Schizophrenia could involve 100s of genes

clipped from www.abc.net.au Schizophrenia may be caused by many different mutations in many different genes that disrupt biological pathways vital to normal brain development, say researchers The genetic fingerprint of each individual with schizophrenia is unique, say researchers Two teams of researchers publish new genetic insights into the condition in today's issue of the journal Science. Schizophrenia is a complex disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking and appears in about 1% of adults. Experts have long struggled to grasp its causes and the role of genetics and environmental factors. Prior to the publication of this study, it was assumed that genetic studies like this one would trace the origins of the illness back to a cluster of common, or high frequency, genetic mutations. The researchers found gene-disrupting DNA deletions and duplications are far more common in people with schizophrenia. The duplicated or deleted strands of DNA differ from person to person,