Stuttering Linked to Mutated Genes

Researchers have found the first genes linked to stuttering, and they say this could lead to a treatment someday. Stuttering is known to run in families, so a genetic link had long been suspected. To learn more, researchers looked at a large Pakistani family. Many members of the family stuttered. Researchers found a mutated gene on chromosome 12. Then they looked at the genes of 400 other stutterers from Pakistan, the United States and England. Researchers found the same mutated gene and two others. They also looked at the genes of people who did not stutter. Only one person had the mutations. Researchers said two of the genes also have been linked to rare disorders of cell metabolism. These conditions are being treated by replacing a missing enzyme. Something similar might help stuttering. The study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.