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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Jane Hutton, Professor Robert Taylor, Emeritus Professor Doug Turnbull
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GRACILE (growth retardation, aminoaciduria, cholestasis, iron overload, lactacidosis, and early death) syndrome is a recessively inherited lethal disease characterized by fetal growth retardation, lactic acidosis, aminoaciduria, cholestasis, and abnormalities in iron metabolism. We previously localized the causative gene to a 1.5-cM region on chromosome 2q33-37. In the present study, we report the molecular defect causing this metabolic disorder, by identifying a homozygous missense mutation that results in an S78G amino acid change in the BCS1L gene in Finnish patients with GRACILE syndrome, as well as five different mutations in three British infants. BCS1L, a mitochondrial inner-membrane protein, is a chaperone necessary for the assembly of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex III. Pulse-chase experiments performed in COS-1 cells indicated that the S78G amino acid change results in instability of the polypeptide, and yeast complementation studies revealed a functional defect in the mutated BCS1L protein. Four different mutations in the BCS1L gene have been reported elsewhere, in Turkish patients with a distinctly different phenotype. Interestingly, the British and Turkish patients had complex III deficiency, whereas in the Finnish patients with GRACILE syndrome complex III activity was within the normal range, implying that BCS1L has another cellular function that is uncharacterized but essential and is putatively involved in iron metabolism.
Author(s): Taylor RW; Hutton JL; Turnbull DM; Visapaa I; Fellman V; Vesa J; Dasvarma A; Kumar V; Payne GS; Makarow M; Van Coster R; Suomalainen A; Peltonen L
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: American Journal of Human Genetics
Year: 2002
Volume: 71
Issue: 4
Pages: 863-876
ISSN (print): 0002-9297
ISSN (electronic): 1537-6605
Publisher: Cell Press
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/342773
DOI: 10.1086/342773
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