Mutations in the gene–encoding SERCA1, the fast–twitch skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase, are associated with Brody disease

Abstract

Brody disease is a rare inherited disorder of skeletal muscle function. Symptoms include exercise-induced impairment of skeletal muscle relaxation, stiffness and cramps. Ca²⁺ uptake and Ca²⁺ ATPase activities are reduced in the sarcoplasmic reticulum^1–7, leading to the prediction that Brody disease results from defects in the ATP2A1 gene on chromosome 16p12.1–12.2, encoding SERCA1, the fast-twitch skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ ATPase. A recent search, however, did not reveal any mutations in the ATP2A1 gene in three Brody patients⁸. We have now associated Brody disease with the autosomal recessive inheritance of three ATP2A1 mutations in two families, suggesting that the disease is genetically heterogeneous. One mutation occurs at the splice donor site of intron 3, while the other two mutations lead to premature stop codons, truncating SERCA1, deleting essential functional domains and raising the intriguing question: how have these Brody patients partially compensated for the functional knockout of a gene product believed to be essential for fast-twitch skeletal muscle relaxation?