[As] debates over modern medicine dominate the headlines, new research suggests the roots of autism’s high prevalence in humans may trace back much further—embedded deep in the evolutionary history of the human brain.
In a recent study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, researchers from Stanford University report that a specific type of brain cell, known as layer 2/3 intratelencephalic (L2/3 IT) neurons, has undergone accelerated evolutionary changes in humans compared to other primates.
[The] study found that the same changes that boosted human cognition may have come with a cost. L2/3 IT neurons in humans displayed significantly reduced expression of high-confidence autism-linked genes compared to chimpanzees and gorillas
This suggests that natural selection favored these genetic shifts, perhaps because they enhanced uniquely human traits, while simultaneously bringing humans closer to what the authors call an “ASD expression threshold,” where even minor genetic or environmental disruptions can push brain development into autism.
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