Tourette syndrome is a neurologic disorder characterized by both motor and vocal 
tics. Recently, two variants, including a single-base deletion resulting in a 
truncated protein and a 3'-untranslated-region variant altering a binding site 
for micro-RNA in the Slit and Trk-like 1 gene, were found to be a genetic cause 
of Tourette syndrome. The Slit and Trk-like 1 family was identified as neuronal 
transmembrane proteins that control neurite outgrowth. This study aimed to 
determine whether mutations in the gene can be found in Taiwanese patients with 
Tourette syndrome. In total, 160 patients were included. All children underwent 
peripheral blood sampling for genotype analyses. We sequenced the whole Slit and 
Trk-like 1 gene, including the promoter, the 3'-untranslated region, the 
5'-untranslated region, and the whole coding region. We found that none of the 
160 samples revealed any mutation in the whole gene sequence. In addition, there 
was only one polymorphism, c.3225 T>C, detected in 10 individuals. We conclude 
that in rare variants, it may be difficult to establish an association with 
disorder. Therefore, genetic screening in the Slit and Trk-like 1 gene for the 
recently identified mutations does not appear to be of utility in the diagnosis 
of Tourette syndrome.