A massive study involving genetic data from over 1.2 million people has identified over a dozen new gene regions associated with dyslexia.
“We have produced the largest genetic study of dyslexia to date,” write the study authors, led by University of Edinburgh molecular geneticist Hayley Mountford.
Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental brain difference that can make certain aspects of modern life challenging. In the current study, participants had challenges reading and/or writing, although that is not the case in all people with dyslexia; some find other aspects of verbal processing more challenging than their peers, such as spelling and grammar, or following verbal instructions.
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As with the other neurodivergences, like autism or ADHD, dyslexia comes with advantages as well, such as higher non-verbal creativity.
Past twin studies have suggested that genes strongly determine dyslexia, so Mountford and colleagues took up the challenge of pinpointing what those genetic associations are.
Their genome-wide study identified 80 regions associated with dyslexia, including 36 regions not previously reported as significant. Thirteen of these regions were novel to science, with no prior link to dyslexia.
Many of the newly associated genes are involved in early brain development. And, as expected, some of them are shared with ADHD, which can often occur alongside dyslexia.
In the vast datasets, the researchers also found correlations between dyslexia and measures of chronic pain.
“The underlying mechanism remains unelucidated, however, the genetic overlap between pain-related phenotypes and neurodevelopmental traits may hint at a shared biological basis,” Mountford and team write in their paper.
With these newly identified gene associations, researchers might finally start unraveling these connections.
This research was published in Translational Psychiatry.