부산대학교 도서관

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are childhood neurodevelopmental disorders with complex genetic origins(1-4). Previous studies focusing on candidate genes or genomic regions have identified several copy number variations (CNVs) that are associated with an increased risk of ASDs(5-9). Here we present the results from a whole-genome CNV study on a cohort of 859 ASD cases and 1,409 healthy children of European ancestry who were genotyped with 550,000 single nucleotide polymorphism markers, in an attempt to comprehensively identify CNVs conferring susceptibility to ASDs. Positive findings were evaluated in an independent cohort of 1,336 ASD cases and 1,110 controls of European ancestry. Besides previously reported ASD candidate genes, such as NRXNI (ref. 10) and CNTN4 (refs 11, 12), several new susceptibility genes encoding neuronal cell-adhesion molecules, including NLGNI and ASTN2, were enriched with CNVs in ASD cases compared to controls (P = 9.5 x [10.sup.-3]). Furthermore, CNVs within or surrounding genes involved in the ubiquitin pathways, including UBE3A, PARKZ RFWD2 and FBX040, were affected by CNVs not observed in controls (P= 3.3 x [10.sup.-3]). We also identified duplications 55 kilobases upstream of complementary DNA AK123120 (P=3.6 x [10.sup.-6]). Although these variants may be individually rare, they target genes involved in neuronal cell-adhesion or ubiquitin degradation, indicating that these two important gene networks expressed within the central nervous system may contribute to the genetic susceptibility of ASD.
ASDs, including autism, are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in social and communication skills, as well as stereotyped and repetitive behaviours and/or a restricted range of interests. Current prevalence estimates [...]