Mutations in autism-linked gene cause membrane mischief
Inactivating TAOK1 prompts tentacle-like protrusions to form all over a neuron’s surface, revealing the gene’s role in molding the membrane.
Charting the structure and function of the brain’s many circuits may unravel autism’s mysteries.
Inactivating TAOK1 prompts tentacle-like protrusions to form all over a neuron’s surface, revealing the gene’s role in molding the membrane.
Memories from Diering’s life trace the rising star’s scientific path from raising lizards as a child and later exploring home brewing to heading a lab that investigates memory, sleep disturbances and early development in animals with autism-linked mutations.
Conventional optogenetic manipulations to excite or inhibit neurons stop when the light switches off. A new approach makes the changes last.
Postmortem brain samples from people with one of six conditions, including autism, show distinct signatures of over- and underexpression of immune genes.
Many autism-linked genes are somehow tied to cilia, the tiny hair-like sensors that stud a cell’s surface. But the question remains whether, and how, cilia differences contribute to the condition.
Such high expression levels may account for the condition’s sex bias, a new preprint suggests — but not everyone agrees with that logic.
Having an infection during pregnancy is tied to a small increase in the chances of having an autistic child, but the connection may not be causal.
A massive update to the MSSNG dataset gives qualified researchers ready access to explore autism’s genetic architecture on a cloud-based platform.
The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.
The in-depth approach shows mutations in the autism-linked gene disrupt neuronal growth and communication, as well as mitochondrial gene expression.