Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022716 (Menkes)
 1,057 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We report a detailed molecular analysis of the genomic structure of the Menkes disease gene (MNK; ATP7A). There are 23 exons in ATP7A covering a genomic region of approximately 140 kb. The size of the individual coding exons varies between 77 and 726 bp, and introns vary in size between 196 bp and approximately 60 kb. All of the splice sites obey the consensus GT-AG rule except the splice donor of intron 9, which is GC instead of GT. The exon following this rare splice donor variant is alternatively spliced. A PGAM pseudogene and two highly polymorphic CA repeats map to introns within the gene. The structure is very similar to that of the closely related Wilson disease gene (WND; ATP7B). From exon 5 (exon 3 in ATP7B) to the end, all of the splice sites occur at exactly the same nucleotide positions as in the WND gene, except for the boundary between exons 17 and 18 (exons 15 and 16 in ATP7B) and a single codon difference at the boundary between exons 4 and 5 of the MNK gene (exons 2 and 3 in ATP7B). In contrast to the WND gene, in which the first four of six metal binding domains are contained in 1 exon, metal binding domains 1 to 4 are divided over 3 exons. The striking similarity of the MNK and WND genes at the genomic level is consistent with their relatively recent divergence from a common ancestral gene.
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PMID:Molecular structure of the Menkes disease gene (ATP7A). 749 81

Menkes disease arises from a genetic impairment in copper transport. The gene responsible for the phenotype has been identified as a copper transporting ATPase ( ATP7A ). Recently, the protein encoded by the ATP7A gene has been localized to the Golgi complex. In order to investigate the role of the Menkes disease protein in copper transport, recombinant constructs containing both the full-length open reading frame and an alternatively spliced form have been successfully expressed and localized in mammalian cells. Other studies of a patient with occipital horn syndrome, an allelic variant of Menkes disease, have demonstrated that only this alternatively spliced isoform and not the full-length form is expressed in this patient. The milder form of this patient's phenotype suggests that the alternatively spliced isoform has some functional role in copper transport. In the present study the full-length recombinant Menkes protein was shown by immunofluorescence to localize to the Golgi apparatus and the alternatively spliced form, lacking sequences for transmembrane domains 3 and 4 encoded by exon 10, was shown to localize to the endoplasmic reticulum. Using sequences from exon 10 fused to a non-Golgi reporter molecule, a 38 amino acid sequence containing transmembrane domain 3 of the Menkes protein was found to be sufficient for localization to the Golgi complex. Therefore, the protein sequence encoded by exon 10 may be responsible for this differential localization and both isoforms may be required for comprehensive transport of copper within the cell.
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PMID:A Golgi localization signal identified in the Menkes recombinant protein. 966 66