A piece of the puzzle: Eight autism-related mutations in one gene
By studying data from thousands of genomes of people with autism-spectrum disorders, an interdisciplinary team of USC researchers homed in on a gene called TRIO. The TRIO gene produces a protein that influences the development and strength -- or weakness -- of the connections between brain cells. The scientists found eight autism-associated mutations clustered within a small region of the Trio protein. Changes in the protein's function early in a child's brain development can, like a wayward driver on a freeway, set off a chain reaction that hampers connections between brain cells and, consequently, hinder the brain's ability to store and process information. "I have never seen this number of autism-related mutations in such a small area," said Bruce Herring, the study's corresponding author and a neurobiologist at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. "The likelihood that this number of mutations occurs by chance is 1 in 1.8 tril...