“'If you’ve seen one kid with autism, you’ve seen one kid
with autism,’ meaning that it’s impossible to draw conclusions by looking at
just a few people.” This article states that there are hundreds or even
thousands of different types of autism based on genetic evidence. The range of
symptoms of autism can be anywhere from high functioning to constant
assistance. This study focuses on categorizing the different types of autism by
the genes from which they originate, rather than the previous way of
generalizing based on phenotypes.
The Simons Variation in Individuals Project (Simons VIP)
characterized almost 200 people with variations on the 16p11.2 chromosomal
region. “About 20 percent of individuals with deletions in this region and 10
percent with duplications have autism.” In the past couple of years it has been
observed that a much larger study would need to be completed with more people.
It has also become easier to look more closely at DNA by analyzing the
protein-coding sequences of genomes (about 1% of close to 3 billion base
pairs). Through this type of analysis it became clear that even with more than
2500 participants more would be needed. They never say the same sequence twice
which makes it hard to categorize autism into distinct types.
The objective of this study, and many like it, is to not
only distinguish between the different types of autism but to also find
commonalities with in all of them. When this is done it would be easier to
diagnose and find a potential treatment plan on an individual basis.
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