POSTER NO: 437

Isolation of the Disease-related Genes from Skeletal Muscles of the Muscular Dystrophy Patient

Xiangdong Liu, Zhenlong Cheng, Dahai Zhu
Molecular and Cellular Developmental Biology Laboratory, Harbin Institute of Technology, P O Box 437# Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin P R China

Muscular dystrophies are a heterogeneous group of heritable disorders in which progressive muscle degeneration leads to regional or generalized weakness. Isolation of the genes related to muscular dystrophy is necessary for revealing molecular mechanisms of its pathogenesis. DD-PCR method was used to analyze mRNAs prepared from dystrophic and normal skeletal muscle tissues of the same patient. Six cDNA fragments differentially expressed in normal and dystrophic tissues were identified. Cloning and sequencing analysis of the six cDNAs indicate that two showed sequence homology to creatin kinase and human insulin-like growth factor binding protein5 (IGFBP5), respectively and the remaining four showed high homology to sequences in BAC clone library whose function were not known yet. These results suggested that these cDNA sequences might be involved in pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy.