Gene conversion events in adult-onset spinal muscular atrophy

Objective - To investigate the possible occurrence of a conversion event in three patients with adult-onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type IV, which represents the mildest form within the spectrum of the SMA phenotype. Material and methods - We observed three patients with adult onset SMA and apparent isolated deletion of telomeric survival motor neuron (SMN1) exon 7. To distinguish between a deletion and a sequence conversion event of exon 7, these patients were analyzed in greater detail by a simple PCR-based assay. Results - Analysis by DdeI digestion showed products for both telomeric and centromeric copies of exon 8. These findings indicated a gene conversion event as the site for primer R111 was retained at least in one of two alleles. Conclusions- These results provide first evidence that a conversion event may be also associated with adult-onset SMA, and further support the notion that a gene conversion event is usually associated with a milder SMA phenotype and a later onset of disease.