title: Maternal uniparental heterodisomy of chromosome 6 in a boy with an isolated cleft lip and palate.
abstract: We describe a chromosome 6 uniparental disomy (UPD6) in a boy, discovered during a screening for the genetic cause of cleft lip and palate. In the medical literature, almost all documented cases of UPD6 are paternal in origin, and only four were maternal. We present here a report of complete maternal chromosome 6 uniparental heterodisomy. Haplotype analysis was performed using highly polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) markers that span both arms of chromosome 6. Analysis of these markers revealed the presence of two maternal alleles but no paternal allele, indicating an instance of maternal uniparental heterodisomy. Chromosome analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes confirmed a normal male karyotype. Advanced maternal age at the time of the infant's birth and heterodisomy of markers around the centromere favors a meiosis-I error. No specific phenotype has been reported for maternal UPD6. Therefore, the cleft lip and palate in the present case probably occurred due to other risk factors. This report provides further evidence that maternal UPD6 has no specific clinical consequences and adds to the collective knowledge of this rare chromosomal finding.
authors.affiliation: Human Genome Center, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Salahshourifar
authors.forename: Ahmad Sukari
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Halim
authors.forename: Wan Azman Wan
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Sulaiman
authors.forename: Bin Alwi
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Zilfalil
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002896:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 / Q000235:genetics*; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000235:genetics*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D024182:Uniparental Disomy / Q000235:genetics*