Usher syndrome type I is an autosomal recessive disorder marked by hearing loss, vestibular areflexia, and retinitis pigmentosa. Six Usher I genetic subtypes at loci USH1A-USH1F have been reported. The MYO7A gene is responsible for USH1B, the most common subtype. In our analysis, 151 families with Usher I were screened by linkage and mutation analysis. MYO7A mutations were identified in 64 fami...

The mouse shaker-1 locus, Myo7a, encodes myosin VIIA and mutations in the orthologous gene in humans cause Usher syndrome type 1B or non-syndromic deafness. Myo7a is expressed very early in sensory hair cell development in the inner ear. We describe the effects of three mutations on cochlear hair cell development and function. In the Myo7a816SB and Myo7a6J mutants, stereocilia grow and form row...

OBJECTIVE In this study, we attempted to differentiated human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) to auditory hair cells using growth factors. METHODS Retinoic acid (RA), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and epidermal growth factor (EGF) were added to hBMSCs cell culture medium. The cells were evaluated morphologically and the expression of SOX2, POU4F3, MYO7A, and Calre...

PURPOSE Usher syndrome (USH) is a genetically heterogeneous disease with autosomal recessive deafness and blindness. Gene therapy is under development for use in the most common genetic variant of USH1, USH1B, which is caused by mutations in the MYO7A gene. This study was undertaken to identify an imaging method for noninvasively monitoring the RPE component of the USH1B disease. METHODS NIR-...

Myosin VIIa functions in the outer retina, and loss of this function causes human blindness in Usher syndrome type 1B (USH1B). In mice with mutant Myo7a, melanosomes in the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) are distributed abnormally. In this investigation we detected many proteins in RPE cells that could potentially participate in melanosome transport, but of those tested, only myosin VIIa an...

Objectives Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) provides a consequential opportunity to elucidate genetic factors in known diseases, particularly in profoundly heterogeneous disorders such as non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL). Hearing impairments could be classified into syndromic and non-syndromic types. This study intended to assess the significance of mutations in these genes to the aut...

Objective(s): Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) provides a consequential opportunity to elucidate genetic factors in known diseases, particularly in profoundly heterogeneous disorders such as non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL). Hearing impairments could be classified into syndromic and non-syndromic types. This study intended to assess the significance of mutations in these genes to the ...

Usher syndrome is a deaf-blindness disorder. One of the subtypes, Usher 1B, is caused by loss of function of the gene encoding the unconventional myosin, MYO7A. A variety of different viral-based delivery approaches have been tested for retinal gene therapy to prevent the blindness of Usher 1B, and a clinical trial based on one of these approaches has begun. This review evaluates the different ...

The following information is missing from the Competing Interests section: " Xi Lin owns stocks in Otogenetics Corporation, which may be a source of potential conflict of interest for materials presented in this paper. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. " Reference 1. article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licen...