RESUMO
The presence of a recessive inherited muscle disease in Old Danish Pointing Dogs has been well known for years. Comparisons of this disease with myasthenic diseases of other dog breeds and humans have pointed toward a defect in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine possibly due to decreased activity of the enzyme choline acetyltransferase. We sequenced exons 5-18 of the gene encoding choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) in 2 affected and 2 unaffected dogs and identified a G to A missense mutation in exon 6. The mutation causes a valine to methionine substitution and segregates in agreement with the inheritance of the disease. The mutation was not detected in 50 dogs representing 25 other dog breeds. A DNA test has been developed and is now available to the breeders of Old Danish Pointing Dogs.
Assuntos
Doenças Autoimunes do Sistema Nervoso/veterinária , Colina O-Acetiltransferase/genética , Doenças do Cão/genética , Mutação , Doenças da Junção Neuromuscular/veterinária , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Substituição de Aminoácidos , Animais , Animais Recém-Nascidos , Doenças Autoimunes do Sistema Nervoso/genética , Primers do DNA , Cães , Éxons , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Mutação de Sentido Incorreto , Doenças da Junção Neuromuscular/genéticaRESUMO
There is abundant evidence that the DNA in eukaryotic cells is organized into loop domains that represent basic structural and functional units of chromatin packaging. To explore the DNA domain organization of the breast cancer loss-of-heterozygosity region on human chromosome 16q22.1, we have identified a significant portion of the scaffold/matrix attachment regions (S/MARs) within this region. Forty independent putative S/MAR elements were assigned within the 16q22.1 locus. More than 90% of these S/MARs are AT rich, with GC contents as low as 27% in 2 cases. Thirty-nine (98%) of the S/MARs are located within genes and 36 (90%) in gene introns, of which 15 are in first introns of different genes. The clear tendency of S/MARs from this region to be located within the introns suggests their regulatory role. The S/MAR resource constructed may contribute to an understanding of how the genes in the region are regulated and of how the structural architecture and functional organization of the DNA are related.