Teams at The Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University identified that the phenomenon called methylation – when certain molecules prevent genes from expressing themselves properly – disrupts the normal development of the brain’s functions, like regulation of social behaviour, and cell survival.
“We uncovered significant information about the defective expression of genes in people with Williams Syndrome, even though these genes are fully present in the genome of the brain cells – until now it was not known that these abnormally-regulated genes are involved in the syndrome,” said Dr. Asaf Marco from the Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment of the Hebrew University.
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