Abstract

Genes that are primarily expressed in cochlear glia-like supporting cells (GLSs) have never been clearly associated with progressive deafness. Herein, we present a novel deafness locus mapped to chromosome 3p25.1 and a new auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) gene TMEM43 mainly expressed in GLSs. We identify p.R372X of TMEM43 by linkage analysis and exome sequencing in two large Asian families. The knock-in (KI) mouse with p.R372X mutation recapitulates a progressive hearing loss with histological abnormalities exclusively in GLSs. Mechanistically, TMEM43 interacts with Cx26 and Cx30 gap junction channels, disrupting the passive conductance current in GLSs in a dominant-negative fashion when the p.R372X mutation is introduced. Based on the mechanistic insights, cochlear implant was performed on two patients and speech discrimination was successfully restored. Our study highlights a pathological role of cochlear GLSs by identifying a novel deafness gene and its causal relationship with ANSD.