Mutations in the gene encoding fibrillin-1 (FBN1), a component of the 
extracellular microfibril, cause Marfan syndrome (MFS). Frequent observation of 
cattle with a normal withers height, but lower body weight than age-matched 
normal cattle, was recently reported among cattle sired by phenotypically normal 
Bull A, in Japanese Black cattle. These cattle also showed other characteristic 
features similar to the clinical phenotype of human MFS, such as a long phalanx 
proximalis, oval face and crystalline lens cloudiness. We first screened a 
paternal half-sib family comprising 36 affected and 10 normal offspring of Bull 
A using the BovineSNP50 BeadChip (illumina). Twenty-two microsatellite markers 
mapped to a significant region on BTA10 were subsequently genotyped on the 
family. The bovine Marfan syndrome-like disease (MFSL) was mapped onto BTA10. As 
FBN1 is located in the significant region, FBN1 was sequenced in Bull A, and 
three affected and one normal cattle. A G>A mutation at the intron64 splicing 
accepter site (c.8227-1G>A) was detected in 31 of 36 affected animals (84.7%). 
The c.8227-1G>A polymorphism was not found in 20 normal offspring of Bull A or 
in 93 normal cattle unrelated to Bull A. The mutation caused a 1-base shift of 
the intron64 splicing accepter site to the 3' direction, and a 1-base deletion 
in processed mRNA. This 1-base deletion creates a premature termination codon, 
and a 125-amino acid shorter Fibrillin-1 protein is produced from the mutant 
mRNA. We therefore conclude that the c.8227-1G>A mutation is causative for MFSL. 
Furthermore, it was suggested that Bull A exhibited germline mosaicism for the 
mutation, and that the frequency of the mutant sperm was 14.9%.