Science News about Genetics

Five Major Mental Disorders Share Genetic Roots

Science Update • March 01, 2013

Five major mental disorders share some of the same genetic risk factors, the largest genome-wide study of its kind has found.

Differences in On/Off Switches Help Explain How the Human Brain Evolved

Science Update • February 19, 2013

A recent NIMH-funded study identified small regions of the genome that are uniquely regulated in human neurons, but not in primate neurons. The findings provide insight into human intellectual function and risk for human diseases, including autism and Alzheimer’s disease.

Different Genes, Same Risk Pathway in Schizophrenia

Science Update • January 02, 2013

Work by NIMH-supported scientists illustrates the variability of the genes and biology underlying illnesses like schizophrenia.

Gene Variants Implicated in Extreme Weight Gain Associated with Antipsychotics

Science Update • October 12, 2012

A small study suggests that people with certain genetic variants may be more susceptible to extreme weight gain if they take certain antipsychotic medications.

NIH Researchers Use Brain Imaging to Understand Genetic Link between Parkinson's and a Rare DiseaseExternal Link: Please review our disclaimer.

Science Update • July 30, 2012

A rare metabolic disorder is helping researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) uncover new clues about the biology underlying Parkinson’s disease.

Spontaneous Gene Glitches Linked to Autism Risk with Older Dads

Press Release • April 04, 2012

A trio of new studies have found that sequence changes in parts of genes that code for proteins play a significant role in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

Friendly-to-a-Fault, Yet Tense: Personality Traits Traced in Brain

Press Release • March 19, 2012

NIH scientists have used three different types of brain imaging to pinpoint a circuit hub buried deep in the front center of the brain in people with Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by overly gregarious yet anxious behavior.

Gene Regulator in Brain’s Executive Hub Tracked Across Lifespan – NIH study

Press Release • February 02, 2012

For the first time, scientists have tracked the activity, across the lifespan, of an environmentally responsive regulatory mechanism that turns genes on and off in the brain’s executive hub. Among key findings of the study by National Institutes of Health scientists: genes implicated in schizophrenia and autism turn out to be members of a select club of genes in which regulatory activity peaks during an environmentally-sensitive critical period in development.

Turning on Dormant Gene May Hold Key for Correcting a Neurodevelopmental Defect

Science Update • January 05, 2012

Scientists working in cell culture and in mice have been able to correct the loss of gene activity underlying a rare but severe developmental disorder by turning on a gene that is normally silenced in brain cells.

Suspect Gene Variants Boost PTSD Risk after Mass Shooting

Science Update • December 01, 2011

College students exposed to a mass shooting were 20-30 percent more likely to later develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms if they harbored a risk version of a gene, NIMH-funded researchers have discovered.

Our Brains Are Made of the Same Stuff, Despite DNA Differences

Press Release • October 26, 2011

Despite vast differences in the genetic code across individuals and ethnicities, the human brain shows a “consistent molecular architecture.” The finding is from a pair of studies that have created databases revealing when and where genes turn on and off in multiple brain regions through development.

Autism Blurs Distinctions Between Brain Regions

Press Release • June 02, 2011

Autism blurs the molecular differences that normally distinguish different brain regions, a new study suggests. Among more than 500 genes that are normally expressed at significantly different levels in the front versus the lower middle part of the brain’s outer mantle, or cortex, only 8 showed such differences in brains of people with autism, say researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Rare Gene Glitch May Hold Clues for Schizophrenia – NIH-funded Study

Press Release • February 23, 2011

Scientists are eyeing a rare genetic glitch for clues to improved treatments for some people with schizophrenia – even though they found the mutation in only one third of 1 percent of patients.

Transgenic Mouse Offers a Window on Gene/Environment Interplay: Prenatal Infection Alters Behavior in Genetically Vulnerable

Science Update • December 15, 2010

Experiments in transgenic mice have provided a novel glimpse of how a prenatal infection could interact with a specific gene variant to cause behavioral and neurologic changes in adults that mirror those seen in major psychiatric disease.

NIH launches Genotype-Tissue Expression Project

Press Release • October 08, 2010

The National Institutes of Health today announced awards to support an initiative to understand how genetic variation may control gene activity and its relationship to disease. Launched as a pilot phase, the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project will create a resource researchers can use to study inherited susceptibility to illness and will establish a tissue bank for future biological studies.

Imaging Reveals Abnormal Brain Growth in Toddlers with Fragile X

Science Update • June 08, 2010

Differences in brain growth patterns between preschool-aged boys with Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, and their healthy peers suggest that the disorder may affect brain development both before and after birth, according to NIMH-funded researchers. In addition, their findings indicate ages 1–5 are an important window for better understanding the effects of FXS on brain development. The study was published May 18, 2010, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Impaired Brain Connections Traced to Schizophrenia Mutation

Press Release • March 31, 2010

The strongest known recurrent genetic cause of schizophrenia impairs communications between the brain’s decision-making and memory hubs, resulting in working memory deficits, according to a study in mice.

Gene’s Impact on Forgetting a Fear-Based Memory Same in Humans and Mice

Science Update • March 05, 2010

Both humans and mice carrying a variant of a gene that plays a role in memory were slow to learn to forget a fear-based memory. The parallels in gene effects observed in mice and humans in this work means that investigation using the mouse model can provide insights into effects in humans; results may inform treatment approaches to anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Genes and Circuitry, Not Just Clinical Observation, to Guide Classification for Research

Science Update • January 28, 2010

NIMH is launching a long-term project aimed at ultimately improving treatment and prevention by studying classification of mental illness, based on genetics and neuroscience in addition to clinical observation. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project is not intended to replace psychiatry’s existing diagnostic system for practitioners and will proceed in an independent direction, said Bruce Cuthbert, Ph.D., Director of the NIMH Division of Adult Translational Research, who is directing the effort. By taking a fresh look – without preconceived categories – the project aims to improve the validity of classification for researchers.

Same Genes Suspected in Both Depression and Bipolar Illness

Science Update • January 28, 2010

Researchers, for the first time, have pinpointed a genetic hotspot that confers risk for both bipolar disorder and depression. People with either of these mood disorders were significantly more likely to have risk versions of genes at this site than healthy controls. One of the genes, which codes for part of a cell’s machinery that tells genes when to turn on and off, was also found to be over-expressed in the executive hub of bipolar patients’ brains, making it a prime suspect. The results add to mounting evidence that major mental disorders overlap at the molecular level.

Telephone-based Depression Treatment Program Effective While Cost Efficient

Science Update • October 16, 2009

Patients who receive structured, telephone-based support to manage their depression gain significant benefits with only moderate increases in health care costs compared to those who receive usual care, according to an NIMH-funded analysis published in the October 2009 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Atlas Will Reveal When and Where Genes Turn On in the Brain

Science Update • October 06, 2009

When and where in the brain a gene turns on holds clues to its possible role in disease. For example, a recent study found that forms of a gene associated with schizophrenia are over-expressed in the fetal brain, adding to evidence implicating this critical developmental period.

Schizophrenia Linked to Over-expression of Gene in Fetal Brain

Science Update • August 28, 2009

A gene called DISC1, (for “disrupted in schizophrenia”) has been a leading contender among possible genetic causes since it was implicated in schizophrenia in a large Scottish clan two decades ago. The DISC1 gene codes for a protein important for brain development, as well as for mood and memory – functions that are disturbed in schizophrenia. However, until now there have been few clues as to how DISC1 might increase risk for the chronic mental disorder.

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Share Genetic Roots

Press Release • July 01, 2009

A trio of genome-wide studies – collectively the largest to date – has pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in part, to the same chromosomal neighborhoods.

Much Touted “Depression Risk Gene” May Not Add to Risk After All

Press Release • June 16, 2009

Stressful life events are strongly associated with a person’s risk for major depression, but a certain gene variation long thought to increase risk in conjunction with stressful life events actually may have no effect, according to researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study, published in the June 17, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, challenges a widely accepted approach to studying risk factors for depression.

Gene On/Off Instructions Inherited Via Shadowy Mechanism

Science Update • April 06, 2009

The first large-scale study of its kind in twins has turned up evidence that we inherit instructions for the turning on and off of genes via mechanisms beyond the traditional sequence differences in the genetic code. Moreover, the results suggest that early random errors in replicating these instructions may trump environmental influences in shaping us.

Anxious and Depressed Teens and Adults: Same Version of Mood Gene, Different Brain Reactions

Science Update • December 02, 2008

An NIMH study using brain imaging shows that some anxious and depressed adolescents react differently from adult patients when looking at frightening faces.

Genomic Dragnet Finds Clues to Likely Suspects in Alzheimer’s

Science Update • November 06, 2008

In the first study of its kind, researchers have pinpointed four genes likely associated with risk for the most common, late-onset form of Alzheimer’s disease, including a very strong candidate on chromosome 14.

Genes That Turn On Together Hold Secrets of Brain’s Molecular Instructions

Science Update • November 05, 2008

For the first time, scientists have mapped groups of genes that turn on together in the human brain, revealing a kind of Rosetta Stone of its molecular organization.

Viral Genetic Underpinnings of HIV-associated Dementia Explored

Science Update • October 09, 2008

A new study identifies differences between genetic variants of HIV that are associated with HIV-associated dementia (HAD).