Clues to treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder found in recently evolved region of the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�

jg533 — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 01:00:00 +0000

They say these new proteins can be used as biological indicators to distinguish between the two conditions, and to identify patients more prone to psychosis or suicide.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are debilitating mental disorders that are hard to diagnose and treat. Despite being amongst the most heritable mental health disorders, very few clues to their cause have been found in the sections of our DNA known as genes.

探花直播scientists think that hotspots in the 鈥榙ark genome鈥� associated with the disorders may have evolved because they have beneficial functions in human development, but their disruption by environmental factors leads to susceptibility to, or development of, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

探花直播results are published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

鈥淏y scanning through the entire genome we鈥檝e found regions, not classed as genes in the traditional sense, which create proteins that appear to be associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,鈥� said Dr Sudhakaran Prabakaran, who was based in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Genetics when he conducted the research, and is senior author of the report.

He added: 鈥淭his opens up huge potential for new druggable targets. It鈥檚 really exciting because nobody has ever looked beyond the genes for clues to understanding and treating these conditions before.鈥澛�

探花直播researchers think that these genomic components of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are specific to humans - the newly discovered regions are not found in the genomes of other vertebrates. It is likely that the regions evolved quickly in humans as our cognitive abilities developed, but they are easily disrupted - resulting in the two conditions.

鈥� 探花直播traditional definition of a gene is too conservative, and it has diverted scientists away from exploring the function of the rest of the genome,鈥� said Chaitanya Erady, a researcher in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Genetics and first author of the study. 聽

She added: 鈥淲hen we look outside the regions of DNA classed as genes, we see that the entire human genome has the ability to make proteins, not just the genes. We鈥檝e found new proteins that are involved in biological processes and are dysfunctional in disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.鈥澛�

探花直播majority of currently available drugs are designed to target proteins coded by genes. 探花直播new finding helps to explain why schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are heritable conditions, and could provide new targets for future treatments.

Schizophrenia is a severe, long-term mental health condition that may result in hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and behaviour, while bipolar disorder causes extreme mood swings ranging from mania to depression. 探花直播symptoms sometimes make the two disorders difficult to tell apart.

Prabakaran left his 探花直播 position earlier this year to create the company NonExomics, in order to commercialise this and other discoveries. Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the 探花直播 of Cambridge, has assisted NonExomics by licensing the intellectual property. Prabakaran has raised seed funding to develop new therapeutics that will target the proteins implicated in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and other diseases.聽

His team has now discovered 248,000 regions of DNA outside of the regions conventionally defined as genes, which code for new proteins that are disrupted in disease.

Reference
Erady, C et al: 鈥�Novel open reading frames in human accelerated regions and transposable elements reveal new leads to understand schizophrenia and bipolar disorder鈥�, Molecular Psychiatry, December 2021. DOI 10.1038/s41380-021-01405-6

聽

Scientists investigating the DNA outside our genes - the 鈥榙ark genome鈥� - have discovered recently evolved regions that code for proteins associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

This opens up huge potential for new druggable targets. It鈥檚 really exciting because nobody has ever looked beyond the genes for clues to understanding and treating these conditions before.

Sudhakaran Prabakaran

Brano on Unsplash

DNA

At a glance

聽

Genes code for proteins - the building blocks of life. 探花直播current definition of a gene only accounts for around 1.5% of our entire DNA
Very little is known about the function of regions of DNA outside our genes - termed the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�
A Cambridge-led team recently discovered that proteins are produced by over 248,000 regions of the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�, and are disrupted in multiple diseases
Now they have discovered new proteins arising from recently evolved regions of the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�, which could be targeted in the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

聽

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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探花直播 of Cambridge - Sudhakaran Prabakaran

Clues to treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder found in recently evolved region of the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�

聽

Genes code for proteins - the building blocks of life. 探花直播current definition of a gene only accounts for around 1.5% of our entire DNA

Very little is known about the function of regions of DNA outside our genes - termed the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�

A Cambridge-led team recently discovered that proteins are produced by over 248,000 regions of the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�, and are disrupted in multiple diseases

Now they have discovered new proteins arising from recently evolved regions of the 鈥榙ark genome鈥�, which could be targeted in the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder