Two autism-related disorders share disruptions in immune pathways despite major differences in the individual genes affected, according to a study published 24 February in Molecular Autism.

Misplaced pieces of RNA bind and disable the gene responsible for fragile X syndrome, leading to the disorder, according to a study published 28 February in Science.

A teenager with fragile X syndrome carries a rare mutation that changes a single amino acid in the FMRP protein, researchers reported 22 January in the European Journal of Human Genetics.

Long pieces of RNA that do not code for protein have diverse and important roles in the cell and may contribute to autism risk, say Nikolaos Mellios and Mriganka Sur.

Removing the fragile X syndrome gene from two brain regions in mice leads to signaling defects but does not produce behavioral deficits, according to a study published in the February issue of Autism Research.

By mapping the brains of not 1 but 27 mouse models of autism, researchers are making sense of the widely divergent structural changes seen in autism brains, they reported Wednesday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

An enzyme that may keep RNA tangle-free as it’s translated into protein is missing in some people with schizophrenia and learning difficulties. The enzyme also cooperates with the protein missing in fragile X syndrome to bind RNA, suggesting a role in protein synthesis. That’s the upshot from two studies published in the September Nature Neuroscience.

A new online database lists the likely RNA-binding sites of more than 8,000 proteins from 289 species. Researchers debuted the resource in the 11 July issue of Nature.

A mild form of the fragile X mutation produces an unusual protein that may trigger fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, a neurodegenerative disorder, according to a study published 8 May in Neuron.

Quick tests that detect the protein missing in fragile X syndrome can be used to screen newborns for the disorder and find treatments, according to two studies published in the past two months.