Evidence for a novel gene for familial febrile convulsions, FEB2, linked to chromosome 19p in an extended family from the Midwest.
Febrile convulsions are a common form of childhood seizure. It is estimated that between 2 and 5% of children will have a febrile convulsion before the age of 5. It has long been recognized that there is a significant genetic component for susceptibility to this type of seizure. Wallace, Berkovic and co-workers recently reported linkage of a putative autosomal dominant febrile convulsion gene to chromosome 8q13-21. We report here another autosomal dominant febrile convulsion locus on chromosome 19p. Linkage analysis in this large multi-generational family gave a maximum pairwise lod score of 4.52 with marker Mfd120 at locus D19S177. Linkage to the chromosome 8 locus was excluded in this family. Haplotype analysis using both affected and unaffected family members indicates that this febrile convulsion gene, which we call FEB2 , can be localized to an 11.7 cM, 1-2 Mb section of chromosome 19p13.3, between loci D19S591 and D19S395.
Johnson
E W
EW
Neurogenetics/Neuropharmacology, Center for Medical Genetics and Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449, USA. johnsone@mfldclin.edu
Dubovsky
J
J
Rich
S S
SS
O'Donovan
C A
CA
Orr
H T
HT
Anderson
V E
VE
Gil-Nagel
A
A
Ahmann
P
P
Dokken
C G
CG
Schneider
D T
DT
Weber
J L
JL
D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002888:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 19; D005260:Female; D005796:Genes; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D003294:Seizures, Febrile / Q000235:genetics*; D014481:United States