CHRNA7 and autism: CHRNA7 has been associated with several neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and 15q13.3 microdeletion and duplication syndromes5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.