Fabry Disease: D313Y is an Alpha-galactosidase A Sequence Variant That Causes Pseudodeficient Activity in Plasma

Fabry disease, an X-linked recessive lysosomal storage disease, results from the deficient activity of the exogalactosidase, alpha-galactosidase A (alpha-Gal A). To date, over 270 disease-causing mutations have been identified; however, no coding sequence variants have been reported. In the course of enzyme diagnostic testing, a normal female control had low plasma and leukocyte alpha-Gal A activities. Sequencing her alpha-Gal A gene revealed the D313Y substitution (GAT to TAT at cDNA nucleotide 937). alpha-Gal A mutation and enzyme analyses of family members revealed X-linked transmission and leukocyte alpha-Gal A enzymatic activities in females, consistent with Lyonization. Since D313Y was reported in a classically affected male who had the double mutation, D313Y and G411D, efforts were undertaken to characterize these lesions. Expression of D313Y, G411D, and the doubly mutated construct, D313Y/G411D, resulted in alpha-Gal A levels of 76, 2.9, and 1.7% of mean expressed wild-type activity, respectively. Biosynthetic studies revealed essentially normal processing of the D313Y subunit, but the absence of the mature subunit encoded by the G411D and D313Y/G411D constructs. Thus, G411D is the disease-causing mutation, while D313Y is the first coding sequence variant identified in the human alpha-Gal A gene.