Polymorphisms in the human DNA ligase I gene (LIG1) including a complex GT repeat

Sequencing of a human DNA ligase I cDNA clone derived from HeLa cells revealed two unreported differences with the published sequence: a single base change and a three-base deletion. Both differences are in exon 6, and were analyzed by amplifying a segment containing exon 5, intron 6, and exon 6. The first finding was that intron 6 is approximately 2.6 kb in size, not the 1 kb reported in the literature. By sequence analysis of amplified segments, the single-base difference in exon 6 was shown to be polymorphic, with HeLa cells heterozygous for the A/C difference. Analysis of 60 unrelated individuals found a frequency of 0.5 for each allele. Primer extension reactions across the exon 5/exon 6 boundary were performed on cDNA obtained from HeLa cells and human thymus. The results show that the three-base deletion is due to a variation in splicing. For both HeLa and thymus, two-thirds of the transcripts are like the published cDNA sequence and one-third have the three-base deletion. Finally, sequencing of part of intron 6 revealed the presence of a complex GT repeat consisting of a 48–50 nucleotide polypurine tract followed by a variable number of GT residues. This entire unit of polypurine tract plus GTs is repeated three times. Detection of the repeated sequences required the development of specialized cloning and PCR conditions. Analysis of a pedigree showed that this complex repeat is polymorphic.