Molecular screening of the LPCAT1 gene in patients with retinitis pigmentosa without defined mutations in known retinitis pigmentosa genes

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited retinopathy, which affects the photoreceptors in the retina. Lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase (LPCAT) is a critical phospholipid biosynthesis enzyme, which promotes the conversion of lysophosphatidylcholine into phosphatidylcholine in the remodeling pathway of PC biosynthesis. A previous study reported a homozygous insertion in the LPCAT1 gene in mice exhibiting retinal degeneration (rd11). However, whether genetic mutations in LPCAT1 predispose individuals to RP remains to be elucidated. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether LPCAT1 mutations exist in patients with RP. A total of 50 unrelated patients diagnosed with either a sporadic or recessive inheritance pattern of RP were recruited in the present study. All of the patients were comprehensively screened for genes associated with the predisposition of RP, and no pathogenic mutations were identified. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Sanger sequencing were performed to investigate the coding regions and exon-intron boundaries of the LPCAT1 gene in the recruited patients. In total, three genetic variations in the coding regions, which lead to amino acid changes, were identified. Although two of these mutations were predicted to be pathogenic, co-segregation analysis in the pedigrees excluded these as disease-causing mutations. In addition, the LPCAT1 gene was screen in a panel of RP patients who exhibited no identifiable mutations in any of the known RP-associated genes. No disease-causing mutations in the LPCAT1 gene were identified, indicating that LPCAT1 either does not confer a genetic predisposition to RP, or that the incidence of mutations in LPCAT1 is particularly rare in patients with RP.