Using the polymerase chain reaction to maintain DNA probe inventories in clinical and diagnostic laboratories

A G----C change at the donor splice site of intron 1 causes lipoprotein lipase deficiency in a southern-Italian family

We describe a new case of lipoprotein lipase deficiency in a proband from a Southern-Italian family. Enzyme activity and mass were absent. Amplification and sequencing of individual exons, intron boundaries and the regulatory region revealed only one homozygous G----C transversion at the first nucleotide of intron 1. The single strand conformation polymorphism analysis proved to be a helpful tool for the identification of the single base mutation. Northern hybridization failed to reveal the presence of mature lipoprotein lipase mRNA. The mutation, which destroys the conserved dinucleotide at the junction site of intron 1, causes defective mRNA splicing and it is responsible for the deficiency.

POLYMORPHISMS OF CANDIDATE GENES IN ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

1. Family and population studies have reported that blood pressure has a heritability of 30-50%, but simple genetic models do not readily explain the patterns of inheritance of hypertension. 2. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms were used to study allele frequencies of a selection of candidate genes that may be important in determining the genetic component of hypertension. These included the genes for renin, haptoglobin, neuropeptide Y and cardiac myosin beta heavy chain. 3. There was no significant association between alleles at any of these loci and the presence of hypertension in this population, suggesting that the contribution of variation at these loci to the genetic component of the variance in hypertension may be quite small.