IDENTIFICATION OF 2 SPLICING MUTATIONS IN THE COLLAGEN TYPE-VII GENE (COL7A1) OF A PATIENT AFFECTED BY THE LOCALISATA VARIANT OF RECESSIVE DYSTROPHIC EPIDERMOLYSIS-BULLOSA
R. Gardella et al., IDENTIFICATION OF 2 SPLICING MUTATIONS IN THE COLLAGEN TYPE-VII GENE (COL7A1) OF A PATIENT AFFECTED BY THE LOCALISATA VARIANT OF RECESSIVE DYSTROPHIC EPIDERMOLYSIS-BULLOSA, American journal of human genetics, 59(2), 1996, pp. 292-300
Collagen type VII gene (COL7A1) has been demonstrated to be altered in
several variants of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB), with eith
er recessive or dominant mode of inheritance. We have identified two m
utations in a patient affected by a localisata variant of recessive DE
B (L-RDEB), which is characterized by the less severe phenotype of the
syndrome. These mutations are the first splicing mutations so far des
cribed for COL7A1 in DEB. One mutation is a paternally inherited A-->G
transition at position -2 of the donor splicing site of intron 3, whi
ch results in three aberrant mRNAs, depending on the skipping of exon
3, the usage of a cryptic donor site inside exon 3, or the maintenance
of intron 3. The second mutation is a maternally inherited G-->A tran
sition at position -1 of the donor splicing site of intron 95, which i
nduces the activation of a cryptic donor site 7 nt upstream the normal
site and gives rise to a deleted mRNA, in addition to the normal one.
All aberrant mRNAs show a shift of the reading frame, thus generating
premature termination codons of translation. Allele-specific analysis
of the transcripts has shown that the maternal mutation does nor comp
letely abolish the correct splicing of COLVII pre-mRNA, thus allowing,
in the patient, the synthesis of a certain lever of a functional prot
ein. This result is compatible with the mild clinical L-RDEB phenotype
observed in our patient.