Association of G>A transition in exon-1 of alpha crystallin gene in age-related cataracts

Aim : To identify the presence of a known or novel mutation/SNP in Exon-1 (ex-1) of alpha crystallin (CRYAA) gene in different types of age-related cataract (ARC) patients. Materials and Methods : Single strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) analysis was carried for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in ex-1 of alpha crystallin (CRYAA) gene which was confirmed by sequencing. Results : The SSCP analysis of ex-1 of CRYAA gene revealed mobility shift in patients and controls, which was due to G>A transition at 6 th position in exon-1 of CRYAA gene. All the three genotypes, GG, AA and GA, were detected in patients and controls indicating that G>A substitution is polymorphic. The analysis showed significant risk for heterozygotes (GA) as compared to pooled frequencies of homozygotes (GG+AA), which was 1.81 times for all the types of cataracts in general and 2.5 times for Nuclear Cataract and twice for Cortical Cataract. Conclusion : The GA heterozygotes were at higher risk for developing NC and CC types of cataracts, where as the GG homozygotes for MT and AA homozygotes for PSC types were at risk. To our knowledge, an association of G>A transition found in ex-1 of CRYAA gene with ARC, with differential risk of genotypes for individual type of cataracts has not been reported previously.