Researchers Are Working On A Genetic Procedure To Restore Hereditary Deafness
It Works Like A Spell Checker For Genes, Replacing The Wrong Sequence For The Correct One
Researchers have designed a genetic procedure to restore hereditary deafness. They have restored hearing in mice by modifying a mutated gene called Tmc1. They repaired an error by editing the DNA and inserting the correct version. Gene editing has been used before for other types of hearing loss, but not for a genetic sensory disorder. 4,000 babies are born every year with genetic hearing loss, which will be benefited from this procedure. Previous research has been done by replacing the whole gene sequence, but in this case, only the mutation was replaced, restoring the gene to the correct sequence, resulting in full hearing functioning. This procedure works like a spell-checker. If a word contains a wrong letter, the spell checker will correct it. The hearing process involves 100 genes, in which any mutation can result in hearing loss. Additional info click here.