More than the sum of its parts: new mouse models for dissecting the genetic complexities of Williams–Beuren syndrome

Psychiatric disorders are a common, severe and disabling group of diseases where progress in finding novel molecular targets has been slow. This is partly due to our lack of understanding of the molecular pathophysiology of these conditions as they play out in the brain (Insel & Scolnick, 2006). Since many of these diseases (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or autism) are highly heritable, a genetic approach to dissecting the risk architecture is a promising avenue for molecular medicine; however, variants in single genes frequently present in the population have only small to moderate effects on complex behavioural phenotypes (O'Donovan et al, 2008).