Two novel mutations in a Japanese patient with the late-infantile form of metachromatic leukodystrophy

Two novel mutations in the arylsulfatase A (ASA) gene from a Japanese patient with the late-infantile form of metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) were identified. One mutation was a G to C transversion at nucleotide 608 of the ASA gene (designated 6080 located at the 3′ end of exon 2, which resulted in an amino acid substitution of Gln 153 to His. Although the 608 mutation resulted in a change in the exon-intron boundary consensus sequence, analysis of cDNA from the patient did not reveal the presence of aberrant splicing. The second mutation, a G to T transversion at nucleotide 1572 in exon 5 (designated 1572T), resulted in an amino acid substitution of Gly 308 to Val. This could potentially result in a conformational change in ASA protein structure. The patient was heterozygous for these two new mutations which were not present in 18 Japanese MLD alleles examined. A transient expression study in COS-1 cells showed no residual activity in either mutation. These results indicate that the 608C and 1572T mutations are responsible for the occurrence of the late-infantile form of MLD.