Linkage studies suggest a possible locus for developmental dyslexia on chromosome 1p.

Eight extended dyslexic families with at least four affected individuals were genotyped with twelve genetic markers spanning the Rh (rhesus factor) locus. Eleven of these markers were located on the short arm and the other was on the long arm of chromosome 1. Five theoretically derived phenotypes were used in the linkage analyses: 1) phonemic awareness; 2) phonological decoding; 3) rapid automatized naming; 4) single word reading; and 5) vocabulary. In addition, a lifetime diagnosis of dyslexia was used as a phenotype. Both parametric and non-parametric genetic analyses were completed. The results supported the importance of a putative locus on 1p. In addition, two-locus analyses assuming the interaction between a 1p locus and a 6p locus, previously shown to be of interest for dyslexia, were conducted. As a result, the nonparametric linkage (NPL) scores for rapid automatized naming and phonological decoding were significantly increased. In particular, the NPL scores for rapid automatized naming exceeded 5.0 for certain markers. These results provide strong evidence for separate but jointly acting contributions of the 1p and 6p loci to the reading impairments associated with rapid naming and suggestive evidence for a similar mechanism involving phonological decoding.

Self-association of human protein S.

Protein S functions as a cofactor with activated protein C in the down-regulation of the blood coagulation cascade. In vitro studies have historically produced conflicting data with regard to the extent of various protein S activity in clotting assays which typically involve adding CaCl(2) to initiate reactions. We report here that protein S reversibly self-associates in the absence of Ca(2+). Sedimentation experiments showed a transition in sedimentation velocity from 7.2 to 4.2 S with a transition midpoint (T(m)) of 0.42 mM Ca(2+) for intact protein S. Studies of thrombin cleaved (Arg(70)) protein S revealed similar results with a transition in sedimentation velocity from 7.9 to 4.4 S with a T(m) of 0.42 mM Ca(2+). This transition is reversible with the addition of 10 mM EDTA. Sedimentation equilibrium data suggest at a minimum, a monomer-dimer-trimer association. Sedimentation velocity experiments were also performed on mixtures of protein S and prothrombin which showed no heterodimer formation in either Ca(2+) or EDTA solutions. These data suggest that previous interpretations of protein S structure and function may have been confounded by the self-associative behavior of protein S in non-Ca(2+) solutions.