Mm. Nothen et al., Genetic linkage analysis with dyslexia: Evidence for linkage of spelling disability to chromosome 15, EUR CHILD A, 8, 1999, pp. 56-59
Dyslexia (reading and spelling disability) is one of the most frequently di
agnosed disorders in childhood. Twin studies of dyslexia have indicated tha
t deficits in spelling are substantially heritable and that the heritabilit
y of spelling deficits is higher than the heritability of reading deficits.
We conducted a linkage study for spelling disability in seven multiplex fa
milies from Germany. Following previously reported linkage findings of comp
onents of dyslexia to chromosome 6p21-p22 and 15q21, we genotyped 26 micros
atellite markers covering all of chromosome 6, and 13 microsatellite marker
s covering all of chromosome 15. While the chromosome 6 data were negative,
results from chromosome 15 markers supported a locus on 15q21. The highest
two-point LOD score was 1.26 with marker D15S143 at theta = 0. A multipoin
t LOD score of 1.78 (p = 0.0042) was achieved with a maximum at D15S132. Th
us, our results provide independent support for a dyslexia gene on the long
arm of chromosome 15.