Mutation at the anophthalmic white locus in Syrian hamsters : haploinsufficiency in the Mitf gene mimics human Waardenburg syndrome type 2

• Published in: Human molecular genetics Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 703 - 708
• Main Authors: HODGKINSON, C. A, NAKAYAMA, A, HUA LI, SWENSON, L.-B, OPDECAMP, K, ASHER, J. H, ARNHEITER, H, GLASER, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.04.1998
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Anophthalmos - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Northern; Complex syndromes; Cricetinae; Disease Models, Animal; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Haploidy; Immunohistochemistry; Medical genetics; Medical sciences; Mesocricetus; Microphthalmia-Associated Transcription Factor; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Pigment Epithelium of Eye - metabolism; Point Mutation; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Transcription Factors; Waardenburg Syndrome - genetics; Waardenburg Syndrome - pathology; Animal model; Internal ear disease; Rodentia; DNA binding protein; Molecular interaction; Gene expression; Pigmentation; Genetic disease; Vertebrata; Phenotype; Mammalia; Gene; Hypopigmentation; Waardenburg syndrome; ENT disease; Perception hearing loss; Inheritance(genetics); Mutation; Complex syndrome; Transcription factor; Dimerization; Hamster
• ISSN: 0964-6906; 1460-2083; 1460-2083
• DOI: 10.1093/hmg/7.4.703

Mutations in MITF (microphthalmia transcription factor) cause Waardenburg syndrome type 2 (WS2A) in humans, an autosomal dominant disorder consisting of deafness and hypopigmentation. Phenotypes vary significantly within WS2 pedigrees, and there is generally no correlation between the predicted biochemical properties of mutant MITF proteins and disease severity. We have identified a nonsense mutation in the Mitf gene of the anophthalmic white Wh) Syrian hamster that destabilizes its mRNA and prevents the encoded basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper (bHLHzip) protein from dimerizing or binding DNA target sites. Although the resulting polypeptide does not act as a dominant-negative species in vitro , the Wh mutation is inherited as a semi-dominant trait. It thus more closely resembles WS2 than comparable Mitf alleles in laboratory mice and rats, which are expressed as purely recessive traits.