Dominant thalassemia-like phenotypes associated with mutations in exon 3 of the beta-globin gene.
Mutations producing beta-thalassemia reach individual gene frequencies greater than .01 in malarial-endemic regions because beta-thalassemia trait individuals have increased genetic fitness over that of normal individuals. Exon 3 of the beta-globin gene has been relatively spared as a site of common beta-thalassemia mutations. Frameshifts caused by the loss of a single nucleotide and nonsense mutations produce beta-thalassemia trait when they occur in exons 1 and 2. In contrast, they usually produce chronic hemolytic anemia when present in exon 3. Certain missense mutations in exon 3 produce unstable globins and thalassemia intermedia with hemolysis in heterozygotes. Here we report two new mutations in exon 3 of the beta-globin gene. One is a single nucleotide deletion in codon 109 in a 78-year-old Lithuanian with chronic hemolytic anemia and features of thalassemia. It leads to an abnormal globin (beta Manhattan) that is elongated to 156 amino acids. The second is a CAG-CGG missense mutation at codon 127 that causes a Gln----Pro substitution (beta Houston) and a thalassemia intermedia with hemolysis in three generations of a British-American family. Although the clinical phenotypes of these two patients differed little, differences in globin-synthetic ratios were significant, presumably reflecting differences in the ability of each abnormal beta-globin to form alpha beta dimers. The paucity of high-frequency exon 3 mutations and their worldwide distribution is likely attributable to their phenotypic severity and loss of increased genetic fitness vis-a-vis malaria.
Kazazian
H H
HH
Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Dowling
C E
CE
Hurwitz
R L
RL
Coleman
M
M
Stopeck
A
A
Adams
J G
JG
D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D003062:Codon; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000235:genetics*
D003062:Codon; D005914:Globins