Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), an important enzyme in folate metabolism, mediates the conversion of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate which serves as the carbon donor for the conversion of homocysteine to methionine. It is also inhibited by S-adenosylmethionine which has shown to be actively demethylated to form S-adenosylhomocysteine, which is hydrolysed to homocysteine. MTHFR deficiency exhibits well-documented clinical and biochemical symptoms. The human MTHFR cDNA was isolated by Goyette et al (1994), and fifteen mutations have been identified at this locus. / An animal model would prove to be useful for designing therapeutic approaches for understanding the pathogenesis of this genetic disease at the molecular level. The mouse MTHFR gene and cDNA have been isolated and partially characterized. Four genomic clones were isolated by library screening. One of these clones (clone 3) contained the 5$ sp prime$ end of the gene and was completely characterized. The clone was shown to have no rearrangements and is to be used to design targeting vectors for 'knockout mice' and mice carrying a common mutation which has been postulated to be a genetic risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The other three clones contain the remaining 3$ sp prime$ portion of the gene. The coding portion has approximately 90% homology with the human cDNA and also shows a similar gene structure. / A 2.2 Kb mouse MTHFR cDNA was isolated by library screening and was found to contain a 320 base pair extension at the 5$ sp prime$ end which has not been found in the human cDNA. The cDNA contains exons -1 -3, but also contains two possibly unspliced introns. A portion of this cDNA can however still be used to rescreen libraries to isolate a full length cDNA. The above research is the first genetic data on the mouse MTHFR gene and provides the basis for future research involving mouse models of MTHFR deficiency.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22868 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Pai, Aditya P. |
| Contributors | Rozen, Rima (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001481978, proquestno: MM08039, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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