CHD8 Is The Master Gene Regulating Other Autism Risk Genes

Nadia Shanab | autism, general advice, parenting, tips
29 Jul 2015

Causes of autism have not been definitely identified yet. However, there are several major factors contributing to the disorder. Among these factors the three leading ones are: genetic factors, environmental factors, and a combination of both. Research has never been so focused on the topic given the growing number of individuals diagnosed with autism. So parents, stay positive and hopeful. Below you’ll read about a new finding linking strongly a certain gene (CHD8) to the autism disorder.

The study led by James P. Noonan, associate professor of genetics and of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, is published March 10, 2015 in the journal Nature communication.

“Strong genetic evidence has identified a set of regulatory genes as being important for autism risk. But it has been difficult to gain insight into the biological mechanisms that might be perturbed because we couldn’t functionally connect these genes with each other. Now, we can,” said Noonan, a member of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, and senior author of the study.

The research shows that CHD8 gene is controlling dozens of genes related to autism, but the problem now is to interpret the association between the mutation happening in these genes and the confusion in the biological processes leading to the disorder.

Read the research in details here.

Tip

Stay tuned, research is getting us closer to the cause(s) of autism every single day.

nadia shanab


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