deCode-ing autism

Recent general media coverage has suggested a gene sequencing study by deCode genetics ehf showed a clear link between paternal age and mutations that might cause autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. However, the newspapers failed to note that a direct relationship between the mutations described in the paper and autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia remains to be established. The papers also glossed over the main finding of the study-there is a paternal origin for genetic variation in the general human population.

The deCode-led team used high throughput gene sequencing to identify new mutations in the genomes of a handful of individuals that are absent in their parents and thus are likely to have spontaneously arisen in the father's sperm.¹ Their analysis revealed an intriguing correlation between number of mutations and father's age...