Bacterial expression of mutant argininosuccinate lyase reveals imperfect correlation of in-vitro enzyme activity with clinical phenotype in argininosuccinic aciduria.

Background The urea cycle defect argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) deficiency has a large spectrum of presentations from highly severe to asymptomatic. Enzyme activity assays in red blood cells or fibroblasts, although diagnostic of the deficiency, fail to discriminate between severe, mild or asymptomatic cases. Mutation/phenotype correlation studies are needed to characterize the effects of individual mutations on the activity of the enzyme.