The gene controls the production of an enzyme essential to the production of GABA, a major neurotransmitter essential for thinking, planning, and decision-making. Although abnormalities in the synthesis of GABA have been known to play a role in schizophrenia, the new study suggests a specific mechanism that decreases production of GABA in the brain tissue of those suffering from the severe mental disorder.

Dr. Schahram Akbarian, doctoral student Sung Huang and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School also found GABA production requires temporary structural changes in certain proteins called histones. Interference in those changes was also found in brain tissue from people with schizophrenia.

"This discovery opens a new area for exploration of schizophrenia," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the research.

The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.