ANALYSIS OF PEROXISOMES IN LYMPHOBLASTS - ZELLWEGER SYNDROME AND A PATIENT WITH A DELETION IN CHROMOSOME-7

Lymphoblasts are useful cells for the diagnosis and basic studies of s everal human genetic disorders. Peroxisomal disorders are usually diag nosed by using fibroblasts or blood samples. Here, we report the chara cterization of peroxisomes in lymphoblasts. We demonstrated that lymph oblasts from a patient with Zellweger syndrome, the prototypical disor der of peroxisome biogenesis, contained peroxisomal ghosts like those described previously in Zellweger fibroblasts. We also found that lymp hoblasts that carry a deletion on chromosome 7 (q11.23q22.1), a region thought to contain one Zellweger syndrome gene, contained normal pero xisomes.