Identifying MAP/microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 1 (MARK1) as a susceptibility gene for autism

kavin submitted, created time 6 months 4 days (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are common, heritable, but genetically heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions. The researchers recently defined a susceptibility locus for ASDs on chromosome 1q41-q42. They found that MARK1 was overexpressed in the prefrontal cortex (BA46) but not in cerebellar granule cells, on postmortem brain tissues from patients. Thus, MARK1 overexpression in humans may be responsible for subtle changes in dendritic functioning.

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