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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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