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Researchers have discovered up to 6 new gene mutations that could help explain autism.
For the study, which is published in the Journal Science, researchers studied 100 families prone to autism, finding a host of abnormalities in genes as well as faulty DNA and environmental issues present after the birth of the child.
“There appear to be many separate mutations involved, with each family having a different genetic cause,” Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped pay for the study, said in a statement.
They state that the gene mutations disrupt gene activity in the brain of children diagnosed with autism, switching them on and off.
Researchers used families from the Middle East, due to the increased tendancies for cousins to marry, thus increasing the likelyhood of inherent genes.
“The one unifying observation from this new report is that all of the relevant mutations could disrupt the formation of vital neural connections during a critical period when experience is shaping the developing brain.”
According to Dr. Christopher Walsh, chief of genetics at Children’s Hospital Boston, “Almost every kid with autism has their own particular cause of it.”
