Investigation of the GJB6 Deletion Mutations Del (GJB6- D13s1830) and Del (GJB6-D13s1854) in Iranian Patients with Autosomal-Recessive Non-Syndromic Hearing Loss (ARNSHL)

Hearing loss (HL) is the most common inherited sensory disorder affecting about 1 in 1000 births. The first locus for nonsyndromic autosomal recessive HL is on chromosome 13q11–22. The two genes, GJB2 and GJB6, are closely located on chromosome and are known to be co-expressed in the embryonic cochlea. Deletion mutations involving GJB6 were associated with autosomal-recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) and in combination with a GJB2 mutation with digenic ARNSHL. The objective of this study was to screen for the del (GJB6-D13S1830) and del (GJB6-D13s1854) mutations in GJB6 gene in patients with ARNSHL from Iran, using multiplex PCR and direct sequencing methods. Agarose gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing of amplified fragment of the PCR reaction showed none of the patients was found to carry deletion in GJB6 gene which indicates that these deletions are restricted to certain populations and indicating a founder effect regarding these deletions.