Autism Genetics via Autism Diva

Autism Diva attended a lecture recently on autism genetics given by Conrad Gilliam of the University of Chicago. She wondered why the research presented did not seem to take into account the higher rate of mental illness in families of autistic children. Autism Diva also points to an article in the New Scientist – Families Share Traits of Autistic Children.

One part of the article discusses a study of autistic families in Italy and North America. Researchers from the University of Rome found that North American families with autistic members tended to carry a less active variant of the paraoxonase gene. They hypothesize that Americans with the less active paraoxonase enzyme use more of it to clear organophosphate pesticide (used only in N. America), leaving less enzyme available to guide the development of neurons. In addition, different types of gene-environment interactions may operate in varying populations, i.e., autism in Italian families was not associated with the paraoxonase gene, but is associated with the reelin gene.

Check out Autism Diva’s post for more and please go visit our new network blog: Teenage and Adult Autism.