Autism researchers have recently made important strides in figuring out the genetic underpinnings of the disorder. Some results are somewhat discouraging, especially the fact that over 1,000 genes are currently thought to be linked to autism. But current research is also helping to elucidate the combined effects of these genes.
Among the important findings is that some genes seem to have much more of an effect than others, conferring as much as a 90% increase in risk. Also significant is that different genes have been found to play distinct roles in autism. Some relate to synaptic connections between neurons in the brain, others to how DNA is transcribed.
While one set of genes is linked with high-IQ forms of autism, such as Asperger’s syndrome, another is linked with low-IQ forms. According to psychiatrist Stephen Sanders of UC San Francisco, commenting in Scientific American:
“These findings, and many others like them recently, help us move forward from thinking of autism as a discrete multi-genic disorder toward viewing it more generally as a disability arising from factors shared by many other human impairments, some of whose biological underpinnings are already well known.”
While it is unclear exactly how the information will be implemented in the near future, it serves to indicate the huge amount of progress that has been made in autism research over the years. As Stix states:
“These studies don’t represent a clarion call that marks the beginning of the war on autism—nor should they. War analogies and science don’t mix that well. But they are a measure of progress, an acknowledgement that the field has moved light years beyond the days of Bettelheim’s “refrigerator mothers.”
