[Source: Spectrum | Nicholette Zeliadt, March 29, 2018]
Deleting one copy of a gene called MVP, or major vault protein, impairs the brain’s ability to adapt to changes in the environment. MVP is located within the chromosomal region 16p11.2, which is strongly linked to autism.
The unpublished findings, presented yesterday at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, may explain why people with autism have trouble adjusting to new experiences.
The 16p11.2 region spans 29 genes. One copy of this segment is missing in about 1 percent of people with autism. Loss of a chunk of this region that includes just five genes is sufficient to cause the condition.
To understand how these five genes contribute to the condition, researchers led by Mriganka Sur at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are removing each gene from mice one at a time.
In the new study, Sur’s team focused on MVP, which encodes a protein that transports proteins, drugs and other molecules into the nucleus of a cell. However, the gene’s role in brain function is poorly understood, says Jacque Pak Kan Ip, a postdoctoral fellow in Sur’s lab who presented the findings.