: Novel Genes in the locus.

Divergent transcription from bidirectional promoters is frequently observed in eukaryotic genomes, but the biological relevance of divergent RNA transcripts (DT) is unknown. We identified and characterized , a novel DT gene, and , a novel readthrough gene, in the locus containing , a gene with key roles in neuronal development, differentiation, and synaptic plasticity. is independent from the known antisense (), and its expression is developmentally regulated and positively correlated with in human postmortem dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). and expression increase after induced depolarization, but the temporal dynamics follow expression of suggesting a regulatory role. Moreover, CRISPR-mediated upregulation of in human neural progenitor cells drives expression. Finally, shows higher expression in DLPFC from patients diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to neurotypical controls, and genetically predicted lower expression of the readthrough transcript is associated with schizophrenia and with the schizophrenia-associated C allele of the rs6265 single-nucleotide polymorphism. These data suggest that and contribute to regulation and schizophrenia risk.