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A splicing mutation of the RHAG gene associated with the Rhnull phenotype

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1998

M. KAWANO
Affiliation:
Department of Legal Medicine and Human Genetics, Jichi Medical School, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Minamikawachi-machi, Kawachi-gun, Tochigi, 329-0498 Japan Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Jichi Medical School, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Minamikawachi-machi, Kawachi-gun, Tochigi, 329-0498 Japan
S. IWAMOTO
Affiliation:
Department of Legal Medicine and Human Genetics, Jichi Medical School, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Minamikawachi-machi, Kawachi-gun, Tochigi, 329-0498 Japan
H. OKUDA
Affiliation:
Department of Legal Medicine and Human Genetics, Jichi Medical School, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Minamikawachi-machi, Kawachi-gun, Tochigi, 329-0498 Japan
S. FUKUDA
Affiliation:
Tochigi Red Cross Blood Center, 4-6-33 Imamiya, Utsunomiya-shi, Tochigi, 321-0192 Japan
N. HASEGAWA
Affiliation:
Tochigi Red Cross Blood Center, 4-6-33 Imamiya, Utsunomiya-shi, Tochigi, 321-0192 Japan
E. KAJII
Affiliation:
Department of Legal Medicine and Human Genetics, Jichi Medical School, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Minamikawachi-machi, Kawachi-gun, Tochigi, 329-0498 Japan
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Abstract

Rhnull is a syndrome serologically characterized by the deficiency of all Rh antigens on human red blood cells. Rhnull is divided into two types: regulator and amorph. Recently, Cherif-Zahar et al. proposed that the RHAG gene encoding the Rh50 glycoprotein is a candidate for inducing regulator type Rhnull. We investigated both the RH and RHAG genes in an Rhnull individual. The reticulocytes from the propositus had RHD, RHcE, and RHCe transcripts without any mutation. However, the sequence analysis of RHAG cDNA showed a deletion of 122 bp from nucleotide 946 to 1067. This deletion was revealed to be due to a homozygous splicing mutation, which is a single base substitution at the consensus sequence of the splicing acceptor site (AG→AT). The mutation appeared to break the ‘GT-AG’ splicing rule and to cause 122 bp exon skipping accompanied by a frameshift. This study confirms that the RHAG gene is the most likely candidate for the ‘regulator’ gene of Rhnull cases.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© University College London 1998

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