Gene Mutation Affects Tactile Sense and Hearing

People, who are hard of hearing, have also an inferior tactile sense. Dr Henning Frenzel and Prof. Gary R. Lewin from the MDC now have discovered the connection behind this phenomenon. They were able to show that both senses are based on the same genetic information. They discovered a gene mutation in patients affected by Usher syndrome, an hereditary form of hearing impairment coupled with a visual impairment, that causes also the inferior tactile sense these patients display. The research was preceded by studies on monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal or non-identical) healthy twins. The researchers examined a total of 518 volunteers.

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Source: PloS Biology, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001318

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