Project Summary

Alexandre Maucuer, Ph.D. (Independent Investigator 2007) of INSERM, Universite Paris VI, will study a product of a schizophrenia susceptibility gene on chromosome 1 region 1q23.3. The product in question, the protein KIS, may be an important regulator of gene expression in the brain. Perturbations of KIS functions are potentially responsible for abnormal expression of a variety of genes in different brain regions in schizophrenia. KIS contains a protein domain involved in the splicing of mRNA and hence protein expression. A splicing factor called SF1 is a substrate for the kinase activity of KIS. It is hypothesized that KIS controls the activities of SF1 and potentially other RNA-associated factors thereby contributing to the gene expression process. Disruption of this action of KIS might therefore explain brain dysfunctions associated with schizophrenia. The hypothesis will be tested using mice in which the KIS gene has been deleted.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

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