Characterisation of three novel splice site mutations in introns 11, 18 and 30 of the NF-1 gene

Identification and characterization of germline mutations within the NF-1 gene was carried out in 25 unrelated NF-1 patients, in whom we have detected three splice site mutations which cause exon skipping. Our detection strategy incorporated both RNA and DNA as templates for PCR, chemical mismatch cleavage and direct sequencing. The first mutation was detected in the splice donor sequence of intron 11 (1721+3A{r_arrow}G), which results in the skipping of exon 11 and causes a shift in the translational reading frame and the creation of a premature stop codon at position 560. This is predicted to result in the synthesis of a shorter protein product of 559 amino acids instead of 2818, with loss of the NF-1 GAP related domain. The patient is a familial case of NF-1 with neurological complications and no evidence of malignancy. She has an affected son who has inherited the same mutation and has skeletal complications. The second mutation was detected at the splice donor site in intron 18 (3113+1G{r_arrow}A) and caused the skipping of exon 18. This did not cause a shift in the reading frame but resulted in the exclusion of 41 amino acids from the predicted protein product and was seen in amore » familial case of NF-1 with neurological complications. The third mutation, at the splice donor site in intron 30 (5749+2T{r_arrow}G), caused the skipping of exon 30, shifting the translational reading frame and creating a premature stop codon at position 1851. The predicted protein product is reduced from the normal 2818 to 1850 amino acids. This patient is a sporadic case of NF-1, has neurological and skeletal complications and no evidence of malignancy. Thus in our analysis of 25 patients, the strategy of using RT-PCR to amplify the NF-1 cDNA greatly facilitated the detection of these errors of splicing, each of which is predicted to cause a major distruption of the protein product neurofibromin.« less