Abstract
Hearing impairment is the most common sensory disorder worldwide. In a recent study, the authors have shown that a heterozygous missense mutation, p.R184Q, in the connexin 26 (Cx26) is causally related to hearing loss. However, the functional change in the Cx26R184Q mutant remains unknown. This study compared the intracellular distribution and assembly of mutant Cx26R184Q with that of the wild-type (WT) Cx26 and Cx30WT in tet-on HeLa cells and the effect that the mutant protein had on those cells. Fluorescent localization assay of WT Cx26 showed the typical punctuate pattern of gap junction channel between neighboring expression cells. Conversely, the p.R184Q missense mutation resulted in accumulation of the Cx26 mutant protein in the Golgi apparatus rather than in the cytoplasmic membrane. Cx26R184Q coexpressed with either Cx26WT or Cx30WT showed perinuclear localization by bidirectional tet-on expression system, suggesting the impairment of the ability of both WT proteins to intracellular trafficking and targeting to the plasma membrane. Therefore, we proposed that Cx26R184Q has a dominant-negative effect on the function of WT Cx26 and Cx30.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Chung Shan Medical University, Tian-Sheng Memorial Hospital (CSMU-TSMH-097-001) and the National Science Council of the Republic of China, Taiwan for financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC98-2320-B-040-016-MY3. Ted Knoy is appreciated for the editorial assistance.
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Su, CC., Li, SY., Su, MC. et al. Mutation R184Q of connexin 26 in hearing loss patients has a dominant-negative effect on connexin 26 and connexin 30. Eur J Hum Genet 18, 1061–1064 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2010.50
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2010.50
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