Analysis the EPHA1 gene G1475A and G1891A alleles distribution in the population of Ukraine, and to study the protein secondary structure as the first step in the investigation of EPHA1 gene involvement in intellectual disability pathogenesis. Methods. Observation group consisted of 300 individuals, including 164 (54.6 %) male and 136 (45.3 %) female individuals. Polymorphic variants were detected using PCR followed by Kpn1 RFLP analysis for G1475A and ARMS PCR analysis for G1891A. Results. The data concerning EPHA1 genotypes and allelic variants distribution were obtained. The low frequency of 1475A allele (0,012) and the absence of 1891A allele (not previously described) were revealed in the population of Ukrainian. Conclusions. Assays for the detection of EPHA1 gene G1475A and G1891A SNPs based on ARMS and restriction analysis were developed and the preliminary data on distribution of G1475A and G1891A polymorphisms in the population of Ukraine were obtained.

No abstract

We describe 2 Ukrainian families with unbalanced reciprocal translocations (RTs) involving the distal part of chromosome 10q. In both families, the fathers were healthy carriers of the RT. Two affected patients from the first family had an ∼2.3-Mb loss at 10q26.3 and an ∼25-Mb gain at 2q35qter, and the patient from the other family had an ∼12.5-Mb loss at 5p15.2pter and an ∼18-Mb gain at 10q25.3q26.3. We assume that intellectual disability (ID) in association with congenital anomalies observed in our patients was the result of the cumulative effect of both gains and losses of the chromosomal regions involved in each translocation. Comparison of the sizes of the deleted and duplicated segments in our families as well as in other published families with translocations affecting the distal part of 10q showed that generally deletions seem to be ∼2 times more harmful than duplications of the same size. The data obtained here may contribute to improve the diagnosis and genetic counseling of families with similar chromosomal imbalances.