Reported in the July 8 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory found that a previously unsuspected set of genes links nature and nurture during a crucial period of brain development.
Researchers believe autism spectrum disorders are tied to brain changes that occur during critical periods of development. Different but overlapping critical periods are thought to exist for various cognitive functions affected in autism, such as language and social behaviors. "Autism is a strongly genetic disorder: genes set up risk factors but by themselves simply make proteins," Sur said. "Genes work together with other influences. In the case of autism, these influences are unknown but could be molecules made by other genes or chemicals from the environment." Comment: Despite research which ha repeatedly shown lack of a link between immunization and autism, parents of such children are not yet ready to accept genes as causative of autism, and prefer to blame vaccines.
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