Dyslexia Gene?

Researchers are close to identifying a gene predisposing children to dyslexia. Once they do, this could aid early diagnosis and therapy for the condition which affects up to 10% of children wordwide.

Previous studies have either investigated specific chromosomal regions, or focussed on a small number of families;
but Anthony Monaco and his team at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford scanned the whole genome of children from
208 British and American families in which at least one child was dyslexic.

By comparing these results the the children's reading ability they were able to pinpoint a region containing some 30 genes on chromosome 18.

Human Genetics online (DOI 10.1038/ng792). New Scientist 15th December 2001