Impairment of translation in neurons as a putative causative factor for autism.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A dramatic increase in the prevalence of autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has been observed over the last two decades in USA, Europe and Asia. Given the accumulating data on the possible role of translation in the etiology of ASD, we analyzed potential effects of rare synonymous substitutions associated with ASD on mRNA stability, splicing enhancers and silencers, and codon usage.

Presentation of the hypothesis

We hypothesize that subtle impairment of translation, resulting in dosage imbalance of neuron-specific proteins, contributes to the etiology of ASD synergistically with environmental neurotoxins.

Testing the hypothesis

A statistically significant shift from optimal to suboptimal codons caused by rare synonymous substitutions associated wi

SUBMITTER: Poliakov E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4099083 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature