There has always been the lingering question of whether autism was an inherited condition or one that happened in some families multiple times by chance. But according to a new study, a gene that is associated with autism happens "spontaneously" during the developmental stage. And this would lead to the conclusion that autism is then not inherited. Something that may turn everything the scientific community thought they knew about autism in its head.
Researchers from Yale have discovered that the gene, DDX3X, which has been associated with autism in the past, now may actually serve as the key to making healthy neurons instead, according to Big News Network.
As such, instead of a DDX3X mutation being an automatic sign that a child will have autism, it is all about how and when DDX3X gets damaged that will determine what, if any, developmental issues kids will suffer as they age.
The study, which was published in the journal, eLife, found that when DDX3X is modified in early development, it makes it so that the gene is not able to fire off as many neurons or allow cells to divide in the time they are supposed to while a baby is developing. Instead, the process takes longer.
And when the process takes longer, the brain does not develop as it should. That is where things such as cognitive and developmental disorders are produced as the brain "falls behind" and is unable to catch up with the developmental track it was supposed to follow.
DDX3X is a fairly newly discovered gene mutation, according to a 2021 study. It is associated with developmental delays that cannot be otherwise explained, intellectual disability in females, causes motor delays and language delays, and those with the damaged gene are placed on the autism spectrum. But to date, there was not a lot of information known about the gene when it mutates. And that is why the Yale researchers decided to do some digging.
To date, it was believed that DDX3X only affected females, according to Big News Network. And while DDX3X is the cause for one to three percent of "intellectual disabilities" that females face, males can be affected as well. But this is a result of the DDX3Y gene mutation. Both of which still need to be studied further to determine just how a person's development changes based upon the time that the genes mutate.
But what is known for now is that families who were worried that they would be at a higher risk for having children with autism when the DDX3X gene mutation was located may no longer need to have that worry. But because the research on DDX3X is still in its infancy, there is so much more to be learned.
Source: Big News Network, Molecular Autism, eLife