DISSECTING THE GENETIC COMPLEXITY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Twin, adoption and family studies have provided overwhelming but indir ect evidence for a significant genetic contribution to the etiology of schizophrenia, More recent studies exploiting a plethora of highly po lymorphic genetic markers provide a more direct approach to the identi fication and localization of genes, Current investigative efforts to i dentify schizophrenia susceptibility genes include diverse approaches such as linkage analysis, association studies, search for chromosomal abnormalities, analysis of disorders or syndromes with simple inherita nce that overlap phenotypically with schizophrenia, studies of genetic anticipation and efforts to facilitate genetic analysis by reducing t he phenotypic complexity of the disease, For the first time, after man y years, there are now several promising findings, as well as replicat ion efforts that inspire a certain degree of confidence in them.