Individuals who carry an autism-linked common variant in the MET gene have abnormally low brain connectivity, according to unpublished research presented at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

A subset of people with autism have genetic and biochemical abnormalities in a sleep-related enzyme, according to research presented Friday at a satellite conference of the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Researchers have sequenced 17 laboratory mice and mapped 56.7 million single-base DNA variants in their genomes, according to a study published 15 September in Nature. A companion paper in the same issue identifies more than 700,000 structural variants, which are insertions, deletions or other modifications of DNA.

Stem cells reprogrammed to become neurons can provide a picture of gene expression in neurons that is traditionally available only from brain tissue.

Individuals who have multiple children with autism have more severe social and communication deficits than either controls or those who have only one child with autism.

Mice lacking the autism-linked gene CNTNAP2 show many of the behaviors associated with the disorder, and exhibit brain circuit disruptions similar to those seen in people who carry mutations in the gene.

A protein that regulates the development of serotonin-producing neurons in the brain is associated with autism.

Zebrafish share genes and pathways with humans, making them a useful tool to identify the genes that malfunction in autism, says expert Hazel Sive.

By comparing the DNA of thousands of children who have developmental disabilities to that of controls, researchers have identified numerous mutations likely to contribute to disease.

A variant of neurexin 1, a gene linked to both autism and schizophrenia, is associated with less brain matter than normal in healthy individuals, according to a study published 8 June in PLoS ONE.