Hearing loss associated with enlarged vestibular aqueduct and Mondini dysplasia is caused by splice-site mutation in the PDS gene.

Recessive mutations of PDS gene are the common causes of Pendred syndrome and non-syndromic hearing loss associated with temporal bone abnormalities ranging from isolated enlargement of the vestibular aqueduct (EVA) to Mondini dysplasia. In this study we evaluate the relationship between EVA and Mondini dysplasia in 10 prelingual deaf patients and PDS gene mutation. One of three mutations, IVS7-2A-->G, IVS16-6G-->A or IVS15+5G-->A, was identified in the PDS gene in each patient.

Mutations of Cx26 gene (GJB2) for prelingual deafness in Taiwan.

Mutations in the Cx26 (GJB2) gene have been shown to be responsible for a major part of autosomal recessive non-syndromic inherited prelingual deafness. We have sequenced the coding region of GJB2 gene from 169 Taiwanese patients with prelingual deafness and 100 unrelated normal individuals. In the deaf patients, three mutations were found: two novel mutations, 551G-->A, and 299-300delAT, and one previously described mutation, 235delC.

The hydrophobic heptad repeat in Region III of Escherichia coli transcription factor sigma 54 is essential for core RNA polymerase binding.

Escherichia coli transcription factor sigma 54 contains motifs that resemble closely those used for RNA polymerase II in mammalian cells, including two hydrophobic heptad repeats, a very acidic region and a glutamine-rich region. Triple changes in hydrophobic or multiple changes in acidic residues in Region III are known to severely impair core-binding ability. To investigate whether all the changes in triple mutants are necessary for core binding, site-directed mutagenesis was performed to create single and double mutants in the leucine or isoleucine residues in the heptad repeat in Region III.