From flies' eyes to our ears: mutations in a human class III myosin cause progressive nonsyndromic hearing loss DFNB30.

ABSTRACT: Normal vision in Drosophila requires NINAC, a class III myosin. Class III myosins are hybrid motor-signaling molecules, with an N-terminal kinase domain, highly conserved head and neck domains, and a class III-specific tail domain. In Drosophila rhabdomeres, NINAC interacts with actin filaments and with a PDZ scaffolding protein to organize the phototransduction machinery into a signaling complex. Recessive null mutations in Drosophila NINAC delay termination of the photoreceptor response and lead to progressive retinal degeneration. Here, we show that normal hearing in humans requires myosin IIIA, the human homolog of NINAC. In an extended Israeli family, nonsyndromic progressive hearing loss is caused by three different recessive, loss-of-function mutations in myosin IIIA. Of 18 affected

SUBMITTER: Walsh T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC124268 | biostudies-literature | 2002 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature