Schizophrenia genetics: putting all the pieces together

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a major mental disorder characterized by a deep disruption of the thinking process and of emotional response. For many decades, genetics studies have yielded little success in identifying genetic factors responsible for the disease. However, with the recent breakthroughs in genome analysis technologies, the field of the genetics of schizophrenia has progressed a lot in the last years. Both common and rare variants have been successfully associated with the disease and a particular emphasis has been made on rare copy number variations. Recently, a new paradigm linking de novo mutations to the genetic mechanism of schizophrenia has been unravelled. The aim of this review is to discuss the most important genetic studies made in the field to give a general perspective of where to go in the future.