Analyses of gene activity may yield clues to roots of autism (via Spectrum News)

The number of genetic variants implicated in autism is large and growing, but it’s increasingly clear that identifying these variants is only the beginning of the quest to understand the biology of autism.

Genes not only store information but also serve as templates for RNA transcripts that then give rise to the proteins that function in a cell. So it is crucial that we understand which genes show differences in their RNA levels, too.

This is particularly important because although autism may affect large numbers of genes, their functions appear to converge on only a few biological pathways. [READ MORE]