From the ArcaMax Publishing, Parents Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/parents/s-573546-646431
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they identified 27
different genetic regions where missing or extra DNA segments were
found in children with autism syndrome disorders.
The researchers analyzed genetic samples of 3,832 people in the Autism
Genetic Resources Exchange as well as genetic samples of 1,070
disease-free children from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Maja Bucan of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in
Philadelphia and colleagues found two novel genes -- BZRAP1 and MDGA2
-- thought to be important in synaptic function and neurological
development, respectively. The researchers said key variants of these
genes were transmitted in some, but not all, of the affected
individuals in families.
"We are finding that both inherited and new, or de novo, genetic
mutations are scattered throughout the genome and we suspect that
different combinations of these variations contribute to autism
susceptibility," Bucan, who is also head of the AGRE steering
committee, said in a statement. "We have learned a lot both from
genetic analyses of children with autism as well as analyses of their
patents and their unaffected siblings."
The findings are published in PloS Genetics.