This locus was first linked to Waardenburg syndrome in 1994, when the study that first identified mutations in MITF in patients with Waardenburg syndrome type 2 also found that some patients did not have any mutations in this region.[1][2] A second 1994 study found a link to chromosome 1 in the locus 1p21–p13.3. This became known as type 2B of the condition, however it has not been documented since, and the gene responsible remains unknown.[1][3]