Spinal Muscular Atrophy in the Black South African Population: A Matter of Rearrangement?

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disorder, characterized by muscle atrophy and impaired mobility. A homozygous deletion of survival motor neuron 1 (), exon 7 is the main cause of SMA in ~94% of patients worldwide, but only accounts for 51% of South African (SA) black patients. and its highly homologous centromeric copy, survival motor neuron 2 (, are located in a complex duplicated region.

Genetic testing for Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background: Genetic testing for Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) mutations initially involved multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR), which targeted two mutation hotspots in the gene and detected deletions in affected males. A newer technology, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), was introduced for diagnostic testing in 2007.

Objectives: To evaluate MLPA relative to mPCR as a technique for DMD/BMD diagnostic testing and to establish whether the mutation profile in affected individuals differs between different South African ethnic groups.

Diagnostic, carrier and prenatal genetic testing for fragile X syndrome and other FMR-1-related disorders in Johannesburg, South Africa: a 20-year review.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability (ID) worldwide, is caused by the expansion of a CGG repeat in the fragile X mental retardation gene (FMR-1) gene. OBJECTIVES; To review, retrospectively, the genetic services for FXS and other FMR-1-related disorders - including fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) and FMR-1-related primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) - at the Division of Human Genetics, Johannesburg, for diagnostic, carrier and prenatal genetic testing.Methods.

Testing for haemoglobinopathies in Johannesburg, South Africa: a 30-year review.

Background: Haemoglobinopathies are seen mostly in regions where malaria occurs or has occurred, but population migration has resulted in affected individuals being identified in many countries globally. The first molecular genetics services for diagnostic testing and prenatal diagnosis were established, both worldwide and in South Africa (SA), for haemoglobinopathies.

Objective: To analyse the diagnostic service offered by the Division of Human Genetics, National Health Laboratory Service and University of the Witwatersrand, from 1983 to 2012.

Fanconi anaemia in black South African patients heterozygous for the FANCG c.637-643delTACCGCC founder mutation.

Background: Fanconi anaemia (FA) is an autosomal recessive, genetically heterogeneous disorder, characterised by interstrand crosslink-induced chromosome breaks, congenital abnormalities and predisposition to malignancies. It has a prevalence of about 1/40 000 in black South Africans (SAs). A founder mutation in the FANCG gene occurs in the homozygous state in 77.