Faculty Bibliography

From 60 probands with acute rheumatic fever (ARF), 19 multiplex families segregating for ARF were ascertained. The parents and rheumatic and normal sibs of the probands in these 19 families were also studied. HLA typing using the microlymphocytotoxic assay was then performed on the 60 unrelated probands, the multiplex families, and 234 unrelated controls using 23 antigens from the HLA-A and -B loci. The controls lacked a past history of ARF and were from the same geographic locality. Calculations of relative risk demonstrate an increase of HLA-B5 antigen in the 60 patients, but the result might not be significant from the point of view of multiple comparisons. Nevertheless, affected sib pairs from the multiplex families show 93% concordance for both or one HLA haplotype. A formal linkage analysis demonstrates that a recessive etiology is most likely (lod score of 3.3) with approximately 68% of cases being due to a gene closely linked to HLA and in linkage disequilibrium with HLA-B5. The remaining 32% of cases are due to other familial factors such as polygenic inheritance or common environmental factors. The results confirm a strong genetic predisposition to ARF and its heterogeneous nature in families.

A strategy for using multiple linked markers for genetic counseling is to test sequentially individual markers until a diagnosis can be made. We show that in order to minimize the number of tests performed per case while diagnosing all informative cases the order in which the markers are to be tested is critical. We describe an algorithm to obtain this order using the parameter "I," the frequency of informative cases. The I value for a specific locus used depends on the marker frequency, association with the disease locus, and also on the informativeness of the marker loci already tested. Realizing that a direct assay for the beta S gene already exists, and that most cases of beta-thalassemia in Mediterraneans can be directly diagnosed using synthetic oligonucleotide probes, we illustrate the above technique by examining nine DNA polymorphisms in the human beta-globin cluster for their ability to diagnose sickle-cell anemia in American blacks and beta-thalassemia in Mediterraneans. This analysis shows that 95.39% of all sickle-cell pregnancies can be diagnosed by testing a subset of only six markers chosen by our algorithm. Furthermore, six markers can also diagnose 88.03% of beta-thalassemia in Greeks and 83.56% of beta-thalassemia in Italians. The test set is different from that suggested by the individual informative frequencies due to nonrandom associations between the restriction sites.

Some basic fallacies in the computation of the paternity index have been pointed out. The general finding that the true fathers' mean paternity index is greater than that of nonfathers is a necessary consequence of an algebraic identity, having nothing to do with paternity or nonpaternity. It has also been shown that the paternity index is not a likelihood ratio as claimed. The fact that a paternity index may frequently take values less than unity leads to absurd conclusions regarding the probability of paternity. A formula relating prior and posterior probabilities of paternity, based solely on genetic marker testing results (exclusion or nonexclusion), is reiterated as a substitute for the current paternity index.

Using DNA polymorphisms adjacent to single-copy genomic fragments derived from human chromosome 21, we initiated the construction of a linkage map of human chromosome 21. The probes were genomic EcoRI fragments pW228C, pW236B, pW231C and a portion of the superoxide dismutase gene (SOD-1). DNA polymorphisms adjacent to each of the probes were used as markers in informative families to perform classical linkage analysis. No crossing-over was observed between the polymorphic sites adjacent to genomic fragments pW228C and pW236B in 31 chances for recombination. Therefore, these fragments are closely linked to one another (theta = 0.00, lod score = 6.91, 95% confidence limits = 0-10 cM) and can be treated as one 'locus' with four high-frequency markers. There is a high degree of non-random association of markers adjacent to each of these two probes which suggests that they are physically very close to one another in the genome. The pW228C - pW236B 'locus' was also linked to the SOD-1 gene (theta = 0.07, lod score = 4.33, 95% confidence limits = 1-20 cM). On the other hand, no evidence for linkage was found between the pW228C-pW236B 'locus' and the genomic fragment pW231C (theta = 0.5, lod score = 0.00). Based on the fact that pW231C maps to 21q22.3 and SOD-1 to 21q22.1, we suggest that the pW228C-pW236B 'locus' lies in the proximal long arm of chromosome 21. These data provide the outline of a linkage map for the long arm of chromosome 21, and indicate that the pW228C-pW236B 'locus' is a useful marker system to differentiate various chromosome 21s in a population.

A cloned cDNA for alpha-1-antitrypsin (alpha-1-AT) was selected from a human liver cDNA library. The identity of the clone was established by hybrid-selected translation and partial DNA sequencing. The cDNA was used as a probe to search for restriction site polymorphisms (RSPs) near the alpha-1-AT gene. Only two RSPs were found using 29 different restriction enzymes. Each of these polymorphisms resulted from the loss of a restriction site, one for EcoRI and the other for Taq I. The frequency of polymorphic restriction was calculated to be 1.1% to 2.6% of all sites tested, a figure lower than the 9.3% value observed for 12 RSPs in the human beta-globin gene cluster. Since the corresponding figure for detectable polymorphisms at the alpha-1-AT locus at the protein level is 12%, restriction enzymes are comparatively inefficient in detecting genetic variability. The basis of this inefficiency was studied by computing the nucleotide diversity from the RSP data. On the average, one in 500 to 1000 bases is polymorphic around the alpha-1-At locus. This value is comparable to that which we have calculated for the human beta-globin gene cluster and the human growth hormone gene cluster (both one in 500). These data demonstrate the limited usefulness of linked RSPs for genetic linkage studies at the alpha-1-AT locus.

A simple method is described for calculating the prior probability of paternity from a series of genetic tests on putative fathers. Two numerical examples have been given to illustrate the method.

Previous investigators have reported loose linkage in both sexes for phosphoglycolate phosphatase (PGP) and haptoglobin alpha (HPA). We present results of linkage studies between PGP and HPA in two data sets, one from Houston and the other an update of an earlier report from Los Angeles. Using quadratic interpolation to estimate the male (theta m) and female (theta f) recombination values from bivariate lod tables, we found for the Houston data that theta m = 0.43 and theta f = 0.03 at the maximum lod score of z = 2.23. For the Los Angeles series, we found that theta m = 0.31, theta f = 0.48, and z = 0.27. We invoke heterogeneity in the recombination value in different families as an explanation of our findings. We also recommend that bivariate lod tables should always be generated, even though not reported. This is because the usual assumption of theta m = theta f (and, rarely, theta f = 1.8 theta f) under which lod scores are computed may be invalid in many cases.

Six restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) detected in the human growth hormone-human chorionic somatomammotropin (hGH-hCS) gene cluster were studied in Mediterraneans, Northern Europeans, and American Blacks; the polymorphisms showed that, on the average, one of 500 bases in this cluster is variant. Haplotypes constructed for four of these RFLPs display strong nonrandom associations. However, the strongest associations were between RFLPs that are in homologous DNAs rather than between the physically closest RFLPs. From this and other evidence we argue that duplication of an ancestral hCS gene occurred at least twice, the second event being relatively recent. In other words, duplication of the hCS-L gene to produce the hCS-A gene occurred twice, so that hCS-A genes in humans may have independent origins. Our results imply that chromosomes with absent hCS genes (leading to hCS deficiency) may represent the nonduplicated ancestral unit rather than gene deletions.

Population genetic analysis of 15 restriction site polymorphisms demonstrates nonuniform recombination within the human beta-globin gene cluster. These DNA polymorphisms show two clusters of high nonrandom associations, one 5' and another 3' to the beta-globin structural gene, with no significant linkage disequilibrium between the two clusters. The 5'- and 3'-association clusters are 34.6 kilobases (kb) and 19.4 kb long, respectively, and are separated by 9.1 kb of DNA immediately 5' to the beta-globin gene. For each of these three DNA regions, we have observed a relationship between nonrandom associations and physical distance between the polymorphisms. However, this relationship differed for each of these regions. On the assumption that the effective population size (Ne) is 5,000-50,000, we estimate the total recombination rate to be 0.0017%-0.0002% in the 5' cluster, 0.0931%-0.0093% in the 3' cluster, and 0.2912%-0.0219% in the 9.1-kb region between them. The beta cluster thus shows nonuniformity in recombination. Moreover, the recombination rate in the 9.1-kb DNA segment is 3-30 times greater than expected and is thus a hot spot for meiotic recombination.