Tuesday, November 25, 2014

New Genes Linked to Autism Discovered



Recently, over one-hundred genes have been identifies as directly related to Autism Spectrum Disorder. Researchers are now confident that they are one their way to finding one-thousand more soon. Autism spectrum disorder includes a wide range of mental, social, and behavioral impairments, all differing in severity. Up until these genes were discovered, scientist only knew of a handful of genes linked to this disorders, this new discovery will help open the door to new findings and possibly a prevention method.

The genes being discovered are shedding a light on the biological processes involved in Autism as well as the genes that are affected. There are a vast number of genes that create a very high Autism risk when damaged. Discovering environmental and genetic causes of this disease has been difficult for researchers due to the large amount of variations of the disease. Also, Autism does not have one because it is a combination of causes.

Researcher expect the small changes to several genes is one of the causing factors of Autism. Some of these gene abnormalities are expected to be inherited while others are expected to be environmental factors. This research is being done with exome sequencing to locate the genes related to Autism Spectrum Disorder and decode DNA sequences. More than five percent of studied patients have had new genetic mutations suspected to be linked to this disorder. Genes contributing to Autism risk will be investigated much further in the future and new discoveries are expected to be made. This research could help solve this scientific puzzle.


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