How one critical gene functions during the first week after a baby’s birth may have a bearing on his/her developing schizophrenia, reveals a new study.

British scientists hope the major breakthrough could one day help stop schizophrenia in its tracks.

The gene is known as ‘disrupted in schizophrenia-1’ (DISC-1). Past studies have shown that when mutated, the gene is a high risk factor for mental illnesses also including major clinical depression and bipolar disorder.

The symptoms of the disorder can be extremely disruptive, and have a large impact on a person’s ability to carry out everyday tasks, such as going to work, maintaining relationships and caring for themselves or others.

The study’s findings suggest that interventions for preventing this long-term mental disorder may begin very early in life.

Cardiff University researchers discovered that the gene is active in new-borns. The ‘immense’ finding raises the possibility that infants could be screened and treated to prevent the condition developing later on.

About one in 100 Britons suffer from schizophrenia at some point in their lives.

“We believe that DISC-1 is schizophrenia’s Rosetta Stone gene and could hold the master key to help us unlock our understanding of the role played by all risk genes involved in the disease,” said lead researcher Kevin Fox, professor at Cardiff University in Britain.

“We have identified a critical period during brain development that directs us to test whether other schizophrenia risk genes affecting different regions of the brain create their malfunction during their own critical period,” Fox noted.

The findings were reported in the journal Science.

Experiments on young mice show the gene to be critical to the healthy development of the brain in the first few days of life. But faulty versions of the gene stop the adult brain forming coherent thoughts and the ability to properly perceive the world is impaired.

Importantly, although the gene can be detected in the first days of life, the effects are not felt until years later. The breakthrough, described in the journal Science, may shed light on why the debilitating condition normally does not strike until a person’s early 20s.

Professor Fox addded: “The potential of what we now know about this gene is immense. This, we hope, could one day help to prevent the manifestation or recurrence of schizophrenia symptoms altogether.”