Two studies report abnormalities in the system that mediates the body’s response to stress in two mouse models of autism-related diseases: Angelman syndrome and Rett syndrome. The results were published in the April issue of Human Molecular Genetics.

Researchers are developing a resource that will allow scientists to engineer mice lacking one of 162 microRNAs — non-coding regions of the genome that regulate gene expression. The results were published 19 April in Cell Reports.

Postmortem brain tissue from people with autism shows differences in the expression of genes involved in a number of molecular pathways, including those that control cortical patterning, programmed cell death and differentiation, according to research published last month in PLoS Genetics.

FOXP2, a protein linked to language development that regulates the expression of some autism-associated genes, also dampens expression of DISC1, mutations in which have been linked to both schizophrenia and autism. The results were published 20 March in Human Molecular Genetics.

Both premature and post-term babies develop more severe symptoms of autism than those born close to their due dates, according to a study published 16 March in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Researchers have used gene expression data to create a map of the layers within the neocortex, a brain region involved in sensory perception, motor control and language, of rhesus macaques. The results were published 22 March in Neuron.

Researchers have mapped networks of genes expressed at the same time and place in the brain and shown that rare and common autism-linked mutations are likely to function in the same pathways. The results were published 8 March in PLoS Genetics.

Mice with an extra copy of MeCP2, the Rett syndrome gene, have impaired signaling between neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region that plays an important role in memory, according to a study published 29 February in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Molecules generated by an immune reaction in pregnant rats affect the brains of their offspring, leading to changes in gene expression, according to a study published 30 January in Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

The characteristics, interactions and roles of autism-associated genes in the fruit flies’ brain will help guide how we think about the same genes in humans, says Ralph Greenspan.