Analysis of CAG repeats in five SCA loci in Mexican population: epidemiological evidence of a SCA7 founder effect.

Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA) are a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders. CAG (cytosine-adenine-guanine) trinucleotide repeat expansions in the causative genes have been identified as the cause of different SCA. In this study, we simultaneously genotyped SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA7 applying a fluorescent multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay. We analyzed 10 families with SCA (64 patients) from five different communities of Veracruz, a Mexican southeastern state, and identified 55 patients for SCA7 and 9 for SCA2, but none for SCA1, SCA3, or SCA6. To our knowledge, this sample represents one of the largest series of SCA7 cases reported worldwide. Genotyping of 300 healthy individuals from Mexican population and compiled data from different ethnicities showed discordant results concerning the hypothesis that SCA disease alleles arise by expansion of large normal alleles.

Origin of the spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 gene mutation in Mexican population.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cerebellar ataxia associated with macular degeneration that leads, in the majority of patients, to loss of autonomy and blindness. The cause of the disease has been identified as (CAG) n repeat expansion in the coding sequence of the ATXN7 gene on chromosome 3p21.1. SCA7 is one of the least common genetically verified autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias found worldwide; however, we previously identified the Mexican population showing high prevalence of SCA7, suggesting the occurrence of a common founder effect. In this study, haplotype analysis using four SCA7 gene-linked markers revealed that all 72 SCA7 carriers studied share a common haplotype, A-254-82-98, for the intragenic marker 3145G/A and centromeric markers D3S1287, D3S1228, and D3S3635, respectively. This multiloci combination is uncommon in healthy relatives and Mexican general population, suggesting that a single ancestral mutation is responsible for all SCA7 cases in this population. Furthermore, genotyping using 17 short tandem repeat markers from the non-recombining region of the Y chromosome and further phylogenetic relationship analysis revealed that Mexican patients possess the Western European ancestry, which might trace the SCA7 ancestral mutation to that world region.