Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a spectral neurodevelopment disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population. ASD is characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interaction, communication deficits and restricted patterns of behavior. Multiple factors, including genetic/genomic, epigenetic/epigenomic and environmental, are thought to be necessary for autism development. Recent reviews have provided further insight into the genetic/genomic basis of ASD. It has long been suspected that epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, chromatin structures and long non-coding RNAs may play important roles in the pathology of ASD. In addition to genetic/genomic alterations and epigenetic/epigenomic influences, environmental exposures have been widely accepted as an important role in autism etiology, among which immune dysregulation and gastrointestinal microbiota are two prominent ones.
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Yu, L., Wu, Y. & Wu, BL. Genetic architecture, epigenetic influence and environment exposure in the pathogenesis of Autism. Sci. China Life Sci. 58, 958–967 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-015-4941-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-015-4941-1