0000000000215117

AUTHOR

Brigitte Schneider-rätzke

Identification and prevention of genotyping errors caused by G-quadruplex- and i-motif-like sequences.

Abstract Background: Reliable PCR amplification of DNA fragments is the prerequisite for most genetic assays. We investigated the impact of G-quadruplex– or i-motif–like sequences on the reliability of PCR-based genetic analyses. Methods: We found the sequence context of a common intronic polymorphism in the MEN1 gene (multiple endocrine neoplasia I) to be the cause of systematic genotyping errors by inducing preferential amplification of one allelic variant [allele dropout (ADO)]. Bioinformatic analyses and pyrosequencing-based allele quantification enabled the identification of the underlying DNA structures. Results: We showed that G-quadruplex– or i-motif–like sequences can reproducibly …

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Prenatal diagnosis of infantile neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis: a combined electron microscopic and molecular genetic approach.

Based on two unrelated index patients afflicted with INCL, fetal chorion tissues were studied from subsequent pregnancies of the two respective mothers resulting in the prenatal diagnosis of INCL in two of the three pregnancies. Documentation of INCL was based on electron microscopy and DNA studies of the biopsied chorion tissue, later confirmed in the two affected fetuses after termination of their pregnancies by demonstrating INCL-specific lipopigments in post-mortem tissues, in the liver of both aborted fetuses and, additionally, in spleen and skeletal muscle of one of the affected fetuses. The autolysis of the aborted tissues, however, precluded a systematic documentation of all affecte…

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Homozygous disruption of PDZD7 by reciprocal translocation in a consanguineous family: a new member of the Usher syndrome protein interactome causing congenital hearing impairment.

A homozygous reciprocal translocation, 46,XY,t(10;11),t(10;11), was detected in a boy with non-syndromic congenital sensorineural hearing impairment. Both parents and their four other children were heterozygous translocation carriers, 46,XX,t(10;11) and 46,XY,t(10;11), respectively. Fluorescence in situ hybridization of region-specific clones to patient chromosomes was used to localize the breakpoints within bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) RP11-108L7 on chromosome 10q24.3 and within BAC CTD-2527F12 on chromosome 11q23.3. Junction fragments were cloned by vector ligation and sequenced. The chromosome 10 breakpoint was identified within the PDZ domain containing 7 (PDZD7) gene, disrupti…

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Abstract 5504: Second neoplasms after childhood cancer and gene expression differences in primary fibroblasts

Abstract Treatment of the primary neoplasm with radiotherapy or chemotherapy is an established risk factor for second neoplasms (SNs) after childhood cancer. As only a small percentage of the treated children suffer from SN, other shared risk factors must be involved. A predisposition for the occurrence of a SN might be a pre-existing somatic genetic defect associated with DNA repair. We investigated the association between gene expression involved in DNA-repair and the development of SNs after childhood cancer. Designed as a feasibility study this project addressed the possibility of obtaining samples for genetic analyses from former patients through the German Childhood Cancer Registry. W…

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