Illustration by Laurene Boglio
Three new autism research threads drew a slew of congratulatory tweets this week. Let’s dive in!
A 16-part thread, by Alessandro Gozzi, a senior scientist at the Italian Institute of Technology in Rovereto, Italy, describes a mechanism behind the sex bias in autism, featured in a preprint his team published on bioRxiv this this month. “Here we studied a well-known autism risk gene called Ube3A“, he tweeted to start the thread.
Ub3A is an interesting gene because of its dual function.
Specifically, Ube3A is 1⃣ a ubiquitin protein ligase, i.e. it controls protein degradation and recycling.
But Ube3A 2⃣ also controls gene transcription. This second role has been largely understudied…
3/n pic.twitter.com/ijE7x8TFB0
— Alessandro Gozzi (@Gozzi_Ale) November 14, 2022
“Our data suggests that Ube3a Overdose may contribute to sex bias in neurodevelopmental conditions via influence on sex differential mechanisms,” Gozzi concluded.
A big thank you to @HereCaterina @MarcoPagani1985 @e_deguz for leading the project @YuriBozzi @LabPasqualetti and the many co-authors without twitter for their help and comments. And very grateful to @SFARIorg @ERC_Research @IITalk to fund this research
16/16
— Alessandro Gozzi (@Gozzi_Ale) November 14, 2022
Thomas Nickl-Jockschat, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa at Iowa City, called the results exciting and thanked Gozzi “for letting me be a part of this collaboration.”
New exciting results! Thank you for letting me be part of this collaboration, @Gozzi_Ale!! https://t.co/DRzN1BXMYY
— Thomas Nickl-Jockschat (@jockschat) November 23, 2022
“Great yarn and fantastic jobtweeted Veera Rajagopal, a scientist at biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, New York.
Great yarn and fantastic work! https://t.co/MOGfTzaRv6
— Veera M. Rajagopal (@doctorveera) November 15, 2022
Another multi-part thread began with a question: “Are all synapses created equalasked Oscar Marín, professor of neuroscience at the Center for Developmental Neurobiology at Kings College London in the UK.
2/8 We addressed this question by studying the wiring of PV+ and SST+ interneurons in the mouse neocortex. These cells have closely related developmental trajectories but play very different roles in adulthood, making them an attractive model for studying synapse specificity. pic.twitter.com/UJfehsMxxq
—Oscar Marin (@MarinLab) November 24, 2022
“We addressed this issue in investigate wiring PV+ and SST+ interneurons in mouse neocortex,” Marín’s tweet continued, explaining his research on parvalbumin and somatostatin cells that emerged in Science November 25.
Marín summarized the findings by tweeting: “Local protein translation is regulated at specific connections to control the formation of synapses in the nervous system. »
7/8 In sum, the local translation of proteins is regulated at the level of specific connections to control the formation of synapses in the nervous system. Founded by @IHIEurope @Aims2Trials @SFARIorg and presented by the incredible talent of @clembrnrd @DExpositoAlonso @MartijnSelten et al pic.twitter.com/GmhudTDZ16
—Oscar Marin (@MarinLab) November 24, 2022
Clémence Bernard, a research associate in Marín’s lab, shared a “summary of conclusions paper by the all-rounder @brainotopia.”
A summary of the conclusions of the article by the multitalented @brainotopia: you must translate to connect! pic.twitter.com/puJ13rCNKQ
— Clem Bernard (@clembrnrd) November 24, 2022
“Excitatory synapses from the same presynaptic neuron on sst INs and pv INs have different properties. Now we know how!!!” tweeted Jai Polepalli, assistant professor of anatomy at the National University of Singapore.
Excitatory synapses from the same presynaptic neuron on sst INs and pv INs have different properties. Now we know how!!! https://t.co/F6nB6j2HSg
Jai Polepalli (@JaiPolepalli) November 24, 2022
Liset M de la Prida, director of the Neural Circuits Laboratory at Instituto Cajal in Madrid, Spain, wondered “if similar mechs are in play in the CA1 dorsal hippocampus, where PV+ and SST+ interneurons connect differently with deep and superficial pyramidal cells.
I wonder if similar mechanisms are at play in the CA1 dorsal hippocampus, where PV+ and SST+ interneurons connect differently with deep and superficial pyramidal cells. Good work @MarinLab @Rico_lab !! https://t.co/8GUPj1gEwT
— Liset M de la Prida (@LMPrida) November 26, 2022
Other scientists on Twitter hailed another autism-related study, published Nov. 22 in Cell reports. Nadeem Murtaza, a postdoctoral researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, who led the work, “used proteomics to screen 41 autism risk genesfind convergence between genes,” tweeted Karun Singh, an associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at the university and an adviser to Murtaza.
Sharing a study led by Dr. Nadeem Murtaza @Nadeem_M13. He used proteomics to screen for 41 autism risk genes, finding convergence between the genes. Congratulations to the co-authors and thanks to our long-time contributors. @UHN_Research @LMP_UofT https://t.co/LBjxSWA67C
— Karun K Singh (@karunsinghneuro) November 22, 2022
“Very impressive article…on protein-protein interaction networks for 41 proteins linked to autism showing (among many other things!) that #mitochondria are a common feature,” tweeted Julien Courchet, researcher at the NeuroMyoGene Institute in Lyon, France.
Very impressive paper now released in @CellReports on protein-protein interaction networks for 41 autism-linked proteins showing (among many other things!) that #mitochondria are a common feature. Kudos to the authors https://t.co/JV1gYXRUr6
— Julien Courchet (@JCourchet) November 23, 2022
That’s it for this week’s Community Newsletter! If you have any suggestions for interesting social posts you’ve seen in autism research, feel free to email [email protected].
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Cite this article: https://doi.org/10.53053/UXSZ5907
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