Spectrum: Autism Research News

Some social behaviors associated with autism are heritable, but the extent to which genes and the environment influence these behaviors changes as a child grows.

People with anorexia are more likely to be autistic than those without the eating disorder, but the interplay between the two conditions is complex.

Autistic boys with large brains in early childhood still have large brains in adolescence, challenging the long-standing idea that brain enlargement in autism is temporary.

Autism with intellectual disability is less heritable than autism alone, according to a new study of how the conditions run in extended families.

Autistic people who have trouble identifying their emotions are also likely to have anxiety, depression and problems with social communication.

The first genetic analysis of multiple types of variants from people with autism or other neurodevelopmental conditions reveals hundreds of genes that may be linked to neurodevelopment.

Get the inside scoop from the 2020 American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting.

Genome sequences from a research cohort of autistic African children and their families have revealed more than 4 million novel variants, some of which occur in genes not previously linked to the condition.

Most of the large, spontaneous genetic mutations tied to autism are passed down from fathers. But, unlike with smaller mutations, a parent’s age is unlikely to up the rate at which they occur.

People with particularly low levels of FMRP, the protein lacking in those with fragile X syndrome, are more likely to also have autism and severe intellectual disability.