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Communication patterns in brain. In the top row, the brains of children carrying the risk version of CNTNAP2 show over-connectivity in the frontal lobe, with more connections to the right side of the brain (at left), compared with the brains (bottom row) of children whose DNA carries the non-risk version of the gene. (Credit: Ashley Scott-Van Zeeland)
"This is a key piece of the puzzle we've been searching for," said co-principal investigator Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a professor of neurology and psychiatry who holds UCLA's Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Human Genetics. "Now we can begin to unravel the mystery of how genes rearrange the brain's circuitry not only in autism, but in many related neurological disorders."
The UCLA team scrutinized the differences in brain connectivity and function that result from two forms of the CNTNAP2 gene, one of which boosts risk for autism.
autism, but how do these subtle changes alter the brain, and ultimately, behavior?
Using a blend of brain imaging and genetic detective work, scientists at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior are the first to illustrate how genetic variants rewire the brain. Published in the Nov. 3 online edition of Science Translational Medicine, their discovery offers the crucial missing physical evidence that links altered genes to modified brain function and learning.
Communication patterns in brain. In the top row, the brains of children carrying the risk version of CNTNAP2 show over-connectivity in the frontal lobe, with more connections to the right side of the brain (at left), compared with the brains (bottom row) of children whose DNA carries the non-risk version of the gene. (Credit: Ashley Scott-Van Zeeland)
"This is a key piece of the puzzle we've been searching for," said co-principal investigator Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a professor of neurology and psychiatry who holds UCLA's Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Human Genetics. "Now we can begin to unravel the mystery of how genes rearrange the brain's circuitry not only in autism, but in many related neurological disorders."
The UCLA team scrutinized the differences in brain connectivity and function that result from two forms of the CNTNAP2 gene, one of which boosts risk for autism.