Skip to main content

Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: gene expression

October 2013
An illustration of a brain with the temporal lobe highlighted

Gene screen reveals altered chemical tags in autism brains

by  /  14 October 2013

One of the largest genome-wide screens of methyl tags in postmortem brains has found that people with autism have three unique regions of methylation — chemical modifications that affect gene expression. The results were reported 3 September in Molecular Psychiatry.

Comments
September 2013

Gene therapy reverses Rett syndrome symptoms in mice

by  /  30 September 2013

A virus that ferries healthy copies of the Rett syndrome gene across the blood-brain barrier can reverse symptoms in female mice that model the disorder, according to a report published 21 August in the Journal of Neuroscience. The approach is the closest yet to simulating a workable treatment for the autism-related disorder.

Comments

In autism-related disorders, RNA turns out to be key

by  /  26 September 2013

An enzyme that may keep RNA tangle-free as it’s translated into protein is missing in some people with schizophrenia and learning difficulties. The enzyme also cooperates with the protein missing in fragile X syndrome to bind RNA, suggesting a role in protein synthesis. That’s the upshot from two studies published in the September Nature Neuroscience.

Comments

New method uses light to toggle gene expression

by  /  25 September 2013

Researchers have modified optogenetics — a technique that activates neurons in mouse brains with beams of light — to toggle a gene on or off. They reported the advance 22 August in Nature.

Comments

Molecular mechanisms: Study shows Angelman drug’s actions

by  /  24 September 2013

Researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which a candidate drug for Angelman syndrome activates UBE3A, the gene that is silenced in the syndrome, according to a study published 20 August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Comments

Duplication of chromosome 15 region mirrors autism

by  /  23 September 2013

People with autism and those with duplications of the 15q11-13 chromosomal region share a distinctive pattern of gene expression in the brain, according to unpublished research presented Friday at the Dup15q Alliance Scientific Meeting in Sacramento, California.

Comments

What does the existence of long genes tell us?

by  /  23 September 2013

Long genes, and their relationship to a class of enzymes that regulate gene expression, raise intriguing questions about the risk for neuropsychiatric disorders.
 

Comments

Brain activity of microRNAs gives clues about autism

by  /  19 September 2013

Small regulatory RNA molecules are most active between infancy and early childhood in a region of the brain known for complex thinking and behavior, reports a new study published 6 August in Molecular Psychiatry. The finding, based on an analysis of postmortem brains, may provide insight into what goes wrong in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.

Comments
Illustration of a blue and green DNA strand against a white background.

Autism genes are surprisingly large, study finds

by  /  16 September 2013

Enzymes called topoisomerases are crucial for the expression of extremely long genes, including many that have been linked to autism, according to a study published 5 September in Nature. The researchers also discovered that autism genes are, on average, significantly longer than others.

Comments

Technique probes gene expression in intact tissue

by  /  11 September 2013

A new method allows researchers to highlight mutations in individual cells without first isolating the cells from the surrounding tissue, according to a study in the August Nature Methods.

Comments