Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders with unknown aetiology. Even though ASDs are suggested to be among the most heritable complex disorders, only a few reproducible mutations leading to susceptibility for ASD have been identified. In an attempt to identify ASD susceptibility genes through chromosome rearrangements, we investigated a female patient with childhood autism and high-grade myopia, and an apparently balanced de novo translocation, t(5;18)(q34;q12.2). Further analyses revealed a 3.2 Mb deletion encompassing 17 genes at the 18q break point and an additional deletion of 1.27 Mb containing two genes on chromosome 4q35. Q-PCR analysis of 14 of the 17 genes deleted on chromosome 18 showed that 11 of these genes were expressed in the brain, suggesting that haploinsufficiency of one or more genes may have contributed to the childhood autism phenotype of the patient. Identification of multiple genetic changes in this patient with childhood autism agrees with the most frequently suggested genetic model of ASDs as complex, polygenic disorders.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the patient and her family for participating in the study, Dr James Lespinasse and Dr Ulf Kristoffersson for collecting patient DNA, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for providing BAC clones. This study was supported by the Danish National Research Foundation and the National Genome Research Network (NGFN, project numbers 01GR0105 and 01GR0414). RMJC thanks the Carlsberg Foundation for generous support. In addition, we would like to thank Pieter de Jong and the BACPAC Resources Centre (http://bacpac.chori.org) for providing DNA of the human 32K BAC Re-Array Set, Nigel Carter and the Mapping Core and Map Finishing groups of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for initial clone supply and verification of the 1 Mb array, and the COST B19 Action ‘Molecular Cytogenetics of Solid tumors’ for the assembly of the subtelomer array.
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Gilling, M., Lauritsen, M., Møller, M. et al. A 3.2 Mb deletion on 18q12 in a patient with childhood autism and high-grade myopia. Eur J Hum Genet 16, 312–319 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201985
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201985
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