Contemporary retrotransposition of a novel non-coding gene induces exon-skipping in dystrophin mRNA

J Hum Genet. 2010 Dec;55(12):785-90. doi: 10.1038/jhg.2010.111. Epub 2010 Sep 9.

Abstract

Non-autonomous retrotransposon-mediated mobilizations of the Alu family are known pathogenic mechanisms of human disease. Here, we report a pathogenic, contemporary, non-autonomous retrotransmobilization of part of a novel non-coding gene into the dystrophin gene. In a Japanese Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient, a 330-bp-long de novo insertion was identified in exon 67 of dystrophin. The insertion induced exon 67-skipping in the dystrophin mRNA, creating a premature stop codon. The sequence of the insertion had certain characteristics of retrotransposons: an antisense polyadenylation signal accompanied by a poly(T) sequence and a target site duplication. The insertion site matched the consensus recognition sequence for the L1 endonuclease, indicating a retrotransposon-mediated event, although the inserted sequence did not match any known retrotransposons. The origin of the inserted sequence was mapped to a gene-poor region of chromosome 11. The inserted fragment was expressed in multiple human tissue RNAs, indicating that it is a novel transcript. The full length of the transcript was cloned and showed no meaningful protein coding ability.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Base Sequence
  • Child, Preschool
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11 / genetics
  • Codon, Nonsense / genetics
  • Dystrophin / genetics*
  • Exons / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Japan
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / genetics*
  • Mutagenesis, Insertional*
  • Polyadenylation
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics*
  • Retroelements / genetics*

Substances

  • Codon, Nonsense
  • Dystrophin
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Retroelements