GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:17366

AASS

aminoadipate-semialdehyde synthase

protein-coding gene7q31.32Gene information

What does this gene do?

The AASS gene provides instructions for making an enzyme called alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase. This enzyme is found in many tissues, including the liver.

Alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase is involved in the breakdown of lysine, which is a building block (amino acid) of many different proteins. Amino acids are broken down when they are no longer needed. Alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase is called a bifunctional enzyme because it performs two functions during the breakdown of lysine. First, it converts lysine to a molecule called saccharopine, and then it converts saccharopine to a molecule called alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2025-06-11. Source review: 2025-06.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
hyperlysinemiaMONDO:0009388 · Evaluated 2022-10-14	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveAminoacidopathy Gene Curation Expert Panel

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 358
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 445
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 407
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 32
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 162
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 3

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about AASS?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 32 alleles in AASS reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in AASS.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

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