Nonsense mutation of feline β-hexosaminidase β-subunit (HEXB) gene causing Sandhoff disease in a family of Japanese domestic cats

GM2 gangliosidoses are inherited metabolic disorders and are caused by severely reduced enzymatic activity of lysosomal β-hexosaminidase. In the present study, the open reading frame (ORF) of the HEXB gene in a family of Japanese domestic cats with GM2 gangliosidosis variant 0 (Sandhoff disease) was determined. Two types of abnormal cDNA clones were obtained from the liver of an affected cat tissue. One showed a single nucleotide substitution from C to T at nucleotide position 667 of the HEXB ORF. In the deduced amino acid sequence, the codon of arginine was altered to a stop codon. The genotyping, using PCR-primer introduced restriction analysis confirmed that Sandhoff disease in this family is associated with this nonsense mutation. Discovery of the nonsense mutation will permit the confirmation of the clinical diagnosis of Sandhoff disease in conjugation with the already established enzyme-based test.