Functional characterization of novel mutations in the human cytochrome b gene.

The great variability of the human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence induces many difficulties in the search for its deleterious mutations. We illustrate these pitfalls by the analysis of the cytochrome b gene of 21 patients affected with a mitochondrial disease. Eighteen different sequence variations were found, five of which were new mutations. Extensive analysis of the cytochrome b gene of 146 controls found 20 supplementary mutations, thus further demonstrating the high variability of the cytochrome b sequence. We fully evaluated the functional relevance of 36 of these 38 mutations using indirect criteria such as the nature of the mutation, its frequency in controls, or the phylogenetic conservation of the mutated amino acid. When appropriate, the mtDNA haplotype, the heteroplasmic state of the mutation, its tissue distribution or its familial transmission were also assessed. The molecular consequences of the mutations, which appeared possibly deleterious in that first step of evaluation, were evaluated on the complex III enzymological properties and protein composition using specific antibodies that we have generated against four of its subunits. Two original deleterious mutations were found in the group of seven patients with overt complex III defect. Both mutations (G15150A (W135X) and T15197C (S151P)) were heteroplasmic and restricted to muscle. They had significant consequences on the complex III structure. In contrast, only two homoplasmic missense mutations with dubious clinical relevance were found in the patients without overt complex III defect.

Mitochondrial DNA transfer RNA gene sequence variations in patients with mitochondrial disorders.

Many different pathogenic mutations in the mitochondrial (mt) transfer RNA (tRNA) genes have been reported for patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy. Although some of them are recurrent, most have only been described once and appear to be restricted to one patient or to one family. The incidence of mt tRNA gene alterations is not known, even though the frequency of some recurrent mutations has been analysed both in patients and in the general population. In this study, we describe the results of stepwise screening for sequence variations in the mt tRNA genes of 166 patients selected according to several criteria. Extensive sequence analysis of the tRNA genes was performed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. A total of 31 patients (19%) were found to harbour significant levels of a pathogenic mutation, thus confirming the importance of mt tRNA mutations in human pathology. Forty-three different sequence variations were found, illustrating the great diversity of the mtDNA sequence in humans. The functional assessment of all these sequence variations represented a difficult task; it was mostly based on indirect data, such as the phylogenetic conservation of modified nucleotides and the proportions of variant species in different tissues of the index case or in blood of maternal relatives. Direct demonstration of a correlation between the proportion of heteroplasmic sequence variations and the cytochrome c oxidase defect was performed at the single muscle-fibre level. Eleven heteroplasmic sequence variations were found, six of which are new mutations. One is a known Caucasian polymorphism but the other 10 are pathogenic. Two of them are the well-known pathogenic MELAS (mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes) (A3243G) and MERRF (myoclonic epilepsy with ragged-red fibres) (A8344G) point mutations. They were found in 23 patients. The eight other mutations were restricted to one patient. The pathogenic nature of these mutations was demonstrated directly for five of them and hypothesized from indirect arguments for the other three. Thirty-two homoplasmic sequence variations were found. Twenty-nine were considered to be polymorphisms, even though 15 of these were found for the first time in our patients and two others had been reported previously as pathogenic. The pathogenic nature of three homoplasmic variants remains questionable.

Atypical MELAS syndrome associated with a new mitochondrial tRNA glutamine point mutation.

The authors studied a 47-year-old patient who presented with an association of deafness, acute cerebral stroke-like episode, leukoencephalopathy, and extensive basal ganglia calcifications. Late onset and neuroradiologic findings were atypical for MELAS syndrome (Mitochondrial Myopathy, Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Strokelike episodes). A heteroplasmic G to A transition at nucleotide 4332 in the tRNA glutamine gene was identified in the patient's muscle mitochondrial DNA. The pathogenicity of the mutation was shown in single muscle fibers by the correlation between high mutation load and cytochrome c oxidase defect.