MeCP2, the protein that’s missing or mutated in Rett syndrome, is crucial for remodeling neural circuits in response to vision, according to a study published in April in Neuron.

Mice lacking CNTNAP2, a gene linked to autism and language impairment, show behaviors and brain abnormalities that reflect those seen in people with disorder, according to new findings presented Thursday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego.

Good mouse models of autism, and accurate tests to assay their phenotypes, are key to both narrowing down a cause and developing effective treatments, argues expert Jacqueline Crawley.

Of 72 newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, 7 work either directly on autism or in related areas, illustrating the growing intellectual breadth and depth of the field.

Researchers can use bioinformatics tools to identify existing mutant mice that can model features of autism, according to a study published 21 March in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics.

Mutations in a protein called GRIP1, important for the function of synapses — the junctions between neurons — may contribute to social deficits in autism, researchers reported 22 March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Animal research hints that sex hormones may be responsible for the gender bias in autism. More research is needed in people to back this up, says a new review.

Mice missing the autism candidate gene MET have connections in the cortex that are twice as strong as those in controls, according to a new study.

A new mouse model for autism has obsessive behaviors and is less social and emits fewer vocalizations than controls, according to a study published 17 March in Behavioral Brain Research. These features could be be the result of much higher levels of FAM46, a gene of unknown function that may be involved in signaling between cells.

In the world of Skype, instant messages and tweets, face-to-face interaction is still the best route to discovery, according to an intriguing study published in December.