Mitochondrial tRNA mutations associated non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss in Chinese families.

Mitochondrial transfer RNA mutation is one of the most important causes of hereditary hearing loss in humans. Mitochondrial transfer RNA gene is another hot spot for mutations associated with non-syndromic hearing loss, besides the 12S ribosomal RNA gene. In this study, we assessed the clinical phenotype and the molecular characteristics of two Chinese families with non-syndromic hearing loss. Mutational analysis revealed that 7445A > G and 7510T > C mutations in the mitochondrial transfer RNA gene were the molecular etiology of Family 1 and Family 2, respectively. However, the clinical and genetic characteristics of the two families carrying the above mutations in the transfer RNA gene exhibited a variable expression of hearing loss and an incomplete penetrance. Sequencing analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome showed the presence of transfer RNA 5568A > G and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 4 11696G > A mutations in Family 1. The mitochondrial haplotype analysis showed that the two families belonged to Asian D4 and M80'D haplotypes, respectively, and no pathogenic variations were found in the nuclear genes. To our knowledge, our study is the first to report 7445A > G and 7510T > C mutations in the mitochondrial transfer RNA gene, in multi-generation non-syndromic hearing loss pedigrees from China. Our study suggests that 5568A > G and 11696G > A mutations may enhance the penetrance of hearing loss in Chinese Family 1, while mitochondrial haplotypes and known nuclear genes may not be modifiers for the phenotypic expression of 7445A > G and 7510T > C mutations in these Chinese families.