Genomic organization of a human cystine transporter gene (SLC3A1) and identification of novel mutations causing cystinuria

John K. Endsley, John A. Phillips, Keith A. Hruska, Torsten Denneberg, Joyce Carlson, Alfred L. George*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cystinuria is a common inherited aminoaciduria that leads to recurrent cystine nephrolithiasis. Mutations in a gene encoding a renal amino acid transporter (SLC3A1) have been identified in patients with cystinuria establishing one molecular cause for the disease. To facilitate systematic screening of this gene for mutations, we have delineated the complete genomic organization of the SLC3A1 coding region using polymerase chain reaction strategies. The complete coding region of the gene is contained within a single yeast artificial chromosome clone and consists of 10 exons and 9 introns. Oligonucleotide primers capable of amplifying selected exons have been made and used in mutational analysis of DNA from 24 cystinuria probands. We illustrate the usefulness of this approach by identifying two novel SLC3A1 mutations. One novel mutation causes replacement of a highly conserved arginine residue (arginine-452) with tryptophan in the cytoplasmic loop between the putative third and fourth membrane spanning segments. A second previously unreported mutation results in replacement of a highly conserved tyrosine (tyrosine-461) residue with histidine in the same region of the protein. In addition, we detected three previously reported SLC3A1 mutations, R270X, 1500 +1/G toT, and M467T, the latter being present in ~20% of cystinuria chromosomes examined. Our findings provide a foundation for the development of more accessible diagnostic screening assays for detecting SLC3A1 mutations using patient genomic DNA, and also contribute to the emerging spectrum of cystinuria genotypes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1893-1899
Number of pages7
JournalKidney international
Volume51
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997

Funding

Charitable Trust, the National Institutes of Health (ND28819, CA68485), and by a Research Fellowship from the National Kidney Foundation (to J.K.E.). A.L.G. is a Lucille P. Markey Scholar. The authors thank the patients for their participation in the study and Dr. Robert Dray for patient referrals. We also thank Karen Sloan-Brown for technical assis- tance with SSCA gels. Acknowledgments This work was supported by grants from the Lucille P. Markey

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nephrology

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