Deep Sequencing Questions Role of Imprinted Genes in Autism

The mouse brain has more than 1,300 regions for which the copy from one parent is expressed more often than the one from the other parent, according to two studies published today in Science. These so-called imprinted genes have been proposed to cause some cases of autism, but the researchers say their findings do not support that theory.The identified regions include 824 genes, of which 604 have known human counterparts. Statistical models predicted the existence of only a few hundred imprinted genes. Scientists had identified fewer than 100, and tied them to a number of conditions ranging from embryonic growth to autism and schizophrenia.Using sophisticated sequencing methods, the new work gives the first high-resolution picture of imprinting across the genome.Experts applaud the studies for their thoroughness, but caution that imprinting patterns in humans might be different than in mice."[The new work] is a really important milestone for saying we need to do this for humans," says Bernie Crespi, professor of evolutionary biology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, who was not involved in the new studies. "If we do that, we might find a good chunk of the missing heritability of any number of psychiatric conditions."Read more at...SFARI, July 2010.