Background Although many causative genes of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) have been uncovered in recent years, there are still approximately 50% of HSP patients without genetically diagnosis, especially in autosomal recessive (AR) HSP patients. Rare studies have been performed to determine the genetic spectrum and clinical profiles of recessive HSP patients in the Chinese population. Methods In this study, we investigated 24 Chinese index AR/sporadic patients by targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS), Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Further functional studies were performed to identify pathogenicity of those uncertain significance variants. Results We identified 11 mutations in HSP related genes including 7 novel mutations, including two (p.V1979_L1980delinsX, p.F2343 fs) in SPG11 , two (p.T55 M, p.S308 T) in AP5Z1 , one (p.S242 N) in ALDH18A1, one (p.D597fs) in GBA2 , and one (p.Q486X) in ATP13A2 in 8 index patients and their family members. Mutations in ALDH18A1, AP5Z1, CAPN1 and ATP13A2 genes were firstly reported in the Chinese population. Furthermore, the clinical phenotypes of the patients carrying mutations were described in detail. The mutation (p.S242 N) in ALDH18A1 decreased enzyme activity of P5CS and mutations (p.T55 M, p.S308 T) in AP5Z1 induced lysosomal dysfunction. Conclusion Our results expanded the genetic spectrum and clinical profiles of AR-HSP patients and further demonstrated the efficiency and reliability of targeted NGS diagnosing suspected HSP patients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40035-019-0157-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Copper(II) is one of the essential metal elements in human body, which can accumulate in many organs and finally excrete in urine. Excessive load of Cu can cause liver cirrhosis, kidney dysfunction, and many neurological symptoms in the case of Wilson's disease (WD). Therefore, the selective and efficient detection of Cu is of great importance. Although various fluorescent probes have been reported for the detection of Cu, an efficient and capable probe is still rare for patients' self-use on a routine basis. In this study, we developed an easy-to-use probe CY1 based on UV-vis-near-infrared absorption changes with excellent sensitivity and selectivity for Cu. The mechanism of oxidation of CY1 by Cu was first explored. We demonstrated the role of the probe in the quantitative detection of Cu in urine from WD patients and showed that it has great potential for clinical applications.

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