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. 1996 Nov;59(5):1027–1034.

Familial occurrence of typical and severe lethal congenital contractural arachnodactyly caused by missplicing of exon 34 of fibrillin-2.

M Wang 1, C L Clericuzio 1, M Godfrey 1
PMCID: PMC1914850  PMID: 8900230

Abstract

Genetic linkage studies have linked congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA), a usually mild heritable connective-tissue disorder, to FBN2, the fibrillin gene on chromosome 5. Recently, FBN2 mutations in two patients with CCA have been described. Here we report an A-->T transversion at the -2 position of the consensus acceptor splice site, resulting in the missplicing of exon 34, a calcium-binding epidermal growth factor-like repeat in fibrillin-2 in a mother and daughter with CCA. Significantly, the mother exhibited a classic CCA phenotype with arachnodactyly, joint contractures, and abnormal pinnae, whereas her daughter exhibited a markedly more severe CCA phenotype, which included cardiovascular and gastrointestinal anomalies that led to death in infancy. Analysis of cloned fibroblasts showed that the mother is a somatic mosaic for the exon 34 missplicing mutation, whereas all the daughter's cells harbored the mutation.

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