Study indicates link between ‘Teashirt’ gene and autism and kidney deficits

A collaborative study from the Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille (France) and Manchester University (UK) has identified a deletion in the ‘Teashirt’ gene, formally named TSHZ3, as a potential link between an autism syndrome and defects in the urinary system in pediatric patients. The study, recently published in Nature Genetics, investigated the effects of mutations in Teashirt, which encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor, in both mouse models and human patients. The collaborative team had previously demonstrated the gene’s involvement in the development of smooth muscle in the wall of the ureter, following observations of mice in possession of a mutated...