Craniosynostosis and hemizygosity for D7S135 caused by a de novo and apparently balanced t(6;7) translocation

Craniosynostosis (CRS) is frequently seen in the del(7p) syndrome, and the gene for this cranial anomaly (CRS1) has been assigned to 7p21. The authors present a 3-year-old boy with CRS involving the sagittal and coronal sutures, who had a de novo and apparently balanced translocation, t(6;7)(q16.2;p15.3). Southern blot analysis of several loci on 7p14{yields}pter showed that the patient was heterozygous for HOX1I and IL6, possibly homozygous for D7S149, but hemizygous for D7S135 with a loss of the paternal allele. These findings suggest the localization of a candidate gene for CRS1 to be on 7p15.3 in the close proximity to the D7S135 locus. 19 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.