Advanced DNA sequencing technologies are have enabled researchers to identify at least 1,000 mutations occurring in 64 genes at more than 130 sites in the human genome that are linked to hearing loss.
At least half of all cases of deafness occurring from birth through infancy in developed countries have a genetic basis, as do many cases of later onset progressive hearing loss. According to an article in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, advanced DNA sequencing technologies have enabled researchers to identify at least 1,000 mutations occurring in 64 genes at more than 130 sites in the human genome that are linked to hearing loss.
In “Next-Generation Sequencing in Genetic Hearing Loss,” authors Denise Yan and Xue Zhong Liu, University of Miami (Florida), and Mustafa Tekin and Susan Blanton, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, describe the implications. “Over the next decade, most of the variant genes responsible for deafness will be identified and such knowledge will lead to the development of practical treatments,” conclude the authors. While we are still years away from preventing genetic hearing loss, identifying the mutations responsible for it bring us one step closer to addressing it in future generations.