Several years ago, a research group from the United Kingdom announced in the prestigious scientific journal Nature that a gene for schizophrenia had been located. This was greeted with widespread applause. Even the editors of Nature believed that a major piece of the puzzle for schizophrenia had at last been found.

Sadly, the bubble soon burst. Despite many attempts, no one was able to replicate the initial finding, and it is now widely felt to have been a mistake. This is no longer surprising. Use of the restriction fragment length polymorphism approach to finding genes for complex disorders like schizophrenia has been notably unsuccessful. Currently, journal editors are alerted to the receipt of claims that a gene for some disorder has been found, only to be burnt by the next dozen failures to replicate the finding. The schizophrenia “finding” was a great disappointment.