Postmortem brains from individuals with autism have abnormal levels of long non-coding RNAs, which regulate the expression of genes, according to a study published 5 September in the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience.
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.
Researchers have identified a noncoding RNA, a genetic message that is not translated into a protein, that may be involved in autism. The discovery, published 4 April in Science Translational Medicine, came from examining a region on chromosome 5 that has been previously linked to the disorder.
Researchers have mapped the levels of tiny RNA fragments that regulate gene expression in specific brain regions and subtypes of neurons. The results were published 12 January in Neuron.
Blood from individuals with autism could help researchers identify biomarkers to diagnose the disorder and learn more about related symptoms, such as gastrointestinal complaints, says molecular biologist Valerie Hu.
Deletion of 22q11, a schizophrenia-associated chromosomal region, may activate previously silent mutations, according to unpublished work presented Sunday at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
A massive association study links five new genetic regions to schizophrenia and implicates MIR137, a regulatory RNA that plays a role in neuron development, in the disorder.
The male offspring of mice subjected to stress during pregnancy can transmit the effects to their own male pups.
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.
Small fragments of RNA, called microRNAs, can fine-tune the levels of proteins at the junctions between neurons in response to cell signals, according to a study published 10 June in Molecular Cell.