Autism Study Zooms in on Five-Gene Strip on Chromosome 16
Genetic analysis of one Belgian family with a history of autism has pinpointed a piece of DNA on chromosome 16, within a segment thought to be missing in about one percent of all cases of autism. The unpublished data was presented on Saturday at the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics in San Diego.Three large studies to date have linked autism to a 25 gene-deletion on the short arm of chromosome 161,2,3. In the new work, scientists have identified a boy with autism who's missing one copy of just five genes in this region. Two of the genes have biological roles in the brain that make them strong candidates for causing the disorder, the researchers say.Read more at...SFARI, November 2009.