👤 R D Obermoeller

Batten disease (juvenile-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis; JNCL) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by the cytosomal accumulation of autofluorescent proteolipopigments in neurons and other cell types. The Batten disease gene (CLN3) has not yet been identified, but has been mapped to a small region of human chromosome area 16p12.1-p11.2. We recently reported the fortuitous discovery that the cytosolic phenol sulfotransferase gene (STP) is located within this same interval of chromosome 16p. Since phenol sulfotransferase is expressed in neurons, can sulfate lipophilic phenolic compounds, and is mapped near CLN3, STP is considered as a candidate gene for Batten disease. YAC and cosmid cloning results have further substantiated the close proximity of STP and a highly related sulfotransferase (STM), encoding the catecholamine-preferring enzyme, to the CLN3 region of chromosome 16p. In this report, we summarize some of the recent progress in the identification of two phenol sulfotransferase genes (STP and STM) as positional candidate genes for Batten disease. Show less

We have recently cloned a cDNA encoding the human phenol-preferring phenol sulfotransferase (P-PST) enzyme. An oligonucleotide primer pair based on the human STP (representing sulfotransferase, phenol-preferring) cDNA sequence was synthesized and was employed in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of human genomic DNA to identify a 525-bp DNA fragment. The DNA sequence of this portion of the STP gene, near the 5' end of the coding region, was determined. The amplified genomic fragment contained two small introns of 104 and 89 bp. When DNA samples from a human-hamster somatic cell hybrid panel were screened by PCR using these primers, only those hybrids that contained human chromosome 16 were positive for the 525-bp genomic fragment. To identify the specific region on chromosome 16 that contained the STP gene, PCR amplification reactions were performed on a human-mouse somatic cell hybrid panel containing defined portions of human chromosome 16. The results indicated that STP is localized proximal to the gene for protein kinase C, beta 1 polypeptide (PRKCB1), in the region from the distal portion of 16p11.2 to p12.1. The human STP gene maps near the locus for Batten disease (CLN3). Furthermore, we have determined by genotyping of murine interspecific backcross progeny that the homologous gene in mouse (Stp) localizes to the syntenic region of mouse chromosome 7 near the D7Mit8 (at 54 cM) and D7Bir1 markers. Show less