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Using standard inheritance theory, scientists have searched for the genes underlying autism with little success. Michael Wigler thinks he knows why - and how the disorder persists over generations
Supplement: Working around the Mendelians: A Q&A with Michael Wigler
On recounting the story, Wigler quips: “Sometimes you have a problem, and people don’t see the solution—because they’re not looking at it directly.” But only more data will prove whether his view of autism is truly straight on.
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3 Comments
Add CommentLet me introduce you to a new disease: single gene dolichocephaly. There is a good reason to believe that this disease causes most instances of autism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot being an expert on autism, are you suggesting long, narrow heads are part of the autism phenotype? What's the significance?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCome now. I worked with autistic children. I have worked with adults with traits who were functional. The Asperger's scale sets a continuum. These extreme characteristics when recessives create autism, help people focus and be good scientists, engineers, lawyers, mathematicians, when diluted. Autism looks to me like something retained because of benefits. Further, my experience with autistic children suggests there are multiple things we lump together as autism. This theory may be a piece of the puzzle, but I doubt very much it is the whole. The genes that define the brain are many and interact in ways I suspect are like multiple strange attactors, with many terms.
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