The largest genetic analysis yet conducted of people lacking a brain structure called the corpus callosum shows that the condition shares many risk factors with autism.The corpus callosum is the thick bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. People lacking this structure, a condition called agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC), often have social impairments, and roughly one-third of adults meet diagnostic criteria for autism. Children with autism seem to have a smaller corpus callosum than controls do. Compared with controls, people with AgCC have more rare, large CNVs spanning many genes, the researchers found. They also have more de novo CNVs, meaning those not inherited from either parent. Read the entire news article here, or the research article here.