In humans, the Cu chaperone Atox1 mediates Cu(I) delivery to P-type ATPases Atp7a and Atp7b (the Menkes and Wilson disease proteins, respectively), which are responsible for Cu release to the secretory pathway and excess Cu efflux.
The results show (i) the vast majority of mutations lead to the amino-acid distribution probability increase in mutant ATP7As and decrease in ATP7Bs, and (ii) the probability that a mutation causes Menkes/Wilson disease is about nine tenth.
The results show (i) the vast majority of mutations lead to the amino-acid distribution probability increase in mutant ATP7As and decrease in ATP7Bs, and (ii) the probability that a mutation causes Menkes/Wilson disease is about nine tenth.
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.
Two P-type ATPases, MNK and WND were recently shown to be defective in the human disorders of copper transport, Menkes disease and Wilson disease respectively.
This data provides direct evidence for a subcellular localization of the MNK protein which is similar to the proposed vacuolar localization of Ccc2p, the yeast homolog of MNK and WND (ATP7B), the Wilson disease gene product.
The mouse homologue of the Menkes gene has been shown to span 120 kb of genomic DNA and to be similar in structure to both its human MNK homologue (ATP7A) and the Wilson disease gene (WD; ATP7B).
The predicted functional properties of the pWD gene together with its strong homology to Mc1, genetic mapping data and identification of four independent disease-specific mutations, provide convincing evidence that pWD is the Wilson disease gene.