Mutations in the transcriptional activator EYA4 cause late-onset deafness at the DFNA10 locus

We identified Eyes absent 4 (EYA4), a member of the vertebrate Eya family of transcriptional activators, as the causative gene of postlingual, progressive, autosomal dominant hearing loss at the DFNA10 locus. In two unrelated families from Belgium and the USA segregating for deafness at this locus, we found different mutations in EYA4, both of which create premature stop codons. Although EYA proteins interact with members of the SIX and DACH protein families in a conserved network that regulates early embryonic development, this finding shows that EYA4 is also important post-developmentally for continued function of the mature organ of Corti.