Identification and computational analysis of USH1C, and SLC26A4 variants in Pakistani families with prelingual hearing loss

Identification of Hearing Loss-Associated Variants of PTPRQ, MYO15A, and SERPINB6 in Pakistani Families

The inner ear is an essential part of a well-developed and well-coordinated hearing system. However, hearing loss can make communication and interaction more difficult. Inherited hearing loss (HL) can occur from pathogenic genetic variants that negatively alter the intricate inner ear sensory mechanism. Recessively inherited forms of HL are highly heterogeneous and account for a majority of prelingual deafness. The current study is designed to investigate genetic causes of HL in three consanguineous Pakistani families. After IRB approval, the clinical history and pure tone audiometric data was obtained for the clinical diagnosis of HL segregating in these three Pakistani families. We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) followed by Sanger sequencing in order to identify and validate the HL-associated pathogenic variants, respectively. The 3-D molecular modeling and the Ramachandran analysis of the identified missense variants were compiled to evaluate the impact of the variants on the encoded proteins. Clinical evaluation revealed prelingual severe to profound sensorineural HL segregating among the affected individuals in all three families. Genetic analysis revealed segregation of several novel variants associated with HL, including a canonical splice-site variant (c.55-2A>G) of PTPRQ in family GCFHL-01, a missense variant [c.1079G>A; p.(Arg360Gln)] of SERPINB6 in family LUHL-01, and an insertion variant (c.10208-10211insCCACCAGGCCCGTGCCTC) within MYO15A in family LUHL-011. All the identified variants had very low frequencies in the control databases. The molecular modeling of p.Arg360Gln missense variant also predicted impaired folding of SERPINB6 protein. This study reports the identification of novel disease-causing variants in three known deafness genes and further highlights the genetic heterogeneity of HL in Pakistani population.

Induction of resistance to sugarcane mosaic virus by RNA interference targeting coat protein gene silencing in transgenic sugarcane

Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) is a serious disease of monocotyledonous plants, including sugarcane, causing deterioration in both growth and productivity. RNA interference (RNAi) inhibits gene expression through RNA-mediated sequence-specific interactions and is considered an effective approach to control viral infection in plants. In this study, the SCMVCp gene encoding the coat protein (CP) was inserted into the pGreen-0179 plasmid in both sense and antisense orientations. Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) and Zea mays ubiquitin (Ubi) promoters were selected to drive the transcription of the intron-hairpin constructs, called HpSCMVCp-CaMV and HpSCMVCp-Ubi, respectively. Transgenic sugarcane expressing these constructs was generated through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. This transformation method produced a high percentage of transgenic plants for both HpSCMVCp-CaMV and HpSCMVCp-Ubi, as confirmed by PCR analysis. Southern blotting revealed a single stable insertion of the DNA target in the genome of transgenic sugarcane lines. After artificial virus infection, lines that developed mosaic symptoms were classified as susceptible, whereas those that remained green without symptoms were classified as resistant at 42 days post-inoculation. Immunoblotting revealed CP expression at 37 kDa in susceptible and non-transgenic sugarcane, but not in resistant lines. RT-PCR analysis confirmed viral Cp and Nib gene expression in susceptible lines and their absence in resistant lines. Interestingly, upon comparison of effectivity, CaMV and Ubi promoter-driven gene expression resulted in 57.69% and 82.35% resistant sugarcane lines, respectively. Thus, we concluded that RNAi is effective for inducing resistance against SCMV and that the Ubi promoter is an effective promoter for producing transgenic sugarcane.