Ceramide. Sphingolipids are a major component of neuronal membranes and help neurons in intracellular signaling and trafficking. Ceramide is one of the basic building blocks of sphingolipids. In a recent publication in Annals of Neurology, mutations in CERS1, coding for ceramide synthetase, are identified in a family with progressive myoclonus epilepsy – and provides an unexpected linked between a group of storage disorders such as Niemann-Pick disease and Tay-Sachs disease and progressive myoclonus epilepsies. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Tay-Sachs disease
One in four – the carrier rate of recessive diseases
How frequent? With all the genetic information around, we are often wondering how much genetic morbidity is really hidden in our genomes. Yes, everybody is a knock-out for 1-3 genes, but in most cases, these variants do not cause disease. However, what happens if you apply genomics to estimate the burden of known disease variants? Now in a recent paper in Genetics in Medicine by Lazarin and colleagues, the carrier frequency for ~400 variants known to cause ~100 recessive disorders is investigated. 24% of all individuals are carriers for at least one recessive disorder. Continue reading
