A variant of GRAP was identified as cosegregating with autosomal recessive nonsyndromic deafness in two unrelated families. GRAP (GRB2-Related Adapter Protein) is a member of the GRB2/Sem5/Drk family; it is a cytoplasmic adaptor protein and is known to impact the Ras signaling pathway. There are three paralogous genes in human, including GRB2 (growth factor receptor bound protein 2). There is a single fly gene in this family, drk, for which loss-of-function alleles, RNAi targeting constructs, and alleles caused by insertional mutagenesis have been generated.
Several UAS constructs of human Hsap\GRAP have been introduced into flies, including wild-type and the identified variant. Partial heterologous rescue (functional complementation) has been demonstrated: wild-type Hsap\GRAP reduces the negative geotaxis defect observed for Dmel\drk compound heterozygous adults. The construct carrying the implicated variant fails to rescue. Variant(s) implicated in human disease tested (as transgenic human gene, GRAP): the Q104L variant form has been introduced into flies.
Animals homozygous for loss-of-functions mutations of Dmel\drk typically die during the larval or pupal stage. For some alleles, olfactory association learning is lower in heterozygous animals compared to controls. Carrying a biallelic combination that is semi-lethal, compound heterozygous adults exhibit defects in negative geotaxis. The gene is expressed in embryos and in multiple tissues at later stages, including the adult brain, photoreceptor cells and Johnston's organ; Johnston's organ is the component of the Drosophila auditory system required for sensing gravity, wind flow, and near-field sound. Many physical and genetic interactions have been described for Dmel\drk; see below and in the drk gene report.
[updated Mar. 2019 by FlyBase; FBrf0222196]
[DEAFNESS, AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE 114; DFNB114](https://omim.org/entry/618456)
[GRB2-RELATED ADAPTOR PROTEIN; GRAP](https://omim.org/entry/604330)
DFNB114 is characterized by congenital profound sensorineural hearing loss (Li et al., 2019; pubmed:30610177). [from MIM:618456; 2019.10.28]
Profound sensorineural hearing loss without other observed morbidities (FBrf0241287).
Family pedigrees are consistent with autosomal recessive inheritance (FBrf0241287).
Autosomal recessive deafness-114 (DFNB114) is caused by homozygous mutation in the GRAP gene. [from MIM:618456; 2019.10.28]
GRAP (GRB2-Related Adapter Protein) encodes a cytoplasmic signaling protein which contains an SH2 domain flanked by two SH3 domains; it is a member of the GRB2/Sem5/Drk family. Among other roles, it couples signals from receptor and cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases to the Ras signaling pathway. [Gene Cards, GRAP; 2019.03.15]
Many to one: 4 human to 1 Drosophila. The human genes are GRB2, GRAP, GRAP2, and GRAPL.
Moderate- to high-scoring ortholog of human GRB2, GRAP, GRAP2, and GRAPL (1 Drosophila to 4 human). Dmel\drk shares 65% identity and 78% similarity with GRB2; shares 54% identity and 68% similarity with GRAP.