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Evidence of a founder effect in families with frontotemporal dementia that harbor the tau +16 splice mutation
Author(s) -
PickeringBrown Stuart,
Baker Matt,
Bird Thomas,
Trojanowski John,
Lee Virginia,
Morris Huw,
Rossor Martin,
Janssen John C.,
Neary David,
Craufurd David,
Richardson Anna,
Snowden Julie,
Hardy John,
Mann David,
Hutton Mike
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part b: neuropsychiatric genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.393
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1552-485X
pISSN - 1552-4841
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.b.20083
Subject(s) - haplotype , frontotemporal dementia , genetics , founder effect , splice , mutation , exon , locus (genetics) , biology , splice site mutation , dementia , alternative splicing , genealogy , disease , gene , medicine , history , allele , pathology
The +16 exon 10 splice mutation of the tau gene (microtubule‐associated protein tau, MAPT ) has been reported in numerous families with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). To date, the majority of these families are from England and Wales in the UK, although families with this mutation have been reported from Australia and the USA. Our own analysis has identified eight families with the +16 MAPT splice mutation from around the Manchester and North Wales areas of the UK. Given the proximity of the UK families to one another it is likely that they are related and represent a single extended pedigree. In order to investigate this possibility, and the possibility that the families with this mutation from London, the USA, and Australia are related, we genotyped 11 microsatellite markers around the tau locus. In most cases (20/25, 80%), a common haplotype, approximately 3 cM in size, was identified. In the remaining cases, this haplotype appears to have been varyingly reduced in size by recombination. We demonstrate that the +16 mutation is on the H1 tau haplotype and that H1 specific polymorphisms are also shared by these families. These data provide evidence that the MAPT +16 splice mutation cases from around the world analyzed in this study are indeed related and represent a single pedigree that probably originated in the North Wales area of the UK. Furthermore, this single large pedigree may be of use in the identification of disease modifying loci in FTD. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.