Children with autism who suffer from severe gastrointestinal problems show markedly lower-than-normal levels of enzymes needed to digest complex sugars, and of transporters that allow simple sugars to be absorbed into the blood.

President Obama signed a new law on Friday that authorizes $693 million in federal spending for autism research, services and treatment over the next three years.

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.

The male offspring of mice subjected to stress during pregnancy can transmit the effects to their own male pups.

A new study of nearly 6,000 pairs of twins suggests that the three core traits of autism are inherited separately, and to varying degrees, both in individuals with autism and in the general population.

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

Methylation marks were thought to be permanent features of the genome, but a new study challenges that idea.

Probiotic bacteria alleviate stress in healthy mice and modify the expression of receptors for a chemical messenger that inhibits signaling in the brain.

Researchers have developed standard genetic reference samples that clinicians can use to diagnose Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes, two disorders associated with the same chromosomal region.

The offspring of older male mice are 16 times more likely to harbor a spontaneous copy number variation — a deletion or duplication of genetic material — than are the offspring of young males, according to a new study.