GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:8806

PDHA1

pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunit alpha 1

protein-coding geneXp22.12Gene information

What does this gene do?

The PDHA1 gene provides instructions for making a protein called E1 alpha. The E1 alpha protein is a piece (a subunit) of a larger protein: two E1 alpha proteins combine with two copies of another protein called E1 beta (produced from the PDHB gene) to form the E1 enzyme. This enzyme, also known as pyruvate dehydrogenase, is a component of a group of proteins called the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex plays an important role in the pathways that convert the energy from food into a form that cells can use. This complex converts a molecule called pyruvate, which is formed from the breakdown of carbohydrates, into another molecule called acetyl-CoA. The E1 enzyme performs one part of this chemical reaction. The conversion of pyruvate is essential to begin the series of chemical reactions that produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cell's main energy source.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2022-07-05. Source review: 2012-07.

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
mitochondrial diseaseMONDO:0044970 · Evaluated 2024-07-29	X-linked	DefinitiveMitochondrial Diseases Gene Curation Expert Panel
Leigh syndromeMONDO:0009723 · Evaluated 2019-04-08	X-linked	DefinitiveMitochondrial 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: 1,259
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 2,009
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 1,739
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 401
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 197
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 31

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 PDHA1?

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 401 alleles in PDHA1 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 PDHA1.

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

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