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Novel pathogenic WHRN variant causing hearing loss in a moroccan family

Imane AitRaise^1,2, Ghita Amalou¹, Salaheddine Redouane¹

¹Genomics and Human Genetics Laboratory, Institut Pasteur du Maroc, 1 Place Louis Pasteur, Casablanca, 20360, Morocco.

Molecular Biology Reports

|November 4, 2023

Abstract

Objectives:

The most prevalent sensory disease in humans is deafness. A variety of genes have been linked to hearing loss, which can either be isolated (non-syndromic) or associated with lesions in other organs (syndromic). It has been discovered that WHRN variants are responsible for non-syndromic hearing loss and Usher syndrome type II.

Methods And Results:

Exome sequencing in a consanguineous Moroccan patient with severe hearing loss identified a single homozygous mutation c.619G > T; p.Ala207Ser in WHRN, encoding a cytoskeletal scaffold protein that binds membrane protein complexes to the cytoskeleton in ocular photoreceptors and ear hair cell stereocilia. Bioinformatics methods and molecular dynamic modeling were able to predict the pathogenic implications of this variation.

Conclusion:

We used whole exome sequencing to find a homozygous WHRN gene variant in a Moroccan family. Numerous bioinformatics methods predict that this modification might result in a change in the WHRN protein's structure.

Keywords:

Autosomal recessive hearing loss Morocco Usher syndrome WHRN

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