Individually, common genetic variants confer little risk for autism. But taken together, they may contribute significantly, predicts a statistical analysis published 15 October in Molecular Autism.

A genetic defect in the synthesis of carnitine, a molecule that is essential for proper mitochondrial function, might slightly increase risk for autism in some children, according to research published 8 May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The odds of having a child with autism begin to rise at age 35 for both men and women, but that risk does not increase further when both parents are over 35, according to a large study published in the March issue of Annals of Epidemiology.

The genetic risk factors for autism may also increase a person’s risk of developing ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis of the spine, and decrease the risk of multiple sclerosis, according to a study published 13 December in Translational Psychiatry.

Children, especially girls, with autism who have older fathers are more likely than those with younger fathers to be the only child with the disorder in their family, according to a new study published 16 December in Autism.

The nation’s largest database of autism research is about to get even bigger, thanks to a partnership between the National Database for Autism Research, a repository of data from 25,000 participants, and the Autism Genetic Research Exchange, a database of 2,500 families.

In families that have at least one child with autism, significant motor impairments crop up in most children with the disorder and hardly any of their unaffected siblings, according to a study published 19 October in Autism.

Individuals who have multiple children with autism have more severe social and communication deficits than either controls or those who have only one child with autism.

A protein that regulates the development of serotonin-producing neurons in the brain is associated with autism.

The largest and most ambitious genome-sequencing project to date aims to identify rare variants and study their association to disease traits in 10,000 people.