Consistent gene mutation nomenclature is essential for efficient and accurate reporting, testing, and curation of the growing number of disease mutations and useful polymorphisms being discovered in the human genome. While a codified mutation nomenclature system for simple DNA lesions has now been adopted broadly by the medical genetics community, it is inherently difficult to represent complex mutations in a unified manner. In this article, suggestions are presented for reporting just such complex mutations. Hum Mutat 15:7-12, 2000.

A nomenclature system has recently been suggested for the description of changes (mutations and polymorphisms) in DNA and protein sequences. These nomenclature recommendations have now been largely accepted. However, current rules do not yet cover all types of mutations, nor do they cover more complex mutations. This document lists the existing recommendations and summarizes suggestions for the description of additional, more complex changes. Another version of this paper has been published in Hum Mut 15:7-12, 2000.

Due to frame-shifting mutations in the DMD gene that cause dystrophin deficiency, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients suffer from lethal muscle degeneration. In contrast, mutations in the allelic Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) do not disrupt the translational reading frame, resulting in a less severe phenotype. In this study, we explored a genetic therapy aimed at restoring the reading frame in muscle cells from DMD patients through targeted modulation of dystrophin pre-mRNA splicing. Considering that exon 45 is the single most frequently deleted exon in DMD, whereas exon (45+46) deletions cause only a mild form of BMD, we set up an antisense-based system to induce exon 46 skipping from the transcript in cultured myotubes of both mouse and human origin. In myotube cultures from two unrelated DMD patients carrying an exon 45 deletion, the induced skipping of exon 46 in only approximately 15% of the mRNA led to normal amounts of properly localized dystrophin in at least 75% of myotubes. Our results provide first evidence of highly effective restoration of dystrophin expression from the endogenous gene in DMD patient-derived muscle cells. This strategy may be applicable to not only >65% of DMD mutations, but also many other genetic diseases.

Upon characterization of WHSC1, a gene mapping to the Wolf^Hirschhorn syndrome critical region and at its Cterminus similar to the Drosophila ASH1/trithorax group proteins, we identified a novel protein domain designated PWWP domain. To gain insight into its structure, evolutionary conservation and its potential functional role, we performed database searches to identify other PWWP domain-containing proteins. We retrieved 39 proteins, and a multiple alignment shows that the domain spans some 70 amino acids. It is present in proteins of nuclear origin and plays a role in cell growth and differentiation. Due to its position, the composition of amino acids close to the PWWP motif and the pattern of other domains present, we hypothesize that the domain is involved in proteinp rotein interactions. z 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.