Monday, April 4, 2016

Does autism have a shared inheritance among siblings?


According to a scientific study, most siblings with a diagnosis of autism do not share the same genetic risk factors for the disorder and are distinct in their behaviors compared to their siblings.

The study involved the analysis of genetic material from eighty-five different families. Technology known as whole-genome sequencing was used in this study. Whole-genome sequencing maps out the entire voluminous recipe, every biological typo, every misplaced comma or transposed letter. Each family that was involved in the study had two children who were diagnosed with autism.

The study revealed the diversity of autism. In order to learn more about autism, a study of a much larger scale would need to be conducted.


 Previous studies have allowed to scientist to pinpoint different genes that increase the risk of autism. Unfortunately, these genes are only responsible for a certain number of autism diagnoses. Scientists have learned that there are hundreds of genes responsible for autism and that no exact causation is known. However, what they do know is that it is rare that autism has a shared inheritance among siblings. The behavior of both siblings in the families who were diagnosed with autism had completely different behaviors which surprised scientist.

I found this article interesting because autism has always been a mysterious sort of disorder that is prevalent in a lot of kids in the modern day world. I find it fascinating that there are so many genes that are involved in determining whether somebody will have autism or not. The most surprising thing to me was that scientist have not find the exact causation of autism yet. I thought that with all the studying and research done on genetics, there would have been more progress on the causation of autism than there currently is. Hopefully more studies can be conducted and progress on this horrible disorder can be sped up.

1 comment:

  1. I really liked reading this post because just like tyler stated autism is occurring more in today's children. I really hope that there can be a cure for this later down the road.

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