A simple multiplex FRAXA, FRAXE, and FRAXF PCR assay convenient for wide screening programs

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Abstract
FRAXA, FRAXE, and FRAXF are folate‐sensitive fragile sites originally discovered in patients with X‐linked mental retardation. The FMR1 gene, whose first exon includes the FRAXA site on Xq27.3, accounts for 15–20% of all X‐linked forms of mental retardation. Loss of expression of FMR2, a gene adjacent to the FRAXE site on Xq28, is correlated with FRAXE expansion in some mild mentally retarded patients. FRAXF is a fragile site whose expression has not been associated with any pathological phenotype. The fragility in all three sites is caused by expansions of CGG repeats adjacent to hypermethylated CpG islands. The prevalence of FRAXA, FRAXE, and FRAXF remains uncertain because of the lack of a simple and cost‐effective test allowing wide screening programs. For the same reason, the real phenotype–genotype correlations in FRAXE and FRAXF are uncertain as well. We have developed a rapid multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in which hypermethylated CpG islands adjacent to FRAXA, FRAXE, and FRAXF are displayed. The test is very simple and cost‐effective, requires only 30 μl of peripheral blood, and can be used for performing diagnoses, postnatal and prenatal, and for screening large groups of control and mentally retarded males and newborn boys. Hum Mutat 13:166–169, 1999.