Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

A gene for Waardenburg Syndrome type 2 maps close to the human homologue of the microphthalmia gene at chromosome 3p12–p14.1

Abstract

Waardenburg syndrome (WS), an autosomal dominant syndrome of hearing loss and pigmentary disturbances, comprises at least two separate conditions. WS type 1 is normally caused by mutations in PAX3 located at chromosome 2q35 and is distinguished clinically by minor facial malformations. We have now located a gene for WS type 2. Two families show linkage to a group of microsatellite markers located on chromosome 3p12–p14.1. D3S1261 gave a maximum lod score of 6.5 at zero recombination in one large Type 2 family. In a second, smaller family the adjacent marker D3S1210 gave a lod of 2.05 at zero recombination. Interestingly, the human homologue (MITF) of the mouse microphthalmia gene, a good candidate at the phenotypic level, has recently been mapped to 3p12.3–p14.4.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Steel, K.P. & Bock, G.R. Hereditary inner-ear abnormalities in animals. Arch. Otolaryngol. 109, 22–29 (1983).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Spritz, R.A. Molecular genetics of oculocutaneous albinism. Semin. Dermatol. 12, 167–172 (1993).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Steel, K.P. & Barkway, C. Another role for melanocytes: their importance for normal stria vascularis development in the mammalian inner ear. Development 107, 453–463 (1989).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Waardenburg, P.J. A new syndrome combining developmental anomalies of the eyelids, eyebrows and nose root with pigmentary defects of the Iris and head hair and with congenital deafness. Am. J. hum. Genet. 3, 195–253 (1951).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. da-Silva, E.O. Waardenburg I syndrome: a clinical and genetic study of two large Brazilian kindreds and literature review. Am. J. med. Genet. 40, 65–74 (1991).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Arias, S. Genetic heterogeneity in the Waardenburg syndrome. Birth Defects 7, 87–101 (1971).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Farrer, L.A. et al. Locus heterogeneity for Waardenburg syndrome is predictive of clinical subtypes. Am. J. hum. Genet. (in the press).

  8. Tassabehji, M. et al. Mutations in the PAX3 gene causing Waardenburg syndrome type 1 and type 2. Nature Genet. 3, 26–30 (1993).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Asher, J.H. & Friedman, T.B. Mouse and hamster mutants as models for Waardenburg syndrome in humans. J. med. Genet. 27, 618–626 (1990).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Wilcox, E.R., Rivolta, M.N., Ploplis, B., Potterf, S.B. & Fex, J. The HuP2 gene is mapped to chromosome 2, together with a highly informative CA dinucleotide repeat. Hum. molec. Genet. 1, 215 (1992).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Ott, J. Analysis of Human Genetic Linkage 2nd edn (Johns Hopkins University press, Baltimore, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Naylor, S.L., Buys, C.H.C.M. & Carritt, B. Report on the Fourth International Chromosome 3 Workshop. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 65, 1–50 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hodgkinson, C.A. et al. Mutations at the mouse microphthalmia locus are associated with defects in a gene encoding a novel basic helix-loop-helix zipper protein. Cell 74, 395–404 (1993).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Tachibana, M. et al. Cloning of MITF, the human homolog of the mouse microphthalmia gene and assignment to chromosome 3p14.1–p12.3. Hum. molec. Genet. 3, 553–557 (1994).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Arias, S. & Mota, M. Apparent non-penetrance for dystopia in Waardenburg syndrome Type 1 with some hints on the diagnosis of dystopia canthorum. Journal de Génétique Humaine 26, 101–131 (1978).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Lathrop, G.M. & Lalouel, J.M. Easy calculation of lod scores and genetic risks on small computers. Am. J. hum. Genet. 36, 460–465 (1984).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Foy, C., Newton, V.E., Wellesley, D., Harris, R. & Read, A.P. Assignment of WS1 locus to human 2q37 and possible homology between Waardenburg syndrome and the Splotch mouse. Am. J. hum. Genet. 46, 1017–1023 (1990).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Tassabehji, M. et al. Waardenburg syndrome patients have mutations in the human homologue of the Pax-3 paired box gene. Nature 355, 635–636 (1992).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Baldwin, C.T., Hoth, C.F., Amos, J.A., da-Silva, E. O. & Milunsky, A. An exonic mutation in the HuP2 paired domain gene causes Waardenburg's syndrome. Nature 355, 637–638 (1992).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Hoth, C.F. et al. Mutations in the paired domain of the human PAX3 gene cause Klein-Waardenburg syndrome (WS-III) as well as Waardenburg syndrome Type 1 (WS-1). Am. J. hum. Genet. 52, 455–462 (1993).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Morell, R. et al. A frameshift mutation in the HuP2 paired domain of the probable human homolog of murine Pax-3 is responsible for Waardenburg syndrome type 1 in an Indonesian family. Hum. molec. Genet. 1, 243–247 (1992).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Tassabehji, M. et al. PAX3 gene structure and mutations: close analogies between Waardenburg syndrome Type 1 and the Splotch mouse. Hum. molec. Genet. (in the press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hughes, A., Newton, V., Liu, X. et al. A gene for Waardenburg Syndrome type 2 maps close to the human homologue of the microphthalmia gene at chromosome 3p12–p14.1. Nat Genet 7, 509–512 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0894-509

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0894-509

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing