The role of size, sequence and haplotype in the stability of FRAXA and FRAXE alleles during transmission.

Factors involved in the stability of trinucleotide repeats during transmission were studied in 139 families in which a full mutation, premutation or intermediate allele at either FRAXA or FRAXE was segregating. The transmission of alleles at FRAXA, FRAXE and four microsatellite loci were recorded for all individuals. Instability within the minimal and common ranges (0-40 repeats for FRAXA, 0-30 repeats for FRAXE) was extremely rare; only one example was observed, an increased in size at FRAXA from 29 to 39 repeats. Four FRAXA and three FRAXE alleles in the intermediate range (41-60) repeats for FRAXA, 31-60 for FRAXE) were unstably transmitted. Instability was more frequent for FRAXA intermediate alleles that had a tract of pure CGG greater than 37 although instability only occurred in two of 13 such transmissions: the changes observed were limited to only one or two repeats. Premutation FRAXA alleles over 100 repeats expanded to a full mutation during female transmission in 100% of cases, in agreement with other published series. There was no clear correlation between haplotype and probability of expansion of FRAXA premutations. Instability at FRAXA or FRAXE was more often observed in conjunction with a second instability at an independent locus suggesting genomic instability as a possible mechanism by which at least some FRAXA and FRAXE mutations arise.

Population screening at the FRAXA and FRAXE loci: molecular analyses of boys with learning difficulties and their mothers.

Preliminary results on a large population-based molecular survey of FRAXA and FRAXE are reported. All boys with unexplained learning difficulties are eligible for inclusion in the study and data are presented on the first 1013 tested. Individuals were tested for the number of trinucleotide repeats at FRAXA and FRAXE and typed for four flanking microsatellite markers. Mothers of 760 boys were tested to determine the stability of the FRAXA and FRAXE repeats during transmission and to provide a population of control chromosomes. The frequency of FRAXA full mutations was 0.5%, which gives a population frequency of 1 in 4994, considerably less than previous reports suggest. No FRAXE full mutations were detected, confirming the rarity of this mutation. In the boys' X chromosomes, we detected one FRAXA premutation with 152 repeats and one putative FRAXE premutation of 87 repeats. No full or premutations were seen in the control chromosomes. A significant excess of intermediate alleles at both FRAXA and FRAXE was detected in the boys' X chromosomes by comparison with the maternal control chromosomes. This suggests that relatively large unmethylated repeats of sizes 41-60 for FRAXA and 31-60 for FRAXE may play some role in mental impairment. No instability was found in transmissions of minimal or common alleles in either FRAXA or FRAXE, but we saw two possible instabilities in transmission of FRAXA and two definite instabilities in transmission of FRAXE among 43 meioses involving intermediate or premutation sized alleles. We found no linkage disequilibrium between FRAXA and FRAXE but did find significant linkage disequilibrium between large alleles at FRAXE and allele 3 at the polymorphic locus DXS1691 situated 5 kb distal to FRAXE.