The genes, neural circuits behind autism's impaired sociability
Anderson and colleagues focused on the gene UBE3A, multiple copies of which causes a form of autism in humans (called isodicentric chromosome 15q).Conversely, the lack of this same gene in humans leads to a developmental disorder called Angelman's syndrome, characterized by increased sociability. In previous work, Anderson's team demonstrated that mice engineered with extra copies of the UBE3A gene show impaired sociability, as well as heightened repetitive self-grooming and reduced vocalizations with other mice. "In this study, we wanted to determine where in the brain this social behavior deficit arises and where and how increases of the UBE3A gene repress it," said Anderson, who is also an Associate Professor in the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and Director of Autism BrainNET Boston Node. "We had tools in hand that we built ourselves. We not only introduced the gene into specific brain regions of the mouse, but we could also direct it ...