GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:4065

GAA

alpha glucosidase

protein-coding gene17q25.3Gene information

What does this gene do?

The GAA gene provides instructions for producing an enzyme called acid alpha-glucosidase (also known as acid maltase). This enzyme is active in lysosomes, which are structures that serve as recycling centers within cells. Lysosomes use digestive enzymes to break down complex molecules into simpler ones that can be used by cells. Acid alpha-glucosidase normally breaks down a complex sugar called glycogen into a simpler sugar called glucose. Glucose is the main energy source for most cells.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2022-06-28. Source review: 2010-02.

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
glycogen storage disease IIMONDO:0009290 · Evaluated 2019-01-23	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveGeneral 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: 3,704
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 9,875
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 9,812
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 911
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 1,214
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 249

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 GAA?

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 911 alleles in GAA 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 GAA.

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

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