Altered Functional Connectivity in Frontal Lobe Circuits Is Associated with Variation in the Autism Risk Gene CNTNAP2

Published December 1, 2010 in Pediatrics, Scott-Van Zeeland et al

People with a common variant of the CNTNAP2 gene, a gene associated with a heightened risk of autism, ADD/ADHD and other language difficulties, have a "disconnect" between their frontal lobe and other areas of the brain important for language, according to this fMRI study. The disconnect may help explain some of the language and communication difficulties that are characteristic of autism. About one-third of all people carry the variant of the CNTNAP2 gene.

Regardless of whether the test subjects had autism or not, children with the CNTNAP2 "risk" gene showed more activity in the frontal lobe of the brain during a "language learning" task than those without the 'risk' gene.

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/2/56/56ra80.abstract

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