Autism genes are in all of us, new research reveals

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uob-aga031816.php

Public Release: 21-Mar-2016
Autism genes are in all of us, new research reveals
University of Bristol

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The researchers studied whether there is a genetic relationship between ASD and the expression of ASD-related traits in populations not considered to have ASD. Their findings, published this week in Nature Genetics, suggest that genetic risk underlying ASD, including both inherited variants and de novo influences (not seen in an individual's parents), affects a range of behavioural and developmental traits across the population, with those diagnosed with ASD representing a severe presentation of those traits.

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Research has shown that most ASD risk is polygenic (stemming from the combined small effects of thousands of genetic differences, distributed across the genome). Some cases are also associated with rare genetic variants of large effect, which are usually de novo.

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