Elastin: genomic structure and point mutations in patients with supravalvular aortic stenosis

We describe the complete exon-intron structure of the human elastin (ELN) gene located at chromosome 7q11.23. There are 34 exons occupying approximately 47 kb of genomic DNA. All exons are in-frame, allowing exon skipping without disrupting the reading frame. Microsatellites are located in introns 17 and 18. Deletions of all or large parts of the ELN gene have been previously reported in two patients with supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS), and SVAS is also a frequent feature of Williams syndrome, where patients are hemizygous for ELN. We list primer pairs for amplifying each exon, with flanking intron, from genomic DNA to allow detection of point mutations in the ELN gene. We show that some patients with isolated SVAS have point mutations that are predicted to lead to premature chain termination. Knowledge of the genomic structure will allow more extensive mutation screening in genomic DNA of patients with SVAS and other conditions.