Two mutant alleles of the human cytochrome P-450db1 gene (P450C2D1) associated with genetically deficient metabolism of debrisoquine and other drugs.

The "debrisoquine polymorphism" is a clinically important genetic defect of drug metabolism affecting 5-10% of individuals in Caucasian populations. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. A full-length cDNA for human cytochrome P-450db1, the deficient enzyme (also designated P450IID1 for P450 family II subfamily D isozyme 1), has recently been cloned. Leukocyte DNA from "extensive metabolizers" (EMs) or "poor metabolizers" (PMs) of debrisoquine was examined by Southern analysis. Two polymorphic restriction fragments were associated with the PM phenotype when DNAs from 24 unrelated PM and 29 unrelated EM individuals were probed with P-450db1 cDNA after digestion with Xba I restriction endonuclease and Southern blotting: a polymorphic 44-kilobase (kb) fragment was found in 58% of PMs but only in 3.4% of EMs, and a polymorphic 11.5-kb fragment was present in 33% of PMs but in none of the EMs. Seventy-five percent of PMs had either the 44-kb or the 11.5-kb fragment or both. Segregation of these restriction fragment length polymorphisms in the families of six PM probands demonstrated that each of the two fragments is allelic with the 29-kb fragment present in all EM individuals and suggests that they identify two independent mutated allels of the P-450db1 gene (designated P450C2D1). At least a third mutated allele not detected by these restriction fragment length polymorphisms must be present in the population. The Xba I 44-kb fragment and 11.5-kb fragment were in linkage disequilibrium with restriction fragment length polymorphisms generated by four and five additional restriction endonucleases, respectively, which can be used to identify the same mutant alleles for the P-450db1 gene.