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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: 16p11.2

June 2018
eight brains with various sections highlighted

Chromosome 16 deletion miswires brain in people, mice

by  /  12 June 2018

Mice and people missing a copy of a chromosomal region called 16p11.2 show similar patterns of weak brain connections.

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Chromosome 16’s role in brain, behavior varies by sex

by  /  1 June 2018

Female mice may compensate for the loss of a piece of chromosome 16 better than male mice do.

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May 2018
Four brains with different areas colored in red, orange, yellow and black.

Brain size varies predictably with loss, gain of DNA segment

by  /  24 May 2018

Missing one copy of a stretch of chromosome 16 leads to an enlarged brain; an extra copy of the region has the opposite effect.

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April 2018
A bundle of nerves connecting the brain’s hemispheres is thinner in mice missing TAOK2 (right) than in controls (left).

Gene in autism risk region plays key role in brain development

by  /  4 April 2018

Mice missing TAOK2, a gene in a segment of chromosome 16 linked to autism, have big brains, immature neuronal junctions and asocial behavior.

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March 2018
closeup of a mouse eye

Gene on chromosome 16 may be valuable player in autism

by  /  29 March 2018

Deleting one copy of a gene called MVP impairs the brain's ability to adapt to changes in the environment.

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January 2018
Neurons missing a part of chromosome 16 (left) are larger and have more branches than control neurons (middle); neurons with duplications of the region are small and sport short dendrites (right).

Lab-grown neurons showcase effects of autism mutations

by  /  15 January 2018

Neurons derived from people with mutations linked to autism display diverse abnormalities that may help explain the origins of these individuals’ features.

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November 2017
Mice lacking KCTD13 have shorter and fewer neuronal branches (middle and right) compared with controls (left).

Mouse study questions autism gene’s link to head size

by  /  30 November 2017

Deleting KCTD13, a gene in the autism risk region 16p11.2, has little effect on brain or head size in mice — contradicting results from a 2012 zebrafish study.

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black mice exiting hole

Learning shows sex bias in mice with mutation tied to autism

by  /  23 November 2017

Male mice with a genetic variant tied to autism may have learning difficulties that females with the variant do not.

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Stem cells derived from an individual’s skin can become neurons with her unique genetic makeup.

Brain cells spun from skin point to subtypes of autism

by  /  12 November 2017

Neurons derived from people with a syndromic form of autism look and behave differently than do those from people with classic autism.

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Two mice sniffing one another.

Drug boosts social behavior in mice with deletion tied to autism

by  /  1 November 2017

A drug that has shown promise for treating fragile X syndrome may ease features of another condition associated with autism.

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