Reclassification of a TMC1 synonymous substitution as a variant disrupting splicing regulatory elements associated with recessive hearing loss

Alterations of the transmembrane channel-like 1 gene (TMC1) are involved in autosomal recessive and dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss (NSHL). To date, up to 117 causal variants including substitutions, insertions and splice variants have been reported in families from different populations. In a patient suffering from severe prelingual NSHL, we identified, in the homozygous state, the previously considered likely benign synonymous c.627C>T; p.(Leu209=) substitution. We used in silico tools predicting variant-induced alterations of splicing regulatory elements (SREs) and pinpointed this transition as a candidate splice-altering variation. Functional splicing analysis, using a minigene assay, confirmed that the variant altered a critical regulatory sequence which is essential for the exon 11 inclusion in the TMC1 transcripts. This result was reinforced by the analysis of orthologous TMC1 mammalian sequences for which the deleterious effect on the mRNA processing of a native thymidine was always counteracted by the presence of a stronger donor splice site or additional enhancer motifs. This study demonstrates, for the first time, the pathogenicity of the c.627C>T alteration leading to its reclassification as a causal variant impacting SREs and highlights the major importance of exhaustive studies to accurately evaluate the pathogenicity of a variant, regardless of the variation type.