Disturbances in copper metabolism caused by mutations in the ATP7A/Atp7a gene lead to severe metabolic syndromes Menkes disease in humans and the lethal mottled phenotype in mice.
Genomic DNA of 41 unrelated patients affected with the classical severe form of Menkes disease was investigated for point mutations in the ATP7A gene (previously designated as the "MNK" gene).
The essential requirement for copper in early development is dramatically illustrated by Menkes disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder of early childhood caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding the copper transporting ATPase ATP7A.
Menkes disease (MD), an X-linked recessive disorder of copper metabolism caused by mutations in the copper-transporting ATP7A gene, results in growth failure and severe neurodegeneration in early childhood.
Here, we analyzed changes in the systemic iron metabolism using an animal model of Menkes disease: copper-deficient mosaic mutant mice with dysfunction of the ATP7A copper transporter.
Menkes disease (MD) is an X-linked recessive neurodegenerative disorder caused by mutations in a copper-transporting p-type ATPase (ATP7A) that normally delivers copper to the central nervous system.
The genes for two copper-transporting ATPases, ATP7A and ATP7B, are defective in the heritable disorders of copper imbalance, Menkes disease (MNK) and Wilson disease (WND), respectively.
Fibroblast cultures from 12 unrelated patients with classical Menkes disease were analyzed for mutations in the MNK gene, by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and chemical cleavage mismatch detection.
Although ATP7A mutations are typically associated with severe Menkes disease or its milder allelic variant, occipital horn syndrome, we demonstrate here that certain missense mutations at this locus can cause a syndrome restricted to progressive distal motor neuropathy without overt signs of systemic copper deficiency.