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. 2000 Jun;8(6):449-54.
doi: 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5200480.

X inactivation phenotype in carriers of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: skewed in carriers of a duplication and random in carriers of point mutations

K Woodward  1 , K Kirtland, S Dlouhy, W Raskind, T Bird, S Malcolm, D Abeliovich
Affiliations

X inactivation phenotype in carriers of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: skewed in carriers of a duplication and random in carriers of point mutations

K Woodward et al. Eur J Hum Genet. 2000 Jun.

Abstract

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) is an X-linked recessive disease caused by coding sequence mutations in the PLP gene, sub-microscopic duplications of variable sizes including the PLP gene or very rarely deletions of the PLP gene. We analysed the X inactivation pattern in blood of PMD female carriers with duplications and with point mutations. In the majority of duplication carriers (7/11), the X chromosome bearing the duplication was preferentially inactivated, whereas a random pattern of X inactivation was detected in point mutation carriers (3/3), a deletion carrier (1/1), affected females (4/4) who did not have a recognised mutation and normal control females. However 2/5 non-carrier female relatives of patients with a duplication, had skewed X inactivation. The skewed pattern of inactivation observed in most duplication carriers and not in mutation carriers suggests a) that there is selection against those cells in which the duplicated X chromosome is active and b) other expressed sequences within the duplicated region rather than mutant PLP may be responsible. Since the skewed X inactivation did not segregate with the disease in two families and the pattern of X inactivation was variable among the duplication carriers, the pattern X inactivation is an unsuitable diagnostic tool for female carriers of PMD.

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