Open AccessA single-base-pair deletion in the beta-glucuronidase gene accounts for the phenotype of murine mucopolysaccharidosis type VII.
Author(s) -
Mark S. Sands,
Edward H. Birkenmeier
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.90.14.6567
Subject(s) - frameshift mutation , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , restriction enzyme , gene , exon , genetics , genomic dna , mutant , restriction fragment , stop codon , beta glucuronidase , mutation , mutagenesis , restriction site , gene expression
Murine mucopolysaccharidosis type VII is a heritable disease caused by a spontaneous mutation, gus(mps), closely linked to the beta-glucuronidase structural gene on chromosome 5. Mice homozygous for the mutation have a > 200-fold decrease in beta-glucuronidase mRNA levels and virtually no enzyme activity detectable by a sensitive fluorometric assay. Approximately 20 kb of genomic DNA containing the beta-glucuronidase gene Gus and > 2 kb of 5' and 3' flanking sequences were cloned from both a gus(mps)/gus(mps) mouse and a +/+ mouse of the progenitor strain. Restriction enzyme digests containing DNA fragments 20-400 bp in length were generated from each of the two Gus alleles and then compared by using nondenaturing polyacrylamide DNA-sequencing gels. This method rapidly identified a large number of restriction sites and was sensitive enough to detect a restriction fragment length variation resulting from a 1-bp deletion in the gus(mps) allele. DNA-sequence analysis of the mutant genomic fragment showed that the 1-bp deletion created a frameshift mutation within exon 10. Insertion of the deleted nucleotide by oligonucleotide site-directed mutagenesis restored function to the corrected mutant gene when transfected into gus(mps)/gus(mps) fibroblasts. We concluded that the frameshift mutation, which introduces a premature stop codon at codon 497 in exon 10, accounts for the molecular, biochemical, and pathological abnormalities associated with the gus(mps) phenotype.