Abstract
Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism due to defects in the branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase (BCKD) complex, is commonly observed among other inherited metabolic disorders in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This report presents the results of mutation analysis of three of the four genes encoding the BCKD complex in 52 biochemically diagnosed MSUD patients originating from Saudi Arabia. The 25 mutations (20 novel) detected spanned across the entire coding regions of the BCKHDA, BCKDHB and DBT genes. There were no mutations found in the DLD gene in this cohort of patients. Prediction effects, conservation and modelling of novel mutations demonstrated that all were predicted to be disease-causing. All mutations presented in a homozygous form and we did not detect the presence of a "founder" mutation in any of three genes. In addition, prenatal molecular genetic testing was successfully carried out on chorionic villus samples or amniocenteses in 10 expectant mothers with affected children with MSUD, molecularly characterized by this study. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).