Autism, epilepsy and intellectual disability share certain risk genes, and mutations in these genes recur in multiple individuals. The preliminary results were presented Friday at the American Society of Human Genetics Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Researchers have found the first direct evidence that a hopscotching gene destabilizes the 15q13.3 chromosomal region, and may be to blame for the region’s role in autism and other brain disorders. They presented the unpublished results Wednesday at the American Society of Human Genetics Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.