Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site

Allelic dropout (ADO) is a common limitation of all PCR-based molecular diagnostic methods, leading to false-negative or false-positive results, depending on the allele that was dropped. We report a case of multiple locus-specific allele dropouts mediated by a common duplication beyond the primer-bi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anna G. Shestak, Victoria A. Rumyantseva, Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Genetics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1571437/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849429365247442944
author Anna G. Shestak
Victoria A. Rumyantseva
Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
author_facet Anna G. Shestak
Victoria A. Rumyantseva
Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
author_sort Anna G. Shestak
collection DOAJ
description Allelic dropout (ADO) is a common limitation of all PCR-based molecular diagnostic methods, leading to false-negative or false-positive results, depending on the allele that was dropped. We report a case of multiple locus-specific allele dropouts mediated by a common duplication beyond the primer-binding site of the endoglin (ENG) gene. We observed a family with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) where the HHT diagnosis in the proband (female, 71 years old) and two family members was based on the Curaçao criteria. A nonsense heterozygous c.831C>A (p.Y277*) mutation and a common homozygous duplication c.991+21_26dup in exon 7 of the ENG gene was revealed in the proband. Discrepancies were found between the obvious clinical HHT phenotypes of the two family members and the negative results of cascade familial screening based on capillary Sanger sequencing with classically designed oligoprimers. In addition, ADO was suspected due to the absence of c.991+21_26dup. We analyzed the primer-binding sites using gnomAD to reveal the cause of ADO. Amplicons with notable ADO were resequenced using alternative oligoprimers. Three primer pairs that were designed more distal (toward the 3′-end) after duplication were unable to amplify both alleles. Redesigning oligoprimers complementary to the narrow area successfully detected the heterozygous variant p.Y277* in two family members. The classical primer design for Sanger sequencing may lead to the inefficient amplification of exon 7 amplicons with duplications (up to 19% according to MAF in gnomAD). These results suggest that indels beyond the primer-binding sites may lead to allele loss and false-negative results in DNA diagnostics.
format Article
id doaj-art-e1c48c62445c4d72bbf8d070fe46a95c
institution Kabale University
issn 1664-8021
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Genetics
spelling doaj-art-e1c48c62445c4d72bbf8d070fe46a95c2025-08-20T03:28:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Genetics1664-80212025-06-011610.3389/fgene.2025.15714371571437Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding siteAnna G. Shestak0Victoria A. Rumyantseva1Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya2Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya3Medical Genetics Laboratory, Petrovsky National Research Center of Surgery, Moscow, RussiaMedical Genetics Laboratory, Petrovsky National Research Center of Surgery, Moscow, RussiaMedical Genetics Laboratory, Petrovsky National Research Center of Surgery, Moscow, RussiaResearch Center for Medical Genetics, Moscow, RussiaAllelic dropout (ADO) is a common limitation of all PCR-based molecular diagnostic methods, leading to false-negative or false-positive results, depending on the allele that was dropped. We report a case of multiple locus-specific allele dropouts mediated by a common duplication beyond the primer-binding site of the endoglin (ENG) gene. We observed a family with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) where the HHT diagnosis in the proband (female, 71 years old) and two family members was based on the Curaçao criteria. A nonsense heterozygous c.831C>A (p.Y277*) mutation and a common homozygous duplication c.991+21_26dup in exon 7 of the ENG gene was revealed in the proband. Discrepancies were found between the obvious clinical HHT phenotypes of the two family members and the negative results of cascade familial screening based on capillary Sanger sequencing with classically designed oligoprimers. In addition, ADO was suspected due to the absence of c.991+21_26dup. We analyzed the primer-binding sites using gnomAD to reveal the cause of ADO. Amplicons with notable ADO were resequenced using alternative oligoprimers. Three primer pairs that were designed more distal (toward the 3′-end) after duplication were unable to amplify both alleles. Redesigning oligoprimers complementary to the narrow area successfully detected the heterozygous variant p.Y277* in two family members. The classical primer design for Sanger sequencing may lead to the inefficient amplification of exon 7 amplicons with duplications (up to 19% according to MAF in gnomAD). These results suggest that indels beyond the primer-binding sites may lead to allele loss and false-negative results in DNA diagnostics.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1571437/fullallelic dropoutENGhereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasiaHHTnext-generation sequencingSanger sequencing
spellingShingle Anna G. Shestak
Victoria A. Rumyantseva
Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
Elena V. Zaklyazminskaya
Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
Frontiers in Genetics
allelic dropout
ENG
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
HHT
next-generation sequencing
Sanger sequencing
title Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
title_full Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
title_fullStr Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
title_full_unstemmed Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
title_short Allelic dropout in the endoglin (ENG) gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
title_sort allelic dropout in the endoglin eng gene caused by common duplication beyond the primer binding site
topic allelic dropout
ENG
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
HHT
next-generation sequencing
Sanger sequencing
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1571437/full
work_keys_str_mv AT annagshestak allelicdropoutintheendoglinenggenecausedbycommonduplicationbeyondtheprimerbindingsite
AT victoriaarumyantseva allelicdropoutintheendoglinenggenecausedbycommonduplicationbeyondtheprimerbindingsite
AT elenavzaklyazminskaya allelicdropoutintheendoglinenggenecausedbycommonduplicationbeyondtheprimerbindingsite
AT elenavzaklyazminskaya allelicdropoutintheendoglinenggenecausedbycommonduplicationbeyondtheprimerbindingsite