Scottish scientists say they've identified two genes that contribute to the development of schizophrenia.
David Porteous and his team at the Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh discovered the genes after 30 years of studying a Scottish family that has been plagued by schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. The results of their study were published this month in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
The researchers found that most of the family members shared two damaged genes located on the first chromosome of a human being's 23 pairs.
Porteous named the genes "Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia" 1 and 2, after finding that half of the family with the damaged genes developed schizophrenia, a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and an altered emotional and behavioral state.
Porteous' findings come just weeks after a researcher at the University of Toronto announced she had localized the "neighborhood" that one of the genes for the disease lives in.
While this latest discovery is considered promising, the research on the genetics of schizophrenia is far from over, and the hunt for other culpable genes is still on.
"What we don't know at the moment is whether we are looking for five or six genes, or 50 or 60," Porteous said.
Schizophrenia generally manifests itself during late adolescence or early adulthood. Experts say the disease afflicts about 1 percent of the population in the United States and Canada, and is the second-most common mental illness after depression.
