoietic clone in the granulocytes of 3 of 13 patients in complete remission. These findings demonstrate that recombinant-DNA probes can detect clonal populations of granulocytes in patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, and provide further evidence that in some patients leukemic blast cells differentiate to form mature cells.

Assignment of the gene determining human carbonic anhydrase, CAI, to chromosome 8

A cDNA clone complementary to the mRNA encoding the rabbit erythrocyte specific carbonic anhydrase, CAI, has been used as probe for human CAI sequences in the analysis of DNA from panels of rodent/human somatic cell hybrids. The presence of the human CAI gene in all hybrids correlates with the presence of chromosome 8. Together with published mapping data, this assignment indicates that three CA loci are situated on chromosome 8.

The gene for human muscle specific carbonic anhydrase (CAIII) is assigned to chromosome 8

A cDNA clone complementary to the mRNA encoding the human muscle specific carbonic anhydrase CAIII has been used as probe in the analysis of DNA from panels of rodent/human somatic cell hybrids. The presence of the CA III gene in all hybrids correlates with the presence of chromosome 8. This is the first assignment of the CAIII gene in any species and, together with published mapping data, indicates that all of the human CA loci are situated on chromosome 8.

Nucleotide sequence and derived amino acid sequence of a cDNA encoding human muscle carbonic anhydrase

We report the nucleotide (nt) sequence of a full length cDNA clone, pCA15, which encodes the human muscle-specific carbonic anhydrase, CAIII. pCA15 identifies a 1.7-kb mRNA, which is present at high levels in skeletal muscle, at much lower levels in cardiac and smooth muscle and which appears to be developmentally regulated. The CAIII mRNA is distinguished by a 887-nt long 3'-untranslated region, containing two AAUAAA signal sequences and is longer than either of the mRNAs encoding the erythrocyte CAs, CAI and CAII, which each have relatively shorter 3'-untranslated regions, 360 and 670 nt long, respectively. The derived amino acid (aa) sequence for human CAIII shows 85% homology with ox CAIII, 62% homology with human CAII and 54% with human CAI when simple pairwise aa comparisons are made. We describe an allelic variation at a TaqI restriction site for CAIII which occurs at high frequency in the European population.

Comparison of the 5' regions of human and mouse carbonic anhydrase II genes and identification of possible regulatory elements

The nucleotide sequence of the 5' region of the human carbonic anhydrase II gene has been determined. This sequence begins 643 base pairs upstream from the ATG start site and continues through exon 1, intron 1, exon 2 and the adjoining 125 nucleotides of intron 2. The human sequence is compared with homologous regions of the mouse (YBR strain) carbonic anhydrase II gene by aligning the two sequences for optimal homology. In addition to a TATA box and a putative CCAAT box (CCACC in human and CCACT in mouse), three conserved tandem-repeat elements in mouse and two in human (consensus: cCNGTCACCTCCgC) are located 15 and 22 base pairs upstream, respectively, from the CCAAT boxes in the human and mouse sequences. This repeat element is similar to a tandem repeat sequence located at about the same position in mammalian beta-globin genes, and may represent regulatory elements common to both the carbonic anhydrase and beta-globin genes. The regions surrounding exon 1 are extremely G + C-rich in both human and mouse genes. In addition, several CCGCCC or GGGCGG sequences which may be important for transcriptional efficiency are found in the 5' flanking regions of the human and mouse genes.