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Sasicha Manupipatpong

New genes linked to brain size, intelligence - 2 views

  • genes that increase your risk for a single disease that your children can inherit
  • factors that cause tissue atrophy and reduce brain size, which is a biological marker for hereditary disorders
  • schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
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  • sample large enough to reveal clear patterns in genetic variation and show how these changes physically alter the brain
  • screened the genomes of people suffering from a specific brain disease and combed their DNA to uncover a common variant.
  • gene variants that deplete brain tissue beyond normal in a healthy person
  • unearth new genetic variants in people who have bigger brains as well as differences in regions critical to learning and memory
  • smaller brains
  • variations in their DNA that help boost or lower their brains’ susceptibility to a vast range of diseases
  • consistent relationship between subtle shifts in the genetic code and diminished memory centers
  • People also can take preventive steps through exercise, diet and mental stimulation to erase the effects of a bad gene
  • Once we identify the gene, we can target it with a drug to reduce the risk of disease
  • genes that explain individual differences in intelligence
  • People whose HMGA2 gene held a letter “C” instead of “T” on that location of the gene possessed larger brains and scored more highly on standardized IQ tests
  • gene called HMGA2 affected brain size as well as a person’s intelligence
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    Specific genes have been identified which affect brain size and intelligence--a difference of one nucleotide in the DNA sequence could determine how well you score on a standardized IQ test.
Sasicha Manupipatpong

Memory in adults impacted by versions of four genes - 2 views

  • advanced understanding of the genetic components of Alzheimer's disease and of brain development.
  • understanding of the genetic components of Alzheimer's disease and of brain development
  • certain versions of four genes may speed shrinkage of a brain region involved in making new memories
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  • hippocampus, normally shrinks with age, but if the process speeds up, it could increase vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease
  • two genes associated with intracranial volume -- the space within the skull occupied by the brain when the brain is fully developed in a person's lifespan
  • gene variants identified in the first study do not cause Alzheimer's, but they may rob the hippocampus of a kind of "reserve" against the disease
  • cause cell destruction and dramatic shrinkage of this key brain site
  • almost twice the Alzheimer's risk if he or she had these versions of the gene
  • if a person with one of these variants did get Alzheimer's, the disease would attack an already compromised hippocampus and so would lead to a more severe condition at a younger age than otherwise
  • Alzheimer's disease causes much of its damage by shrinking hippocampus volume
  • loses a greater-than-average amount of volume due to the gene variants we've identified, the hippocampus is more vulnerable to Alzheimer's
  • associations impacting intracranial volume, which is an indirect measure of the size of the brain at full development.
  • brain volume and intracranial volume are both highly heritable
  • no associations for brain volume
  • one of these genes has played a unique evolutionary role in human development, and perhaps we as a species are selecting this gene as a way of providing further advances in brain development
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    The shrinking of the hippocampus, which occurs with age in normal people, was found to be accelerated by certain versions of four genes, which could increase susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease, which also affects the volume of the hippocampus.
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