Expression Of Fragile Sites Research Articles

Cocultivation studies with cells of patients bearing fragile X chromosomes.

Fourteen cocultivation studies were carried out with cells of our patients with fragile X, one obligate and two possible female heterozygotes, two female controls, and a rabbit. In all cocultivations the number of fragile X chromosomes was sharply reduced in the patient cells. The strongest effect was causes by the animal cells. A distinct difference between the two controls in the reducing ability was observed. No such difference was found between the obligate and possible heterozygotes on the one hand and the controls on the other. To test the influence of the residual serum in the mixed blood cultures, the serum of a patient's blood sample was replaced by the serum of a control. The frequency of fragile X chromosomes was not decreased by this procedure. Therefore a soluble factor is supposed to exist which is produced by normal or heterozygote cells in culture and which reduces the expression of fragile sites in patient cells.

5-Fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine induction of the fragile site on Xq28 associated with X linked mental retardation.

5-Fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (FUdR) was found to be highly effective in inducing the heritable fragile site on Xq28 associated with mental retardation. Lymphocytes from two affected males manifested the fragile site in 30 to 40% of the mitoses when grown in the presence of FUdR. This observation suggests that depletion of the dTMP pool via thymidylate synthetase inhibition is responsible for the expression of the heritable fragile site on Xq28.