17Q21.31 Microduplications
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17q21.31 microduplications rarechromo.org Sources and 17q21.31 microduplications references A 17q21.31 microduplication is a rare genetic condition caused by an extra part of one of the body’s 46 chromosomes – The information in this chromosome 17. For healthy development, chromosomes guide is based on should contain just the right amount of genetic material (DNA) medical information – not too much and not too little. Even a tiny piece of extra on a number of material can influence development. individuals. Most information is drawn from the published Background on Chromosomes medical literature. Chromosomes are structures found in the nucleus of the The first-named body’s cells. Every chromosome contains thousands of genes author and publication which may be thought of as individual instruction booklets (or date are given to allow recipes) that contain all the genetic information telling the you to look for the body how to develop, grow and function. Chromosomes (and abstracts or original genes) usually come in pairs with one half of each articles on the chromosome pair being inherited from each parent. Humans internet in PubMed have 23 pairs of chromosomes giving a total of 46 individual (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov chromosomes. Of these 46 chromosomes, two are the sex /pubmed/). If you wish, chromosomes that determine gender. Females have two X you can obtain most chromosomes and males have one X chromosome and one Y articles from Unique. chromosome. The remaining 44 chromosomes are grouped in In addition, this leaflet 22 pairs, numbered 1 to 22 approximately from the largest to draws on information the smallest. Each chromosome has a short (p) arm (shown at from the Decipher the top in the diagram on page 3) and a long (q) arm (the database bottom part of the chromosome). (decipher.sanger. ac.uk) and from a Chromosome Duplications survey of members of A sperm cell from the father and an egg cell from the mother Unique conducted in each carry just one copy of each chromosome. When they join 2013, referenced together they form a single cell that now carries two copies of Unique. When this each chromosome. This cell must make many copies of itself guide was written in (and all the chromosomes and genetic material) in order to June 2013 Unique had make all of the many cells that form during human growth and eight member families development. Sometimes during the formation of the egg or with a pure sperm cells or during this complicated copying and replication microduplication of process, parts of the chromosomes can break off or become 17q21.31 (no other arranged differently from usual. People with a 17q21.31 chromosome was microduplication have two intact chromosome 17s, but also an involved) ranging in extra piece from the long arm of chromosome 17. It is believed age from a 3-year-old that at least part of the clinical difficulties are caused by having to an adult. Two three copies (instead of the usual two) of a gene or number of further members had genes from the extra piece of chromosome 17. We are still a 17q21.31 learning about the specific jobs or functions of the genes in this microduplication as region. However, it is likely that other genes, environment well as another factors and your child’s unique personality also help to chromosome deletion determine future development, needs and achievements. or duplication. 2 1Mb Looking at 17q21.31 Chromosomes can been seen using a microscope. After staining, each chromosome has a distinctive pattern of light p arm and dark bands. These bands are depicted in the diagram of of chromosome 17 on the right. Band 17q21.31 contains around 4 million base pairs. Base pairs are the chemicals in DNA that form the ends of the ‘rungs’ of its ladder-like structure. The recurrent 17q21.31 microduplication encompasses a part of band 17q21.31: approximately 500- 600 thousand base pairs. This sounds a lot but it is actually quite small and is only 0.01 per cent of the DNA in each cell 40.9 Mb and only 0.6 per cent of the DNA on chromosome 17. q arm 17q21.31 People who have extra chromosome material are said to have duplication but when the amount is so small that it can’t 44.9 Mb be seen even under a high-powered microscope, it is called a microduplication. The 17q21.31 microduplication can often only be found using molecular or DNA technology, in particular a technique using microarrays (array-CGH), that 81.2Mb shows gains and losses of tiny amounts of DNA throughout the 1 base pair = bp genome and can demonstrate 1,000 base pairs = 1kb whether particular gene(s) are 1,000,000 base pairs = 1Mb present or not. Genetic Report Your geneticist or genetic counsellor will be able to tell you about the changes found in your child’s chromosomes. With a 17q21.31 microduplication, the results are likely to read something like the following example: arr[hg19] 17q21.31 (43,717,703-44,345,038)x3 arr The analysis was by array (arr) comparative genomic hybridisation (cgh) hg19 Human Genome build 19. This is the reference DNA sequence that the base pair numbers refer to. As more information about the human genome is found, new “builds” of the genome are made and the base pair numbers may be adjusted. At present hg19 is the latest version 17q21.31 The chromosome involved is 17 and part duplicated is in band q21.31 43,717,703-44,345,038 The base pairs between 43,717,703 and 44,345,038 have been duplicated. Take the first long number from the second and you get 627,335 (or 627 kb). This is the number of base pairs that are in the duplication. x3 means there are three copies of these base pairs, not two as you would normally expect 3 17q21.31 microduplications The first published description of a person with a 17q21.31 microduplication was in 2007. There have since been around 8 cases reported in the medical literature worldwide. The duplication occurs equally often in boys and girls (Kirchoff 2007; Grisart 2009; Kitsiou- Tzeli 2012). 17q21.31 microdeletions Many more people have been described with a different disorder known as 17q21.31 microdeletion syndrome or Koolen-De Vries syndrome where the same piece of band 17q21.31 is not extra but is missing. Unique publishes a separate information guide to Koolen-De Vries syndrome. How much do we know? 17q21.31 microduplications have only been recently discovered and therefore the number of people identified is very low. This means it’s rather difficult to draw a clear picture of the features of the microduplication. Comparing different children and adults with 17q21.31 duplications shows that some effects seem to be broadly similar. This information guide tells you what is known about those effects. Comparing your child’s array results with others, both in the medical literature and within Unique, can help to build up a general picture of what to expect. But there will still be differences, sometimes quite marked, between your child and others with an apparently similar array result. It is very important to see your child as an individual and not to make direct comparisons with others with the same chromosome test results. After all, each of us is unique. Most common features Every person with a 17q21.31 microduplication is unique and so each person will have different medical and developmental concerns. Additionally, no one person will have all of the features listed in this information guide. However, a number of common features have emerged: Speech and language delay Behavioural difficulties such as autism spectrum disorder Some children need support with learning Hypotonia (low muscletone or floppiness) in some Otherwise generally healthy Are there people with a 17q21.31 microduplication who are healthy, have no major birth defects and have developed normally? There are several people with the microduplication who had no major birth defects and only discovered they had the microduplication when it was detected in their child (Kitsiou- Tzeli 2012; Decipher; Unique). 4 If one person in a family with the 17q21.31 microduplication is mildly affected, will others in the same family also be mildly affected? Not necessarily. There seems to be a lot of variation between different members of the same family who have the same microduplication. We know that if one person is mildly affected or unaffected, others may be more severely and obviously affected (Kitsiou-Tzeli 2012; Decipher; Unique). What is the outlook? We can’t be certain yet but there appears to be no reason why people who are healthy should not enjoy a normal lifespan and there are a number of adults both at Unique and in the published medical literature (Kitsiou-Tzeli 2012; Decipher; Unique). Pregnancy Many pregnancies were uncomplicated, and babies were born at or near their expected due date Many mothers (7/10) carrying babies with a 17q21.31 microduplication experienced no pregnancy problems, had a normal delivery and only discovered their baby was affected after the birth. However, pregnancy complications in mothers carrying a baby with a 17q21.31 microduplication have been reported. One mother had an amniocentesis and genetic testing after the triple screening test revealed a high risk of a baby with a chromosome disorder. Due to the small size of the microduplication it was not detected. This baby was also shown to have a single umbilical artery (the umbilical cord usually has three blood vessels – two arteries and a vein) and was induced a few days before the due date because of slowed growth.