A HOMOALLELIC GLY(317)-]ASP MUTATION IN ALPL CAUSES THE PERINATAL (LETHAL) FORM OF HYPOPHOSPHATASIA IN CANADIAN MENNONITES

We have discovered a single homoallelic nucleotide substitution as the putative cause of the perinatal (lethal) form of hypophosphatasia in Canadian Mennonites. Previous linkage and haplotype analysis in this population suggested that a single mutational event was responsible for this autosomal recessive form of hypophosphatasia. The mutation is a guanosine-to-adenosine substitution at nucleotide position 1177 in exon 10 of the tissue nonspecific (liver/bone/kidney) alkaline phosphatase gene. This Gly317 → Asp mutation segregates exclusively with the heterozygote phenotype we previously assigned by biochemical testing (maximum combined lod score of 18.24 at θ = 0.00). This putative disease-causing mutation has not been described in controls nor in other non-Mennonite probands with both lethal and nonlethal forms of hypophosphatasia studied to date. This Gly317 → Asp mutation changes a polar glycine to an acidic aspartate at amino acid position 317 within the highly conserved active site region of the 507-amino-acid polypeptide. Carrier screening for this lethal mutation in our high-risk population is now feasible. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.