ZFIN ID: ZDB-PUB-000927-2 |
Zebrafish dracula encodes ferrochelatase and its mutation provides a model for erythropoietic protoporphyria
Childs, S., Weinstein, B.M., Mohideen, M.A.P.K., Donohue, S., Bonkovsky, H., and Fishman, M.C.
Date: | 2000 |
---|---|
Source: | Current biology : CB 10(16): 1001-1004 (Journal) |
Registered Authors: | Bonkovsky, Josh, Childs, Sarah J., Fishman, Mark C., Mohideen, Manzoor Pallithotangal, Weinstein, Brant M. |
Keywords: | none |
MeSH Terms: |
|
PubMed: | 10985389 Full text @ Curr. Biol. |
Citation
Childs, S., Weinstein, B.M., Mohideen, M.A.P.K., Donohue, S., Bonkovsky, H., and Fishman, M.C. (2000) Zebrafish dracula encodes ferrochelatase and its mutation provides a model for erythropoietic protoporphyria. Current biology : CB. 10(16):1001-1004.
ABSTRACT
Exposure to light precipitates the symptoms of several genetic disorders that affect both skin and internal organs. It is presumed that damage to non-cutaneous organs is initiated indirectly by light, but this is difficult to study in mammals. Zebrafish have an essentially transparent periderm for the first days of development. In a previous large-scale genetic screen we isolated a mutation, dracula (drc), which manifested as a light-dependent lysis of red blood cells [1].We report here that protoporphyrin IX accumulates in the mutant embryos, suggesting a deficiency in the activity of ferrochelatase, the terminal enzyme in the pathway for heme biosynthesis. We find that homozygous drc(m248) mutant embryos have a G-->T transversion at a splice donor site in the ferrochelatase gene, creating a premature stop codon. The mutant phenotype, which shows light-dependent hemolysis and liver disease, is similar to that seen in humans with erythropoietic protoporphyria, a disorder of ferrochelatase.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION