Comprehensive Analysis of HEXB Protein Reveal Forty Two Novel nsSNPs That May Lead to Sandhoff disease (SD) Using Bioinformatics

BackgroundSingle Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HEXB gene are associated with a neurodegenerative disorder called Sandhoff disease (SD) (GM2 gangliosidosis-O variant). This study aimed to predict the possible pathogenic SNPs of this gene and their impact on the protein using different bioinformatics tools. MethodsSNPs retrieved from the NCBI database were analyzed using several bioinformatics tools. The different algorithms collectively predicted the effect of single nucleotide substitution on both structure and function of beta subunit beta subunit of both hexosaminidase A and hexosaminidase B proteins. ResultsForty nine mutations were found to be extremely damaging to the structure and function of the HEXB gene protein. ConclusionAccording to this study, forty two novel nsSNP in HEXB are predicted to have possible role in Sandhoff disease using different bioinformatics tools, beside two SNPs found to have effect on miRNAs binding site affecting expression of HEXB gene. Our findings may assist in genetic study and diagnosis of Sandhoff disease.