Publications by authors named "Ana Pop"

Riboflavin transporter deficiency (RTD) is a genetic disorder of reduced riboflavin (vitamin B2) uptake that causes progressive, multifocal neurological dysfunction. Most patients present in early childhood; if patients present later in life, symptoms usually develop more gradually. We report three previously healthy young adults, who developed rapidly progressive neurological symptoms after decreasing dietary intake of meat and dairy.

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Wood represents one of the most used natural resources: from construction to musical instruments, tools, toys, fuel, shipbuilding, and, not to mention, stationery, as it is indispensable for modern society. Europe has important wood resources, but for some countries, their sustainable exploitation is at least questionable. However, other countries prefer to monetize their natural resources by developing a competitive tourism industry.

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Objective: To determine genotype-phenotype correlation in succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase (SSADH) deficiency.

Methods: variants were studied with phenotype correlation in the SSADH natural history study. Assignment of gene variant pathogenicity was based on in silico testing and in vitro enzyme activity after site-directed mutagenesis and expression in HEK293 cells.

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Deficiency of succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase (SSADH; aldehyde dehydrogenase 5a1 (ALDH5A1), OMIM 271980, 610045), the second enzyme of GABA degradation, represents a rare autosomal-recessively inherited disorder which manifests metabolically as gamma-hydroxybutyric aciduria. The neurological phenotype includes intellectual disability, autism spectrum, epilepsy and sleep and behavior disturbances. Approximately 70 variants have been reported in the ALDH5A1 gene, half of them being missense variants.

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Analyses of 19 amino acids, 38 acylcarnitines, and 3 creatine analogues (https://clir.mayo.edu) were implemented to test the hypothesis that succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency (SSADHD) could be identified in dried bloodspots (DBS) using currently available newborn screening methodology.

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Mechanically activated (MA) ion channels convert physical forces into electrical signals. Despite the importance of this function, the involvement of mechanosensitive ion channels in human disease is poorly understood. Here we report heterozygous missense mutations in the gene encoding the MA ion channel TMEM63A that result in an infantile disorder resembling a hypomyelinating leukodystrophy.

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D-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria Type I (D-2-HGA Type I), a neurometabolic disorder with a broad clinical spectrum, is caused by recessive variants in the D2HGDH gene encoding D-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D-2-HGDH). We and others detected 42 potentially pathogenic variants in D2HGDH of which 31 were missense. We developed functional studies to investigate the effect of missense variants on D-2-HGDH catalytic activity.

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Combined D-2- and L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria (D/L-2-HGA) is a devastating neurometabolic disorder, usually lethal in the first years of life. Autosomal recessive mutations in the SLC25A1 gene, which encodes the mitochondrial citrate carrier (CIC), were previously detected in patients affected with combined D/L-2-HGA. We showed that transfection of deficient fibroblasts with wild-type SLC25A1 restored citrate efflux and decreased intracellular 2-hydroxyglutarate levels, confirming that deficient CIC is the cause of D/L-2-HGA.

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We describe 14 patients with 12 novel missense mutations in ASPA, the gene causing Canavan disease (CD). We developed a method to study the effect of these 12 variants on the function of aspartoacylase-the hydrolysis of N-acetyl-l-aspartic acid (NAA) to aspartate and acetate. The wild-type ASPA open reading frame (ORF) and the ORFs containing each of the variants were transfected into HEK293 cells.

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D-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria (D2HGA) type II is a rare neurometabolic disorder caused by germline gain-of-function mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2), resulting in accumulation of D-2-hydroxyglutarate (D2HG). Patients exhibit a wide spectrum of symptoms including cardiomyopathy, epilepsy, developmental delay and limited life span. Currently, there are no effective therapeutic interventions.

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Gamma-aminobutyric acid transaminase (GABA-T) deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder reported in only three unrelated families. It is caused by mutations in the ABAT gene, which encodes 4-aminobutyrate transaminase, an enzyme of GABA catabolism and mitochondrial nucleoside salvage. We report the case of a boy, deceased at 12 months of age, with early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, severe psychomotor retardation, hypotonia, lower-limb hyporeflexia, central hypoventilation, and rapid increase in weight and, to a lesser rate, length and head circumference.

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Whole-exome sequencing (WES) is increasingly being utilized to diagnose individuals with undiagnosed disorders. Developmental delay and short stature are common clinical indications for WES. We performed WES in three families, using proband-parent trios and two additional affected siblings.

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We use high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulations to gain insights into how galaxies lose their cold gas at low redshift as they migrate from the field to the high-density regions of clusters of galaxies. We find that beyond three cluster virial radii, the fraction of gas-rich galaxies is constant, representing the field. Within three cluster-centric radii, the fraction of gas-rich galaxies declines steadily with decreasing radius, reaching <10% near the cluster center.

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A reduced response of cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) to its allosteric activator S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) has been reported to be a cause of CBS dysfunction in homocystinuria patients. In this work we performed a retrospective analysis of fibroblast data from 62 homocystinuria patients and found that 13 of them presented a disturbed SAM activation. Their genotypic background was identified and the corresponding CBS mutant proteins were produced in E.

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The Krebs cycle is of fundamental importance for the generation of the energetic and molecular needs of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Both enantiomers of metabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate are directly linked to this pivotal biochemical pathway and are found elevated not only in several cancers, but also in different variants of the neurometabolic disease 2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria. Recently we showed that cancer-associated IDH2 germline mutations cause one variant of 2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria.

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We report two siblings with atypical pyridoxine-dependant epilepsy, modest elevation of biomarkers, in which the open reading frame and the splice sites of ALDH7A1 did not show any mutations. Subsequent genetic analysis revealed a deep homozygous intronic mutation in ALDH7A1 resulting in two types of transcripts: the major transcript containing a pseudoexon, and the minor transcript representing the authentic spliced transcript. In future, this mutation may be targeted with antisense-therapy aiming at exclusion of the pseudoexon.

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Creatine transporter deficiency is an X-linked disorder caused by mutations in the SLC6A8 gene. Currently, 38 pathogenic, including 15 missense variants, are reported. In this study, we report 33 novel, including 6 missense variants.

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Background: Recent years have seen an explosion in plant genomics, as the difficulties inherent in sequencing and functionally analyzing these biologically and economically significant organisms have been overcome. Arabidopsis thaliana, a versatile model organism, represents an opportunity to evaluate the predictive power of biological network inference for plant functional genomics.

Results: Here, we provide a compendium of functional relationship networks for Arabidopsis thaliana leveraging data integration based on over 60 microarray, physical and genetic interaction, and literature curation datasets.

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We present the case of a patient (a 21-year-old woman) with acute and complete loss vision of the left eye, and severe periodic left ocular and left orbital pain. Visual, acuity right eye = 20/20. Under steroid and nonsteroid general and local treatment, the visual acuity was improved (VA left eye = 0, 1,n.

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Escherichia coli YidC is a polytopic inner membrane protein that plays an essential and versatile role in the biogenesis of inner membrane proteins. YidC functions in Sec-dependent membrane insertion but acts also independently as a separate insertase for certain small membrane proteins. We have used a site-specific cross-linking approach to show that the conserved third transmembrane segment of YidC contacts the transmembrane domains of both nascent Sec-dependent and -independent substrates, indicating a generic recognition of insertion intermediates by YidC.

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Unlabelled: One of the most important features in Graves disease is thyroid myopathy. This condition accompanies the thyroid dysfunction, that can lead to hyper-, hypo- or euthyroidism. The thyroid myopathy is the most common cause of acquired double vision in adults.

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Promoters are thought to play a major role in adaptive evolution, yet little is known about the regulatory diversity within species, where microevolutionary processes take place. To investigate the potential for evolutionary change in the promoter of a gene, we examined nucleotide and functional variation of the Chalcone Synthase (CHS) cis-regulatory region in Arabidopsis thaliana. CHS is the branch point enzyme of a biosynthetic pathway that leads to the production of secondary metabolites influencing the interaction between the plant and its environment.

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