Autism and the X chromosome: no linkage to microsatellite loci detected using the affected sibling pair method.
The etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is poorly understood, although it is clear that genetic factors play a major role. ASDs appear to be a heterogeneous group of disorders, making genetic analysis difficult in the absence of etiologically definable subgroups. The excess of males in the affected population has led to suggestions that an X-linked locus could play a role in the causation of autism or a related pervasive developmental disorder. To examine this, we have investigated the genotypes of 31 families with two or more affected boys, at a series of 16 highly polymorphic loci distributed along the X chromosome with an average interlocus distance of 12 cM, in order to identify regions of significantly increased concordance among pairs of affected brothers. No locus tested showed a significant increase in concordance, supporting findings by others that there are no genes of major effect located on the X chromosome that contribute to increased susceptibility to ASD.
Schutz
Chris K
CK
Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Polley
Diana
D
Robinson
Paula D
PD
Chalifoux
Maryse
M
Macciardi
Fabio
F
White
Bradley N
BN
Holden
Jeanette J A
JJ
D000483:Alleles; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009679:Nuclear Family; D014960:X Chromosome / Q000235:genetics*