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Gene

WRN

WRN RecQ like helicase

Summary

Cytogenetic location
8p12
Coordinates
Chromosome 8: 31,033,810–31,176,138 (GRCh38)
Exons
35 exons across 142.3 kb
Protein
1,432 amino acids
Inheritance
Autosomal recessive
Also known as
RECQL2, RECQ3
MANE Select transcript
ENST00000298139.7NM_000553.6
Locus type
gene with protein product
  • Very high
  • Confident
  • Low
  • Very low

Reference genomeGRCh38

Positions on gene and variant pages follow this choice, in this browser.

Curated report relevant to this gene

  • Werner Syndrome

    • Autosomal recessive

      An adult-onset progeroid syndrome caused by biallelic variants in WRN, with early cataracts, skin changes, diabetes, premature atherosclerosis and increased risk of sarcoma, melanoma and thyroid cancer.

      • ClinGen rates the link definitive
      • 5 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
      What knowing changes

      Diagnosis supports surveillance for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Inheritance

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 WRN is laid out

  • Coding sequence
  • Untranslated region
  • Intron
  • Direction of transcription
  • Known disease-causing sites
  • Stretches short reads find hard
Chromosome 8, with a bracket where WRN sits. WRN and 7 genes near it on chromosome 8, from 30,604,974 to 31,604,973.Chromosome 88p12p23.3p23.2p23.1p22p21.3p21.2p21.1p12p11.23p11.22p11.21p11.1q11.1q11.21q11.22q11.23q12.1q12.2q12.3q13.1q13.2q13.3q21.11q21.12q21.13q21.2q21.3q22.1q22.2q22.3q23.1q23.2q23.3q24.11q24.12q24.13q24.21q24.22q24.23q24.330.8 Mb31 Mb31.2 Mb31.4 Mb31.6 MbGTF2E2: 30,578,318–30,660,846, reverse strandGTF2E2SMIM18: 30,638,559–30,647,260, forward strandSMIM18GSR: 30,678,061–30,727,977, reverse strandGSRUBXN8: 30,729,131–30,767,009, forward strandUBXN8PPP2CB: 30,774,096–30,814,314, reverse strandPPP2CBTEX15: 30,831,425–30,913,024, reverse strandTEX15PURG: 30,994,702–31,033,715, reverse strandPURGWRN: 31,033,810–31,176,138, forward strandWRNDiagram of WRN: 35 exons on the forward strand of chromosome 8Exon 2: 8 known disease-causing sitesExon 3: 4 known disease-causing sitesExon 4: 12 known disease-causing sitesExon 5: 8 known disease-causing sitesExon 6: 13 known disease-causing sitesExon 7: 4 known disease-causing sitesExon 8: 6 known disease-causing sitesExon 9: 40 known disease-causing sitesExon 10: 6 known disease-causing sitesExon 11: 5 known disease-causing sitesExon 12: 9 known disease-causing sitesExon 13: 5 known disease-causing sitesExon 14: 9 known disease-causing sitesExon 15: 5 known disease-causing sitesExon 16: 4 known disease-causing sitesExon 17: 3 known disease-causing sitesExon 18: 10 known disease-causing sitesExon 19: 19 known disease-causing sitesExon 20: 12 known disease-causing sitesExon 21: 11 known disease-causing sitesExon 22: 3 known disease-causing sitesExon 23: 4 known disease-causing sitesExon 24: 9 known disease-causing sitesExon 25: 15 known disease-causing sitesExon 26: 4 known disease-causing sitesExon 27: 6 known disease-causing sitesExon 28: 6 known disease-causing sitesExon 29: 8 known disease-causing sitesExon 30: 5 known disease-causing sitesExon 31: 7 known disease-causing sitesExon 32: 9 known disease-causing sitesExon 33: 9 known disease-causing sitesExon 34: 6 known disease-causing sitesExon 1: 31,033,810–31,033,973, 164 basesExon 2: 31,058,372–31,058,543, 172 basesExon 3: 31,059,153–31,059,265, 113 basesExon 4: 31,064,289–31,064,434, 146 basesExon 5: 31,064,915–31,065,063, 149 basesExon 6: 31,067,033–31,067,182, 150 basesExon 7: 31,068,258–31,068,327, 70 basesExon 8: 31,076,173–31,076,287, 115 basesExon 9: 31,080,867–31,081,296, 430 basesExon 10: 31,083,699–31,083,779, 81 basesExon 11: 31,085,166–31,085,246, 81 basesExon 12: 31,087,776–31,087,920, 145 basesExon 13: 31,088,890–31,088,965, 76 basesExon 14: 31,090,465–31,090,532, 68 basesExon 15: 31,090,834–31,090,942, 109 basesExon 16: 31,091,830–31,091,898, 69 basesExon 17: 31,096,768–31,096,850, 83 basesExon 18: 31,100,849–31,100,955, 107 basesExon 19: 31,111,615–31,111,799, 185 basesExon 20: 31,116,354–31,116,528, 175 basesExon 21: 31,120,243–31,120,424, 182 basesExon 22: 31,124,522–31,124,623, 102 basesExon 23: 31,124,908–31,125,000, 93 basesExon 24: 31,132,365–31,132,506, 142 basesExon 25: 31,141,430–31,141,600, 171 basesExon 26: 31,141,681–31,141,775, 95 basesExon 27: 31,142,626–31,142,701, 76 basesExon 28: 31,143,550–31,143,623, 74 basesExon 29: 31,147,053–31,147,128, 76 basesExon 30: 31,147,364–31,147,476, 113 basesExon 31: 31,150,341–31,150,455, 115 basesExon 32: 31,154,624–31,154,755, 132 basesExon 33: 31,157,368–31,157,530, 163 basesExon 34: 31,167,022–31,167,230, 209 basesExon 35: 31,172,995–31,176,138, 3,144 bases151015202530355′3′

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 7.6 kb of the gene's 142.3 kb; 4,299 of those bases code for the protein.

How a genome test reads WRN

371

positions in WRN where ClinVar classes a change as pathogenic or likely pathogenic

16 of them (4.3%) fall in regions short reads find hard.

  • Low mappability (16 sites)Regions where 100 bp or 250 bp reads cannot be placed uniquely.
  • Segmental duplications (16 sites)Copies of at least 1 kb sharing at least 90% identity with another part of the genome (paralogues, pseudogenes); reads may align to the wrong copy.

A whole genome covers all 142.3 kb of WRN, introns included, not only the 7.6 kb of exons.

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

APA

Dante Labs. (n.d.). WRN gene: WRN RecQ like helicase. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://dantelabs.com/genes/wrn

Vancouver

Dante Labs. WRN gene: WRN RecQ like helicase [Internet]. [cited 16 October 2026]. Available from: https://dantelabs.com/genes/wrn

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