CNTNAP2 Variants Alter Brain Connectivity

Adolescents who carry certain common variants in a gene associated with autism — whether they have the disorder or not — show abnormal connectivity between brain regions, according to unpublished data presented today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.The findings bolster the controversial 'connectivity hypothesis' of autism, which holds that the disorder stems from too many connections in local areas of the frontal cortex, and under-connectivity between far-reaching regions.The study, which looks at variants of the contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CNTNAP2, dubbed 'cat nap') gene, is one of the first to correlate brain activity and genetic risk factors.Read more at...SFARI, October 2009.