Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy: the spectrum of mitochondrial DNA mutations in Iranian patients

MGB probe assay for rapid detection of mtDNA11778 mutation in the Chinese LHON patients by real-time PCR

OBJECTIVE

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a maternally inherited degeneration of the optic nerve caused by point mutations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Many unsolved questions regarding the penetrance and pathophysiological mechanism of LHON demand efficient and reliable mutation testing. This study aims to develop a minor groove binder (MGB) probe assay for rapid detection of mtDNA11778 mutation and heteroplasmy in Chinese LHON patients by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

METHODS

Forty-eight patients suspected of having LHON and their maternal relatives underwent a molecular genetic evaluation, with 20 normal individuals as a control group at the same time. A real-time PCR involving two MGB probes was used to detect the mtDNA11778 mutation and heteroplasmy. A linear standard curve was obtained by pUCmLHONG and pUCmLHONA clones.

RESULTS

All 48 LHON patients and their maternal relatives were positive for mtDNA11778 mutation in our assay, 27 heteroplasmic and 21 homoplasmic. Eighteen cases did not show an occurrence of the disease, while 9 developed the disease among the 27 heteroplasmic mutation cases. Eleven did not show an occurrence of the disease, while 10 cases developed the disease among 21 homoplasmic mutation cases. There was a significant difference in the incidence between the heteroplasmic and the homoplasmic mutation types. The time needed for running a real-time PCR assay was only 80 min.

CONCLUSION

This real-time PCR assay is a rapid, reliable method for mtDNA mutation detection as well as heteroplasmy quantification. Detecting this ratio is very important for predicting phenotypic expression of unaffected carriers.

Haplogroup effects and recombination of mitochondrial DNA: novel clues from the analysis of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy pedigrees

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 87 index cases with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) sequentially diagnosed in Italy, including an extremely large Brazilian family of Italian maternal ancestry, was evaluated in detail. Only seven pairs and three triplets of identical haplotypes were observed, attesting that the large majority of the LHON mutations were due to independent mutational events. Assignment of the mutational events into haplogroups confirmed that J1 and J2 play a role in LHON expression but narrowed the association to the subclades J1c and J2b, thus suggesting that two specific combinations of amino acid changes in the cytochrome b are the cause of the mtDNA background effect and that this may occur at the level of the supercomplex formed by respiratory-chain complexes I and III. The families with identical haplotypes were genealogically reinvestigated, which led to the reconnection into extended pedigrees of three pairs of families, including the Brazilian family with its Italian counterpart. The sequencing of entire mtDNA samples from the reconnected families confirmed the genealogical reconstruction but showed that the Brazilian family was heteroplasmic at two control-region positions. The survey of the two sites in 12 of the Brazilian subjects revealed triplasmy in most cases, but there was no evidence of the tetraplasmy that would be expected in the case of mtDNA recombination.