[Characteristics of phenylalanine hydroxylase gene mutations among patients with phenylketonuria from Linyi region of Shandong Province].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of (PAH) gene mutations among patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) from Linyi area of Shandong Province. METHODS: For 51 children affected with PKU and their parents, the 13 exons and their flanking intronic sequences of the PAH gene were directly sequenced with Sanger method. RESULTS: PAH gene mutations were detected in all of the 102 alleles of the patients, which included 31 types of mutations. Common mutations included R243Q (17/102, 16.67%), IVS4-1G to A (9/102, 8.82%), R241C (8/102, 7.84%), R111X (8/102, 7.84%), and V399V (8/102, 7.84%). In addition, two novel mutations, D101N, 345-347del, have been detected. The 31 types of mutations included missense, nonsense, deletion, and splicing mutations, which were mainly located in exons 7 (29, 28.43%), 11 (18, 17.65%), 3 (16, 15.69%) and 12 (13, 12.75%). CONCLUSION: Mutations of the PAH gene in Linyi region mainly distributed in exons 7, 11, and 3, and the most common mutation were R243Q. Two novel mutations, D101N and 345-347del, have been detected.