GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:4367

GM2A

ganglioside GM2 activator

protein-coding gene5q33.1Gene information

What does this gene do?

The GM2A gene provides instructions for making a protein called the ganglioside GM2 activator. This protein is necessary for the normal function of an enzyme called beta-hexosaminidase A. Beta-hexosaminidase A and the ganglioside GM2 activator protein work together in lysosomes, which are compartments in the cell that digest and recycle different types of molecules. Within lysosomes, the activator protein binds to a fatty substance called GM2 ganglioside and presents it to beta-hexosaminidase A to be broken down.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2024-04-01. Source review: 2024-03.

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
Tay-Sachs disease AB variantMONDO:0010099 · Evaluated 2022-08-12	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveLysosomal Diseases 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: 254
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 354
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 341
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 20
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 119
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 1

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 GM2A?

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 20 alleles in GM2A 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 GM2A.

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

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