Genome-wide linkage analyses of quantitative and categorical autism subphenotypes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The search for susceptibility genes in autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been hindered by the possible small effects of individual genes and by genetic (locus) heterogeneity. To overcome these obstacles, one method is to use autism-related subphenotypes instead of the categorical diagnosis of autism since they may be more directly related to the underlying susceptibility loci. Another strategy is to analyze subsets of families that meet certain clinical criteria to reduce genetic heterogeneity.

Methods

In this study, using 976 multiplex families from the Autism Genome Project consortium, we performed genome-wide linkage analyses on two quantitative subphenotypes, the total scores of the reciprocal social interaction domain and the restricted, repetiti

SUBMITTER: Liu XQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2670970 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature