Imperfect Timing

On a long journey, one wrong turn early on can send you off in completely the wrong direction, whereas a misstep near the destination might be easily rectified. Similarly, when things go awry in early development, while the body is still putting itself together, the repercussions can be severe. Tuberous sclerosis complex is a disease that causes abnormal growths around the body, and can also cause mental disabilities and seizures. It is caused by a genetic mutation in the brain that occurs early in embryonic development. Now researchers have found that the timing of this mutation dictates the intensity of the symptoms. When the mutation occurred in the brain of an 18-day-old mouse embryo (pictured), the symptoms were much less severe than for those who experienced the mutation after 12 days. This discovery might lead the way to new treatments, and shows that timing really is everything.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Mark Zervas
• Brown University, USA
• Copyright Elsevier 2013
• Published in Neuron 2013