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Local lab spots gene that causes mental retardation

SHANGHAI scientists have detected a gene, FGF13B on the X chromosome, which is linked with mental retardation, according to the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The discovery was published in the latest issue of Cell, a US science journal.

X-linked mental retardation is one of the major types of mental retardation and it is an inherited intellectual disability with abnormalities in neural development.

Scientists at the Institute of Neuroscience found FGF13B was expressed in cerebral cortical neurons during development, and they confirmed it is a key molecule required for the development of the cerebral cortical structures and function. FGF13B disorder can affect the brain's function for learning and memory and result in mental retardation.



 

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