Long genes, and their relationship to a class of enzymes that regulate gene expression, raise intriguing questions about the risk for neuropsychiatric disorders.
 

The most popular drugs prescribed for autism in some countries often have serious side effects or have not been vetted in robust clinical trials, finds a study published 5 September in Psychopharmacology.

As much as 30 percent of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder may also have autism, suggests a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Enzymes called topoisomerases are crucial for the expression of extremely long genes, including many that have been linked to autism, according to a study published 5 September in Nature. The researchers also discovered that autism genes are, on average, significantly longer than others.

In people with autism, the ability to speak may be closely tied to oral motor skills such as lip or jaw movement, according to a study published 1 July in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.

People with anorexia or bulimia have more traits of autism than do those in the general population, according to a study published 31 July in Molecular Autism.

Watch the complete replay of Benjamin Philpot discussing the possibility of pharmacologically turning on a silent gene to treat Angelman syndrome. Submit follow-up questions.

Depleting excess levels of a molecule involved in neuronal signaling prevents the cognitive and motor symptoms of Angelman syndrome in a mouse model of the disorder, according to a report published 15 August in Cell Reports.
 

Like any high school or college student, those with autism who do internships and receive career advice also improve their chances of landing a job, reports a study published 27 July in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Thanks to a suite of new tools based on synthetic biology, it’s now possible to quickly and cheaply insert autism-linked mutations into living cells in the lab.