Schizophrenia, a complex mental health disorder that affects about 24 million people in the world, has up to 80% heritability. Although genetic links that play a role in an individual’s susceptibility toward the condition have been reported previously, the precise etiology remains unclear. A recent study1 has reported 10 genes with rare mutations increasing a person's chance of developing schizophrenia by 10 to 50%.
In yet another meta analysis2, this time from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 120 genes associated with schizophrenia risk have been identified, that are expressed in neurons. In addition, common variant associations have also been identified in 287 distinct genomic loci. It has been discovered that two rare gene variants which significantly increase schizophrenia risk are also linked to autism and other…
