Genome screening for linkage disequilibrium in a Costa Rican sample of patients with bipolar-I disorder: a follow-up study on chromosome 18.

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) methods offer great promise for mapping complex traits, but have thus far been applied sparingly. In this paper we describe an LD mapping study of severe bipolar disorder (BP-I) in the genetically isolated population of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. This study provides the first complete screen of a chromosome for a complex trait using LD mapping and presents the first application of a new LD mapping statistic (ancestral haplotype reconstruction (AHR)) that evaluates haplotype sharing among affected individuals. The results of this chromosome-wide analysis are instructive for genome-wide LD mapping in isolated populations. Furthermore, the analysis continues to support a possible BP-I locus on 18pter, suggested by previous analyses in this population. Evidence for a possible BP-I locus on 18q12.2 is also described.

Inhibition of ribozymes by deoxyribonucleotides and the origin of DNA.

Two catalytic functions were required, minimally, for the appearance of DNA in evolution: a ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) and a reverse transcriptase (RT). If one accepts the explanatory strength of the RNA world model, it is clear that DNA molecules arose in the RNA world at some stage during the early evolution of cells. I suggest that competition for limited and valuable resources such as nucleotides, amino acids, and sugars made an early appearance among RNA cells, RNA viruses, viroids, and RNA plasmids. Structural and functional similarities between the different types of polymerases favor the simple hypothesis that the first RTs were RNA polymerase mutants that preferentially joined together preexisting deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs) using RNA templates. What was the role of dNTPs inside cells before DNA was synthesized and tested by natural selection? The oxygen atom that is removed by the reductase is of crucial importance to many ribozyme functions, since the 2'-OH is a strong nucleophile that forms transitional states during catalysis. Consequently, a RNR may have been used by cellular parasites to inhibit ribozyme action. Thus, DNA may have been, initially, an inert by-product of retrotranscription in lineages that acquired RTs and could synthesize DNA molecules using cellular RNA templates to detoxify the intracellular environment. DNA was useless as template until a transcriptase (DNA-dependent RNA polymerase) evolved that could copy (-)DNA to reconstitute the (+)RNA genome, indeed a successful way of confronting ribonuclease threats in the RNA world.

Further characterization of the DFNA1 audiovestibular phenotype.

BACKGROUND: Autosomal dominant, nonsyndromic, hereditary hearing impairment in a large Costa Rican kindred is caused by a mutation in the human homolog of the Drosophila diaphanous gene. OBJECTIVE: To further characterize the phenotype of DFNA1 with comprehensive audiovestibular evaluation and computed tomography of the temporal bone. PATIENTS: One affected child and 2 affected adults of the Costa Rican kindred who harbor a mutation in the diaphanous gene. SETTING: Medical Center at the University of California, San Francisco. INTERVENTION: Otologic and neuro-otologic examination; pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, and immitance testing; auditory evoked potentials, electrocochleography, and otoacoustic emissions; electronystagmography and vestibular autorotation tests; and computed tomography of the temporal bone. RESULTS: The youngest subject, an 8-year-old boy, had a mild hearing loss, intact stapedial reflexes, otoacoustic emissions at high frequencies, normal auditory evoked potentials, and electrocochleographic findings consistent with endolymphatic hydrops. The two adults had severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment. Electronystagmography disclosed normal vestibular function. Computed tomography demonstrated normal external, middle, and inner ear structures. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the early low-frequency hearing loss in this family is associated with endolymphatic hydrops. Elucidation of the role of the diaphanous gene in hearing will therefore lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of endolymphatic hydrops.

Nonsyndromic deafness DFNA1 associated with mutation of a human homolog of the Drosophila gene diaphanous.

The gene responsible for autosomal dominant, fully penetrant, nonsyndromic sensorineural progressive hearing loss in a large Costa Rican kindred was previously localized to chromosome 5q31 and named DFNA1. Deafness in the family is associated with a protein-truncating mutation in a human homolog of the Drosophila gene diaphanous. The truncation is caused by a single nucleotide substitution in a splice donor, leading to a four-base pair insertion in messenger RNA and a frameshift. The diaphanous protein is a profilin ligand and target of Rho that regulates polymerization of actin, the major component of the cytoskeleton of hair cells of the inner ear.

Use of linkage disequilibrium approaches to map genes for bipolar disorder in the Costa Rican population.

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis provides a powerful means for screening the genome to map the location of disease genes, such as those for bipolar disorder (BP). As described in this paper, the population of the Central Valley of Costa Rica, which is descended from a small number of founders, should be suitable for LD mapping; this assertion is supported by reconstruction of extended haplotypes shared by distantly related individuals in this population suffering low-frequency hearing loss (LFHL1), which has previously been mapped by linkage analysis. A sampling strategy is described for applying LD methods to map genes for BP, and clinical and demographic characteristics of an initially collected sample are discussed. This sample will provide a complement to a previously collected set of Costa Rican BP families which is under investigation using standard linkage analysis.

Biotechnology for developing countries. The case of the Central American isthmus.

Recent developments in the fields of chemistry, molecular biology, computer science, and communications promise to transform the way that many things will be done in the near future in diverse fields of scientific R&D. Fortunately for less developed countries (LDCs) some of the technologies involved are user friendly and safe, avoiding the need for radioactive precursors, large machines, or expensive reagents. For instance, tissue culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), dideoxi-sequencing, and recombinant DNA techniques have already invaded clinical laboratories, agricultural field stations, and natural history museums, even in some developing nations. Somatic cell culture for plant biotechnology and immunologic techniques for diagnosis have had wide applications for over a decade in all countries in the Central American Isthmus. More recently, recombinant DNA techniques, including PCR, have been introduced for diagnostic purposes and research at the two largest universities in Costa Rica and at other public institutions and are also used in Guatemala and Panama. Honduras and Nicaragua are only now acquiring these technologies for diagnostic purposes. Biotechnological applications in industry seem to be lagging behind, and presently no good links exist between research laboratories and industry for advanced applications. The application of biotechnologies in environmental problems is slowly underway, with molecular studies of natural wildlife populations and primary forest trees. A major effort is needed to create safe and effective ways of dealing with environmental degradation, wastes, and byproducts of tropical agriculture and industry. The creation of the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) in Costa Rica to elaborate an inventory of flora and fauna and to prospect for useful substances provides a unique opportunity for biotechnological applications. In addition, government policies to promote biotechnological development are supported by CONICIT (National Research Council), the Ministry of Science and Technology, the newly established Costa Rican Academy of Science, and the national universities. Other countries in the region are beginning to take similar action. At the Cell and Molecular Biology Center (CIBCM) our strategy is to obtain the key components and infrastructure to handle nucleic acids and manage genetic information in databanks. Training has been an important priority during the last decade, with over 20 Central American students receiving graduate degrees in virology, molecular biology, genetics, and immunology, with support from German and Swedish governmental institutions. Diagnosis of viral diseases in cultivated plants and animals was done initially at CIBCM for research and later on a contractual basis for both the public and private agricultural sectors. DNA hybridization and PCR techniques are now replacing or being used concurrently with immunologic techniques.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The gene for an inherited form of deafness maps to chromosome 5q31.

Primary--i.e., nonsyndromal-postlingual deafness is inherited as an autosomal dominant phenotype in a large kindred in Costa Rica. Genetically susceptible individuals begin to lose hearing at low frequencies at about age 10 years, after language and speaking are learned. Deafness inevitably progresses by age 30 years to bilateral hearing loss of all frequencies. Intelligence, fertility, and life expectancy are normal. The family traces its ancestry to an affected founder born in Costa Rica in 1754. We have mapped the gene for deafness in this kindred to chromosome 5q31, between the markers IL9 and GRL, by linkage analysis involving 99 informative relatives.

Low frequency hereditary deafness in man with childhood onset.

A large kindred of hereditary deaf affected with a progressive sensorineural loss that begins during childhood with the low audiologic frequencies is described. Deafness progresses slowly through adolescence, when losses of up to 70 decibels are often detected. Affected adults present profound losses at all frequencies. Genetically, this deafness is transmitted as a simple, dominant, and autosomal mutation. No associated abnormalities have been detected in studies involving medical examinations, care histories, quantitation of several blood serum components, electrocardiograms, electrophoretograms, and karyotypes.

Molecular hybridization of iodinated 4S, 5S, and 18S + 28S RNA to salamander chromosomes.

4S, 5S, AND 18S + 28S RNA from the newt Taricha granulosa granulosa were iodinated in vitro with carrier-free 125I and hybridized to the denatured chromosomes of Taricha granulosa and Batrachoseps weighti. Iodinated 18S + 28S RNA hybridizes to the telomeric region on the shorter arm of chromosome 2 and close to the centromere on the shorter arm of chromosome 9 from T. granulosa. On this same salamander the label produced by the 5S RNA is located close to or on the centromere of chromosome 7 and the iodinated 4S RNA labels the distal end of the longer arm of chromosome 5. On the chromosomes of B. wrighti, 18S + 28S RNA hybridizes close to the centromeric region on the longer arm of the largest chromosome. Two centromeric sites are hybridized by the iodinated 5S RNA. After hybridization with iodinated 4S RNA, label is found near the end of the shorter arm of chromosome 3. It is concluded that both ribosomal and transfer RNA genes are clustered in the genome of these two salamanders.

Multiple gene sites for 5S and 18 plus 28S RNA on chromosomes of Glyptotendipes barbipes (Staeger).

Ribosomal RNAs (28 + 18S and 5S) and 4S RNA extracted from the chironomid Glyptotendipes barbipes were iodinated in vitro with (125)I and hybridized to the salivary gland chromosomes of G. barbipes and Drosophila melanogaster. Iodinated 18 + 28 S RNA labeled three puffed sites with associated nucleoli on chromosomes IR, IIL, and IIIL of G. barbipes and the nucleolar organizer of Drosophila. Labeled 5S RNA hybridized to three sites on chromosome IIIR, two sites on chromosome IIR and one site in a Balbiani ring on chromosome IV of Glyptotendipes. Most of the label produced by this RNA was localized seven bands away from the centromere on the right arm of chromosome III, and we consider this to be the main site complementary to 5S RNA in the chironomid. This same RNA preparation specifically labeled the 56 EF region of chromosome IIR of Drosophila which has been shown previously to be the only site labeled when hybridized with homologous 5S RNA. Hybridization of G. barbipes chromosomes with iodinated 4S RNA produced no clearly localized labeled sites over the exposure periods studied.