Genetics of dyslexia: the evolving landscape

Johannes Schumacher ¹, Per Hoffmann ¹, Christine Schmael ², Gerd Schulte-Körne ³ and Markus M. Nöthen ^1*

¹ University of Bonn, Germany
² Central Institute of Mental Health, Germany
³ University of Munich, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: markus.noethen{at}uni-bonn.de.

Accepted 22 January 2007

Abstract

Dyslexia is amongst the most common neurodevelopmental disorders with a prevalence of 5-12%. At the phenotype level, various cognitive components can be distinguished which enable reading and spelling and which are disturbed in affected individuals. Depending on the phenotype dimension investigated, inherited factors are estimated to account for up to 80%. Linkage findings in dyslexia are relatively consistent across studies in comparison to findings for other neuropsychiatric disorders. This is particularly true for chromosome regions 1p34-p36, 6p21-p22, 15q21 and 18q11. Four candidate genes have recently been identified through systematic linkage disequilibrium studies in linkage region 6p21-p22, and through cloning approaches at chromosomal breakpoints. Results indicate that a disturbance in neuronal migration is a pathological correlate of dyslexia at the functional level. The following review presents a summary of the latest insights into the genetics of dyslexia and an overview of anticipated future developments.

Keywords: Dyslexia, Linkage mapping, Molecular genetics, Reading disorder

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