Alteration of the genes for glycophorin A and B in glycophorin-A-deficient individuals.

Autor: Rahuel, Cécile, London, Jacqueline, Vignal, Alain, Cherif-Zahar, Baya, Colin, Yves, Siebert, Paul, Fukuda, Minoru, Cartron, Jean-Pierre
Předmět:
Zdroj: European Journal of Biochemistry; 11/15/88, Vol. 177 Issue 3, p605-614, 10p
Abstrakt: Glycophorins A and B are homologous glycoproteins of the red cell membrane which carry the blood-group MN and Ss antigens, respectively, and are encoded by two distinct genes closely linked on chromosome 4, which are probably derived from each other by duplication during evolution. The lack of glycophorin A is associated with the rare phenotype En(a-), indicating individuals who are defective for MN antigens, as well as for the Ena antigens, also located on this glycoprotein. The En(a - ) condition is heterogenous and includes two categories of variants exemplified by the Finnish and the English types referred to as En(Fin) and En(UK), respectively. By Southern blot and preliminary genomic clone analyzes we have compared the status of the genes for glycophodns A and B, as well as that of the gene encoding glycophorin C, another unrelated red cell membrane glycoprotein, in the En(a-) vadants and in the En(a+) control donors. Our data indicate that the En(Fin) variant is homozygous for a complete deletion of the glycophorin A gene without any detectable abnormality of the genes encoding glycophorins B or C. In the genome of the En(UK) variant, with the presumed genotype Mk/En(UK), and where the Mk condition abolishes the expression of MN and Ss antigens, we have identified several abnormalities of the glycophorin A and B genes, but the glycophodn C gene was unaffected. Our results strongly support the view that in Mk chromosome the glycophodn A and B genes are largely deleted, whereas the En(UK) chromosome probably contains a gene fusion product encoding a hybrid glycoprotein AM-B, composed of the N-terminal portion of a blood group M-type glycophodn A and of the C-terminal portion of glycophodn B. The determination of the 5′ and 3′ limits of the hybrid gene and elucidation of the mechanism involved will require sequencing of the rearranged DNA of the variant and a full knowledge of the organization of the glycophorin A and B genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index