Individuals who have childhood-onset schizophrenia carry more DNA deletions and duplications associated with other disorders, such as autism, than their unaffected siblings do. The unpublished research was presented 16 January at the Salk Institute, Fondation IPSEN and Nature Symposium on Biological Complexity in La Jolla, California.

Members of families that have multiple children with autism have more features of the disorder than do those from families that have only one child with autism, according to a study published 2 November in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

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.

Researchers have launched an effort to yoke together disparate gene sequencing projects in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., aiming to double the number of known autism-related genes in the next three to four years.

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 largest set of exome sequencing studies of children with autism and their families to date has identified a handful of genes that may increase risk of the disorder, according to research published in Nature.

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.

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 autism show distinct patterns of gene expression in neurological pathways compared with their unaffected siblings, according to unpublished work presented Saturday at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Two studies published in the past month highlight the challenges in balancing the accuracy of autism diagnosis with cost-effectiveness and speed.