GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:29419

EARS2

glutamyl-tRNA synthetase 2, mitochondrial

protein-coding gene16p12.2Gene information

What does this gene do?

The EARS2 gene provides instructions for making an enzyme called mitochondrial glutamyl-tRNA synthetase. This enzyme is important in the production (synthesis) of proteins in cellular structures called mitochondria, the energy-producing centers in cells. While most protein synthesis occurs in the fluid surrounding the cell nucleus (cytoplasm), some proteins are synthesized in the mitochondria.

During protein synthesis, in either the mitochondria or the cytoplasm, a type of RNA called transfer RNA (tRNA) helps assemble protein building blocks called amino acids into a chain that forms the protein. Each tRNA carries a specific amino acid to the growing chain. Enzymes called aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, including mitochondrial glutamyl-tRNA synthetase, attach a particular amino acid to a specific tRNA. Mitochondrial glutamyl-tRNA synthetase attaches the amino acid glutamate to the correct tRNA, which helps ensure that glutamate is added at the proper place in the mitochondrial protein.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2020-08-18. Source review: 2016-09.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
Leigh syndromeMONDO:0009723 · Evaluated 2020-03-19	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveMitochondrial Diseases Gene Curation Expert Panel
mitochondrial diseaseMONDO:0044970 · Evaluated 2024-09-19	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveMitochondrial Diseases Gene Curation Expert Panel

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 457
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 778
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 721
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 48
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 207
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 30

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about EARS2?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 48 alleles in EARS2 reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in EARS2.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

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