Abstract
We report on a boy with non-syndromic hearing loss and an apparently balanced translocation t(10;15)(q26.13;q21.1). The same translocation was found in the normally hearing brother, father and paternal grandfather; however, this does not exclude its involvement in disease pathogenesis, for example, by unmasking a second mutation. Breakpoint analysis via FISH with BAC clones and long-range PCR products revealed a disruption of the arginyltransferase 1 (ATE1) gene on translocation chromosome 10 and the solute carrier family 12, member 1 gene (SLC12A1) on translocation chromosome 15. SNP array analysis revealed neither loss nor gain of chromosomal regions in the affected child, and a targeted gene enrichment panel consisting of 130 known deafness genes was negative for pathogenic mutations. The expression patterns in zebrafish and humans did not provide evidence for ear-specific functions of the ATE1 and SLC12A1 genes. Sanger sequencing of the 2 genes in the boy and 180 GJB2 mutation-negative hearing-impaired individuals did not detect homozygous or compound heterozygous pathogenic mutations. Our study demonstrates the many difficulties in unraveling the molecular causes of a heterogeneous phenotype. We cannot directly implicate disruption of ATE1 and/or SLC12A1 to the abnormal hearing phenotype; however, mutations in these genes may have a role in polygenic or multifactorial forms of hearing impairment. On the other hand, it is conceivable that our patient carries a disease-causing mutation in a so far unidentified deafness gene. Evidently, disruption of ATE1 and/or SLC12A1 gene function alone does not have adverse effects.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3-10 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Molecular Syndromology |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- ATE1
- Disease-associated balanced chromosome rearrangement
- Non-syndromic hearing impairment
- Reciprocal translocation
- SLC12A1