Genetic switches flipped in the growing brain may explain how thinking and behaviour changes between birth and adolescence, new research suggests.

Signals that turn genes on or off change dramatically during childhood, altering the way neurons communicate, scientists have found.

The process, known as DNA methylation, affects the activity of genes but not the genetic code itself.

Recent studies have shown a possible link between the same mechanism and serious mental disturbances including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

The blueprint of switching signals that determine the activity of genes is known as the "epigenome".

Scientists found that in the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that most determines how we think and act, the epigenome is transformed between birth and the end of adolescence.

In both mice and humans, DNA methylation progressively increased until entry into adulthood, the research showed.

Dr Ryan Lister, from the University of Western Australia, a member of the team whose findings are reported in the journal Science, said: "The human brain has been called the most complex system that we know of in the universe.

"So perhaps we shouldn't be so surprised that this complexity extends to the level of the brain epigenome.

"These unique features of DNA methylation that emerge during critical phases of brain development suggest the presence of previously unrecognised regulatory processes that may be critically involved in normal brain function and brain disorders."

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Gene signals 'may explain changes'

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