Pediatric researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a gene on human chromosome 6 called DCDC2, which is linked to dyslexia, a reading disability affecting millions of children and adults.The researchers also found that a genetic alteration in DCDC2 leads to a disruption in the formation of brain circuits that make it possible to read. This genetic alteration is transmitted within families. “These promising results now have the potential to lead to improved diagnostic methods to identify dyslexia and deepens understanding of how the reading process works on a molecular level,” said lead author Jeffrey R. Gruen, M.D., associate professor in the Pediatrics Department at Yale School of Medicine. The study will be published in a special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on October 28. Gruen and first author Haiying Meng will also present the findings that same day at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
