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SV at age 2 years presented with multiple congenital anomalies including an absent left kidney, anal stenosis, vertebral abnormalities, partial sacral agenesis, microcephaly, dysmorphic facial features, growth deficiency, and developmental delay. She was found to have a complex chromosomal rearrangement derived from balanced translocations in each parent.
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Recent evidence suggests that plasmids have evolved by site-specific recombinational events involving translocation and insertion of discretely defined DNA segments. The role of translocating genetic elements and repeated DNA sequences in the formation and structural evolution of bacterial plasmids, and in the control of plasmid gene expression, is the subject of this brief review. Insertion sequence (IS) regions are discrete segments of DNA that are known to cause strongly polar mutations in the genes of Escherichia coli and several bacteriophages as a consequence of their insertion into bacterial or phage genomes. Recent investigations have identified three separate kinds of IS segments on plasmids, and have indicated that such regions may have a role in 1) site-specific reversible dissociation of antibiotic resistance plasmids into their component segments, 2) recombination of certain plasmids with the bacterial chromosome, and 3) translocation of segments of plasmid DNA onto other replicons, or onto different sites of the same replicon. In addition, such DNA sequences, which may be repeated on plasmid genomes in either direct or reverse orientation, are involved in the control of plasmid gene expression. Inverted repeats other than the genetically characterized IS segments also appear to be involved in recA-independent, recombination and translocation of plasmid DNA segments. These inverted repeats contain palindromic nucleotide sequences on each strand of DNA and are detectable as hairpin-loop structures by electron microscope heteroduplex analysis. Such palindromes resemble the recognition sites for restriction endonucleases, some of which are encoded by plasmids, suggesting that similar endonucleolytic enzymes may be involved in the translocation of plasmid DNA segments.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical course and genetic studies of renal carcinoma in members of a family with the constitutional chromosome translocation, t(3;8) (p14;q24). DESIGN: A follow-up study that updates our 1979 report of renal carcinoma in 10 of these relatives. SETTING: A cancer center and university hospital. PATIENTS: Members of the family, including five carriers of the 3;8 translocation who were in remission of renal cancer. MEASUREMENTS: Clinical follow-up of the family and genetic analyses of the renal cancer specimens of three patients. RESULTS: Renal carcinoma recurred in all five patients in the family at 1 to 16 years of follow-up. Three patients have died of renal cancer, and two are in a second remission. The renal cancers from three family members consistently reveal loss of the entire derivative chromosome 8, which bears the chromosome 3p segment spanning band p14 to the telomere. In contrast, no genetic change was detected in the derivative chromosome 3 or in normal chromosomes 3 and 8. CONCLUSIONS: This family illustrates the importance of clinical follow-up of patients with a hereditary cancer that can develop at multiple foci and recur over time. The inherited 3;8 translocation and loss of the translocated distal chromosome 3p in tumor specimens of family members may help localize the gene or genes involved in the pathogenesis of both familial and sporadic renal carcinoma.
A 5.2-kilobase pair transposon, Tn551, has been found in Staphylococcus aureus, a Gram-positive bacterium. Initially detected on plasmid pI258, it undergoes rec-independent transposition to multiple chromosomal and plasmid sites, sometimes causing insertional inactivation. Unlike most other transposons, Tn551 undergoes apparently precise excision as a rule. The initial observation of Tn551 transition involved UV inactivation of the carrier plasmid; this would appear to be a general means of detecting transposable elements.
Recent years have seen the convergence of both genetic and biochemical approaches in the study of protein translocation in E. coli. The powerful combination of these approaches is exemplified in the use of an in vitro protein synthesis-protein translocation system to analyze the role of genetically defined components of the protein translocation machinery. We describe in this review recent results focusing on the function of the secA, secB, and secY gene products and the demonstration of their requirement for in vitro protein translocation. The SecA protein was recently shown to possess ATPase activity and was proposed to be a component of the translocation ATPase. We present a speculative working model whereby the translocator complex is composed of the integral membrane proteins SecY, SecD, SecE, and SecF, forming an aqueous channel in the cytoplasmic membrane, and the tightly associated peripheral membrane protein SecA functioning as the catalytic subunit of the translocator or "protein-ATPase."
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis of translocations can be performed on first polar bodies (PB) at metaphase stage using FISH with whole-chromosome painting DNA probes. Here we report the use of this method in a couple in which the female was a carrier of a balanced translocation 46,XX,t(11;16)(q21;q22). This case unusual in that two polar bodies showed recombination events between the homologue chromosomes of 11 and 16 pairs, resulting in M-II oocytes with monovalent chromosomes having a normal and a derivative chromatid. For this type of case, PGD analysis on polar bodies cannot give a useful result, because, at the second meiotic division, either of these chromatids could remain in the oocyte, resulting in a normal, balanced or unbalanced embryo. PGD analysis on blastomeres can provide a solution. 11 previous cases of PGD of translocations performed by metaphase PB analysis are reviewed.
Genetic instability in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae rad9 mutant correlates with failure to arrest the cell cycle in response to DNA damage. We quantitated the DNA damage-associated stimulation of directed translocations in RAD9+ and rad9 mutants. Directed translocations were generated by selecting for His+ prototrophs that result from homologous, mitotic recombination between two truncated his3 genes, GAL1::his3-delta5' and trp1::his3-delta3'::HOcs. Compared to RAD9+ strains, the rad9 mutant exhibits a 5-fold higher rate of spontaneous, mitotic recombination and a greater than 10-fold increase in the number of UV- and X-ray-stimulated His+ recombinants that contain translocations. The higher level of recombination in rad9 mutants correlated with the appearance of nonreciprocal translocations and additional karyotypic changes, indicating that genomic instability also occurred among non-his3 sequences. Both enhanced spontaneous recombination and DNA damage-associated recombination are dependent on RAD1, a gene involved in DNA excision repair. The hyperrecombinational phenotype of the rad9 mutant was correlated with a deficiency in cell cycle arrest at the G2-M checkpoint by demonstrating that if rad9 mutants were arrested in G2 before irradiation, the numbers both of UV- and gamma-ray-stimulated recombinants were reduced. The importance of G2 arrest in DNA damage-induced sister chromatid exchange (SCE) was evident by a 10-fold reduction in HO endonuclease-induced SCE and no detectable X-ray stimulation of SCE in a rad9 mutant. We suggest that one mechanism by which the RAD9-mediated G2-M checkpoint may reduce the frequency of DNA damage-induced translocations is by channeling the repair of double-strand breaks into SCE.
A collaborative study on 92 Robertsonian translocations is analysed in relation with the methods of ascertainment, the type of rearrangement and potential imbalance of the anomaly. The results are useful in genetic counselling.
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Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) may provide a feasible option for some Robertsonian translocation carriers who experience severe difficulty in achieving a normal pregnancy. We report on five PGD cycles for two such couples, 45,XY,der(13;14)(q10:q10) and 45,XX,der(13;21)(q10;q10), carried out by biopsy of two cells from day 3 post-insemination embryos generated by in vitro fertilisation. Locus-specific YAC probes for chromosomes 13, 14 and 21 were used to detect the chromosomes involved in the translocation using multicolour FISH. Three embryos transfers were carried out (two single embryo transfers and one double transfer) but no clinical pregnancies were established. In two cycles no embryos were transferred as all those biopsied were chromosomally abnormal. Combined results from both couples show 13% (6/45) of embryos analysed were normal for the translocation chromosomes and 87% (39/45) were chromosomally abnormal; these were categorised as 36% aneuploid or aneuploid mosaic and 51% chaotic where the chromosome constitution varied randomly from cell to cell. This suggests two factors may be acting to reduce fertility in these couples; the aneuploid segregation of the parental Robertsonian translocation and also a post-zygotic factor leading to uncontrolled chromosome distribution in early cleavage stages in an exceptionally high proportion of embryos.
Genetic studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have identified many components acting to deliver specific proteins to their cellular locations. Genome analysis, however, has indicated that additional genes may also participate in such protein trafficking. The product of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica TSR1 gene promotes the signal recognition particle-dependent translocation of secretory proteins through the endoplasmic reticulum. Here we describe the identification of a new gene family of proteins that is well conserved among different yeast species. The TSR1 genes encode polypeptides that share the same protein domain distribution and, like Tsr1p, may play an important role in the early steps of the signal recognition particle-dependent translocation pathway. We have identified five homologues of the TSR1 gene, four of them from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the other from Hansenula polymorpha. We generated a null mutation in the S. cerevisiae YHC8 gene, the closest homologue to Y. lipolytica TSR1, and used different soluble (carboxypeptidase Y, alpha-factor, invertase) and membrane (dipeptidyl-aminopeptidase) secretory proteins to study its phenotype. A large accumulation of soluble protein precursors was detected in the mutant strain. Immunofluorescence experiments show that Yhc8p is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum. We propose that the YHC8 gene is a new and important component of the S. cerevisiae endoplasmic reticulum membrane and that it functions in protein translocation/insertion of secretory proteins through or into this compartment.
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Translocation carriers have an increased risk of reproductive failure or affected offspring, because of the production of unbalanced gametes by meiotic segregation or the possible presence of interchromosomal effects (ICE). We therefore performed an analysis of meiotic segregation using the human-hamster IVF technique, and an aneuploidy assay for chromosomes 6, 18, 21, X and Y, using dual and triple-colour fluorescence in-situ hybridization, in two translocation carriers, t(1;13)(q41;q22) and t(3;19)(p21;p13.3). Sperm chromosome complements were analysed by whole chromosome painting. The frequencies observed for alternate, adjacent I, adjacent II and 3:1 segregations were, for t(1;13), 41.6, 41.6, 14.5 and 2.3% respectively, and for t(3;19), the frequencies were 39.1, 35.9, 21.8 and 3.2% respectively. More than 20,000 sperm per subject were analysed in the aneuploidy assay. Disomy 21 was found to be higher than other autosome disomies. Evidence for a possible ICE was found only in t(3;19). This study has shown that unbalanced sperm are more frequent than aneuploid sperm in the total sperm population. However, data in the literature suggest that the importance of each aberrant population seems to be more significant for embryo viability than would be expected from the increases in the percentages of abnormal sperm.
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Many types of sarcomas are characterized by specific chromosomal translocations which are likely to be of etiologic significance. The recent elucidation of the molecular structure of the several of these translocations has revealed some striking similarities. Nearly all appear to result in the production of novel, tumor-specific chimeric transcription factors. Furthermore, six of the translocations, namely the t(11;22), t(21;22), and t(7;22) of Ewing's sarcoma, the t(12;22) of clear cell sarcoma, the t(12;16) of myxoid liposarcoma, and the t(11;22) of desmoplastic small round cell tumor, achieve this following a peculiar pattern, consisting in the fusion of a gene with an RNA-binding domain (EWS or TLS) with a transcription factor gene (FLI1, ERG, ETV1, ATF-1, CHOP, or WT1). The observation that the different translocation partners of the EWS gene are specifically associated with several distinct types of primitive sarcomas suggests a model in which the translocation partner supplying the DNA-binding domain confers the target specificity of the transcriptional activation mediated by these chimeric proteins, whereas the partner supplying the N-terminal domain and promoter region determines their transactivation potential and expression level. Further analysis of the normal functions and expression patterns of these genes should yield insights into the histogenesis of these different tumor types and into normal tissue development and differentiation. Clinically, our new understanding of the molecular structure of these translocations opens new avenues for molecular diagnosis and investigative therapeutics.
Many types of sarcomas are characterized by specific chromosomal translocations that appear to result in the production of novel, tumor-specific chimeric transcription factors. Many of these show striking similarities: the emerging picture is that the amino-terminal domain of the fusion product is donated by the Ewing's sarcoma gene (EWS) or a related member from the same gene family, whereas the carboxy-terminal domain often consists of a DNA-binding domain derived from one of a number of transcription factors. Given the observation that the different translocation partners of the EWS protooncogene are associated with distinct types of sarcomas, the functional consequence of fusing EWS (or a related family member) to a different DNA-binding domain can only be understood in the context of functional studies that define the specificity of action of the different fusion products. An understanding of the molecular structure and function of these translocations provides new methods for diagnosis and novel targets for therapeutics.