In Search of Autism's Roots.

Liza Gross

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000958

Abstract

Until Dustin Hoffman’s uncanny performance as an autistic savant in Rain Man, few outside medical circles knew much about autism. Hoffman’s humane portrayal of a socially inept man prone to nervous tics and obsessive ruminations, punctuated by stunning feats of math and memory, challenged us to accommodate people with special needs and reconsider our notions of normalcy. (For the record, only about one in ten people with autism are savants.)

Highlights

Such compassionate views of autistic people were hard to find a decade later, after the British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield unleashed a panic with a thoroughly discredited, retracted 1998 paper that linked the measles virus in the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine to autism
In a new study in PLOS Biology [4], researchers took an evolutionary approach to identify gene expression patterns during brain development that could contribute to autism
It’s not clear exactly how these disturbances might contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), though many studies have linked impaired synapse formation and function to autism [5]

Summary

Introduction

Such compassionate views of autistic people were hard to find a decade later, after the British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield unleashed a panic with a thoroughly discredited, retracted 1998 paper that linked the measles virus in the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine to autism. Researchers have associated mutations in over 100 genes with ASD and have linked alterations in the structure and function of brain regions with autistic traits [2]. In a new study in PLOS Biology [4], researchers took an evolutionary approach to identify gene expression patterns during brain development that could contribute to autism.

Results

Conclusion