Noncoding RNAs in mental retardation.

Recent genome-wide interrogations of transcribed RNA have yielded compelling evidence for pervasive and complex transcription throughout a large majority of the human genome. Tens of thousands of noncoding RNA transcripts have been identified, most of which have yet to be functionally characterized. Along with the revelation that noncoding RNAs in the human genome are surprisingly abundant, there has been a surge in molecular and genetic data showing important and diverse regulatory roles for noncoding RNA. In this report, we summarize the potential roles that noncoding RNAs may play in the molecular pathogenesis of different mental retardation disorders. We suspect that these findings are just the tip of the iceberg, with noncoding RNAs possibly being involved in disease pathogenesis at different levels and through multiple distinct mechanisms.

Positional cloning of the Werner's syndrome gene.

Werner's syndrome (WS) is an inherited disease with clinical symptoms resembling premature aging. Early susceptibility to a number of major age-related diseases is a key feature of this disorder. The gene responsible for WS (known as WRN) was identified by positional cloning. The predicted protein is 1432 amino acids in length and shows significant similarity to DNA helicases. Four mutations in WS patients were identified. Two of the mutations are splice-junction mutations, with the predicted result being the exclusion of exons from the final messenger RNA. One of the these mutations, which results in a frameshift and a predicted truncated protein, was found in the homozygous state in 60 percent of Japanese WS patients examined. The other two mutations are nonsense mutations. The identification of a mutated putative helicase as the gene product of the WS gene suggests that defective DNA metabolism is involved in the complex process of aging in WS patients.

[Synthesis and combined H1-/H2 antagonist activity of mepyramine, pheniramine and cyclizine derivatives with cyanoguanidine, urea and nitroethenediamine partial structures]. / Synthese und kombinierte H1-/H2-antagonistische Aktivität von Mepyramin-, Pheniramin- und Cyclizin-Derivaten mit Cyanoguanidin-, Harnstoff- und Nitroethendiamin-Partialstrukturen.

Compounds with combined histamine H1- and H2-receptor antagonist activity were synthesized by connecting H1- and H2-receptor substructures via cyanoguanidine, urea, or nitroethenediamine moieties. Loss of the strongly basic side-chain nitrogen results in a decrease of H1-receptor activity compared to single reference compounds. At the guinea-pig right atrium (H2-receptor model) compounds with mepyramine or cyclizine structure are also less active than the single references tiotidine, ranitidine, or lamtidine. Nevertheless substances with a pheniramine like partial structure proved to be potent histamine H2-receptor antagonists at the atrium model (about 27 times more active than cimetidine).

Bone dysplasia sclerosteosis results from loss of the SOST gene product, a novel cystine knot-containing protein.

Sclerosteosis is an autosomal recessive sclerosing bone dysplasia characterized by progressive skeletal overgrowth. The majority of affected individuals have been reported in the Afrikaner population of South Africa, where a high incidence of the disorder occurs as a result of a founder effect. Homozygosity mapping in Afrikaner families along with analysis of historical recombinants localized sclerosteosis to an interval of approximately 2 cM between the loci D17S1787 and D17S930 on chromosome 17q12-q21. Here we report two independent mutations in a novel gene, termed "SOST." Affected Afrikaners carry a nonsense mutation near the amino terminus of the encoded protein, whereas an unrelated affected person of Senegalese origin carries a splicing mutation within the single intron of the gene. The SOST gene encodes a protein that shares similarity with a class of cystine knot-containing factors including dan, cerberus, gremlin, prdc, and caronte. The specific and progressive effect on bone formation observed in individuals affected with sclerosteosis, along with the data presented in this study, together suggest that the SOST gene encodes an important new regulator of bone homeostasis.