Spectrum: Autism Research News

The largest analysis of human samples to date, plus work in mice and zebrafish, detail the gene KMT5B’s role in brain development.

Mice and zebrafish missing the GIGYF1 gene show social traits reminiscent of autism, though the molecular underpinnings are unclear.

Connections between 13 autism-linked proteins and their binding partners in excitatory neurons implicate a new molecular pathway.

Inactivating TAOK1 prompts tentacle-like protrusions to form all over a neuron’s surface, revealing the gene’s role in molding the membrane.

The technique could be used to identify and control cells involved in autism.

Compared with their unaffected siblings and unrelated controls, children with autism harbor more copy number variants in genes that govern the circadian cycle or are associated with insomnia.

Restoring the gene, TAOK2, in mice missing an autism-linked region of chromosome 16 normalizes neuronal movement during development.

The brains of mice carrying different mutations in the autism-linked gene TBR1 display different molecular changes yet similar structural changes, resembling those previously found in autistic people with TBR1 mutations.

A new longitudinal study paints a favorable picture of the outcomes for many autistic adults in the city of Yokohama.

The ‘projectome’ charts axonal pathways between individual cells in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region implicated in autism.