Browsing by Author "Derks, Eske M"

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    Open Access
    Partitioning the heritability of Tourette syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder reveals differences in genetic architecture
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Davis, Lea K; Yu, Dongmei; Keenan, Clare L; Gamazon, Eric R; Konkashbaev, Anuar I; Derks, Eske M; Neale, Benjamin M; Yang, Jian; Lee, S Hong; Evans, Patrick
    Author Summary Family and twin studies have shown that genetic risk factors are important in the development of Tourette Syndrome (TS) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). However, efforts to identify the individual genetic risk factors involved in these two neuropsychiatric disorders have been largely unsuccessful. One possible explanation for this is that many genetic variations scattered throughout the genome each contribute a small amount to the overall risk. For TS and OCD, the genetic architecture (characterized by the number, frequency, and distribution of genetic risk factors) is presently unknown. This study examined the genetic architecture of TS and OCD in a variety of ways. We found that rare genetic changes account for more genetic risk in TS than in OCD; certain chromosomes contribute to OCD risk more than others; and variants that influence the level of genes expressed in two regions of the brain can account for a significant amount of risk for both TS and OCD. Results from this study might help in determining where, and what kind of variants are individual risk factors for TS and OCD and where they might be located in the human genome.