Gene
GRN
granulin precursor
- HGNC 4601↗(opens in a new tab)
- Ensembl gene ENSG00000030582↗(opens in a new tab)
- NCBI Gene 2896↗(opens in a new tab)
Summary
- Cytogenetic location
- 17q21.31
- Coordinates
- Chromosome 17: 44,345,302–44,353,106 (GRCh38)
- Exons
- 13 exons across 7.8 kb
- Protein
- 593 amino acids
- Inheritance
- Autosomal dominant Autosomal recessive
- Also known as
- PCDGF, PGRN, CLN11
- MANE Select transcript
- ENST00000053867.8NM_002087.4
- Locus type
- gene with protein product
- Very high
- Confident
- Low
- Very low
Read GRN, and the rest of your genome, with one test.
From $449Free shipping · Results in 6–8 weeks
Get my Genome TestCurated reports relevant to this gene
Frontotemporal Dementia
- Autosomal dominant
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) comprises a group of neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by progressive changes in behavior, executive dysfunction and language impairment, as a result of degeneration of the medial prefrontal and frontoinsular cortices. Four clinical subtypes have been identified: semantic dementia, progressive non-fluent aphasia, behavioral variant FTD and right temporal lobar atrophy.
- 2 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
- Frontotemporal Dementia and/or Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisAutosomal dominant
Umbrella term for the genetic frontotemporal dementia and ALS spectrum, including forms caused by C9orf72, TBK1, VCP, SQSTM1 and other genes.
- ClinGen rates the link definitive
- 1 GenCC submitter rates it definitive or strong
Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis
- Autosomal recessive
A group of inherited progressive degenerative brain diseases characterized clinically by a decline of mental and other capacities, epilepsy, and vision loss through retinal degeneration, and histopathologically by intracellular accumulation of an autofluorescent material, ceroid lipofuscin, in the neuronal cells in the brain and in the retina.
- ClinGen rates the link definitive
- 3 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
Broader groupings
Lysosomal Storage Disease
- Lysosomal storage disease (other and unspecified types)
One of 59 genes linked to it
Covers lysosomal storage diseases without a dedicated report, such as Farber disease and other ASAH1-related disorders, prosaposin (PSAP) deficiencies, multiple sulfatase deficiency, mucopolysaccharidosis types IX and X, and Dorfman-Chanarin disease; inheritance varies by subtype, most often autosomal recessive.
- ClinGen rates the link definitive
- 3 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
Inheritance
- Autosomal dominant
- One changed copy, from either parent, is enough. A parent who has one passes it on to each child with a one-in-two chance.
- Autosomal recessive
- It takes a changed copy from each parent. With one, you are a carrier and usually unaffected; when both parents are carriers, each child has a one-in-four chance of inheriting two.
How GRN is laid out
- Coding sequence
- Untranslated region
- Intron
- Direction of transcription
- Known disease-causing sites
Exons of the gene's MANE Select transcript (release v1.5), from NCBI and EMBL-EBI, on the GRCh38 reference genome.
Chromosome bands from UCSC's GRCh38 ideogram (2022-10-29).
Nearby genes from Ensembl release 116, on GRCh38.
Exons make up 2.1 kb of the gene's 7.8 kb; 1,782 of those bases code for the protein.
How a genome test reads GRN
95
positions in GRN where ClinVar classes a change as pathogenic or likely pathogenic
None of them falls in a region short reads find hard.
A whole genome covers all 7.8 kb of GRN, introns included, not only the 2.1 kb of exons.
Genes linked to the same conditions
- CHMP2Bcharged multivesicular body protein 2BShares 2 conditions
- CLCN6Cl-/H+ antiporter 6Shares 2 conditions
- CLN3CLN3 lysosomal/endosomal transmembrane protein, batteninShares 2 conditions
- CLN5CLN5 lysosomal BMP synthaseShares 2 conditions
- CLN6CLN6 transmembrane ER proteinShares 2 conditions
- CLN8CLN8 transmembrane ER and ERGIC proteinShares 2 conditions
- CTSDcathepsin DShares 2 conditions
- CTSFcathepsin FShares 2 conditions
- DNAJC5DnaJ heat shock protein family (Hsp40) member C5Shares 2 conditions
- KCTD7potassium channel tetramerization domain containing 7Shares 2 conditions
- MFSD8major facilitator superfamily domain containing 8Shares 2 conditions
- PPT1palmitoyl-protein thioesterase 1Shares 2 conditions
Traits linked to GRN
The Human Phenotype Ontology lists these as features of the rare conditions GRN can cause. Each trait's page lists the other genes linked to it.
Abnormality of the nervous system
- Ataxia
- Difficulty finding words
- EEG with generalized polyspikes
- Epilepsy
- Aggressive behavior
- Behavioral abnormality
- Brain degeneration
- Difficulty making arithmetical calculations
Show 65 more traits
- Disinhibition
- Dysgraphia
- Echoing another person's speech
- Emotional poverty
- Frontotemporal cerebral atrophy
- Frontotemporal dementia
- Grammar-specific speech disorder
- Hyperorality
- Inappropriate behavior
- Irritability
- Lack of insight
- Loss of speech
- Memory impairment
- Mental deterioration
- Perseverative thought
- Personality changes
- Poor speech
- Reading disability
- Repetitive movements
- Restlessness
- Restrictive behavior
- Spoken word recognition deficit
- Temporal cortical atrophy
- Visual agnosia
- Word-finding difficulty
- Abnormal brain FDG positron emission tomography
- Abnormal cerebral white matter morphology
- Abnormal speech pattern
- Abulia
- Anxiety
- Apraxia
- Compulsive hoarding
- Degeneration of cerebellum
- Dementia
- Depression
- EEG with continuous slow activity
- Generalized myoclonic seizure
- Text blindness
- Abnormal gait
- Abnormal lower motor neuron morphology
- Abnormality of extrapyramidal motor function
- Astrocytosis
- Grand mal seizures
- Inability to speak
- Increased reflexes
- Lack of feeling, emotion, interest
- Loss of expressive speech
- Muscle twitch
- Parkinsonism
- Psychosis
- Senile plaques
- Upper motor neuron dysfunction
- Agitation
- Amplification of sexual behavior
- Brain neoplasm
- Decrease in size of the outer layer of the brain due to loss of brain cells
- Gliosis
- Hallucinations
- Increased appetite
- Lateral ventricle dilatation
- Lewy bodies
- Loss of brain cells
- Neurofibrillary tangles
- Progressive language deterioration
- Repetitive compulsive behavior
External links
Gene records
Transcript
Protein
Where this comes from
- HGNC: the gene's symbol, name, other symbols and location.
- MANE Select v1.5, from NCBI and EMBL-EBI: the transcript, its exons and coding sequence.
- GenCC and ClinGen, released 2026-10-16: which conditions the gene is linked to, and how strongly.
- The ACMG secondary findings list, SF v3.2.
- ClinVar and the GIAB stratifications: known disease-causing sites, and the regions short reads find hard.
- The Human Phenotype Ontology, release 2026-09-01: the traits linked to the gene. Find out more at hpo.jax.org.
- Data release 2026.10.16-c6eea6bf.
Cite this page
Dante Labs. (n.d.). GRN gene: granulin precursor. Retrieved 17 October 2026, from https://dantelabs.com/genes/grn
Dante Labs. GRN gene: granulin precursor [Internet]. [cited 17 October 2026]. Available from: https://dantelabs.com/genes/grn
One test. A lifetime of answers.
From $449Free shipping · Results in 6–8 weeks