The R40H mutation in a late onset type of human ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency in male patients

Ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency is an X-linked trait and is one of the most frequent of the inherited urea cycle enzyme deficiencies. Most male patients with OTC deficiency develop a hyperammonemic crisis and die in the neonatal period or in early infancy. In contrast to those patients, in some male patients the disease first becomes overt in adolescence or during the reproductive age period. In the present report, we describe six such male patients who first developed clinical signs at ages ranging from 6 to 58 years, all of whom came from a limited area of the northern part of Kyushu Island in southern Japan. The mutation analysis disclosed a R40H mutation in exon 2 of the OTC gene in each of these patients. Transmission of this mutant gene through paternal lineage as well as through maternal lineage was documented in one family. The levels of mRNA of the mutant OTC gene expressed in transfected Cos 1 cells and in the liver tissue obtained by biopsy in one patient were both similar to those of the wild-type gene. The activity of the mutant OTC was, however, decreased to a level of 28% of the wild-type OTC, and the levels of the mutant OTC protein expressed in Cos 1 cells were decreased, as assessed by western blot analysis. Apparent K-m values of the mutant enzyme for ornithine (1.1 mM) and carbamylophosphate (2.0 mM) were similar to those of the wild-type enzyme. Both enzymes gave similar pH-dependency profiles, giving a maximal activity at pH 7.8-7.9. Activity of wild-type OTC expressed in Cos 1 cells did not change after five cycles of freezing and thawing, whereas that of the mutant OTC decreased to 17% by this treatment. These results suggest that deficiency is due to inactivation of the mutant OTC under certain conditions.