US Patent 7297487 Desmin gene having novel point mutation causative of dilated cardiomyopathy

The present invention is intended to elucidate the cause of severe cardiomyopathy in subline (T) not manifesting the macroscopic cardiac hypertrophy, which has been separated from a hamster (B) with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and clarify the pathogenic cause of dilated cardiomyopathy, thereby establishing a method of detecting and identifying dilated cardiomyopathy and a method of preventing and treating the same. The present invention relates to a desmin gene having a point mutation at the site corresponding to the 571-position of the base sequence in the cDNA translation region of Syrian hamster; a polypeptide thereof; and an oligonucleotide consisting of 5 to 250 bases including the point mutation site or an oligonucleotide having a sequence complementary thereto. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method of detecting and identifying the point mutation at the site corresponding to the 571-position of the base sequence in the cDNA translation region of Syrian hamster to judge whether or not it is a gene causative of hereditary cardiomyopathy.