What have the genomics ever done for the psychoses?
BACKGROUND
Despite the substantial heritability of the psychoses and their genuine public health burden, the applicability of the genomic approach in psychiatry has been strongly questioned or prematurely dismissed.


METHODS
selective review of the recent literature on molecular genetic and genomic approaches to the psychoses including the early output from genome-wide association studies and the genomic analysis of DNA structural variation.


RESULTS
Susceptibility variants at strong candidate genes have been identified including neuregulin, dysbindin, DISC1 and neurexin 1. Rare but highly penetrant copy number variants and new mutations affecting genes involved in neurodevelopment, cell signalling and synaptic function have been described showing some overlapping genetic architecture with other developmental disorders including autism. The de-novo mutations described offer an explanation for the familial sporadic divide and the persistence of schizophrenia in the population. The functional effects of risk variants at the level of cognition and connectivity has been described and recently, ZNF804A has been identified, and the MHC re-identified as risk loci, and it has been shown that at least a third of the variation in liability is due to multiple common risk variants of small effect with a substantial shared genetic liability between schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
The genomics have done much for the psychoses to date and more is anticipated.
Gill
M
M
Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin 8, Ireland. mgill@tcd.ie
Donohoe
G
G
Corvin
A
A
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000235:genetics; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal / Q000235:genetics*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D000074765:Dysbindin; D049029:Dystrophin-Associated Proteins; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D020890:Neuregulin-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; C412476:DISC1 protein, human; C432416:DTNBP1 protein, human; D000074765:Dysbindin; D049029:Dystrophin-Associated Proteins; C539628:NRXN1 protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D020890:Neuregulin-1