Gene links

10 December 2009

A common variant of a gene thought to be associated with dyslexia is also linked to poor reading ability in the general population, a study led by Dr Silvia Paracchini from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, has shown.

Other work, by researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Oxford, has identified a variant in the GRIK4 glutamate receptor gene that reduces the risk of developing bipolar disorder.

Lastly, a gene called PLCL1 is associated with variation in hip bone size - a risk factor for low-trauma hip fracture. That’s according to the results of the first genome-wide association study for this phenotype, carried out by an international team of researchers.

References

Paracchini S et al. Association of the KIAA0319 dyslexia susceptibility gene with reading skills in the general population. Am J Psychiatry 2008 [Epub ahead of print].

Pickard BS et al. A common variant in the 3'UTR of the GRIK4 glutamate receptor gene affects transcript abundance and protects against bipolar disorder. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2008;105(39):14940-5.

Liu YZ et al. Identification of PLCL1 gene for hip bone size variation in females in a genome-wide association study. PLoS ONE 2008;3(9):e3160.