Genetics
An ~18kbp deletion, encompassing the entire Rpl38 locus underlies the phenotype in the Tail-short (Ts) mutant mouse. In homozygous state, Ts mice die at around 3–4 days of gestation. Ts/+ heterozygous embryos undergo an anemia and develop skeletal malformations. During the perinatal period ~30% of the heterozygotes die. The surviving heterozygous Ts exhibit great variations of shortened, kinked and otherwise malformed tails. They also weigh less than their wild-type littermates but have otherwise a normal life span. Additionally, Ts mice develop a conductive hearing loss shortly after the onset of hearing at around 3–4 weeks of age. The hearing loss is the result of ectopic ossification along the round window ridge at the outside of the cochlea, massive deposition of cholesterol crystals in the middle ear cavity, an enlarged Eustachian tube and a chronic otitis media with effusion.
In Drosophila melanogaster, loss-of-function alleles of RPL38, cause embryonic lethality in homozygotes and protracted growth and shortened bristles in heterozygotes. Due to the haplo-insufficient nature of the mutation, the phenotype is inherited as a dominant trait.
In humans, mutations in ribosomal proteins cause Diamond-Blackfan Anemia. However, no disease has yet been linked to mutations in human RPL38.
Read more about this topic: 60S Ribosomal Protein L38