from Hacker News

Knocking out one key gene leads to autistic traits

by marc__1 on 9/17/24, 7:18 PM with 89 comments

• by fsckboy on 9/17/24, 7:49 PM

  Knocking out one key gene leads to traits that have some similarity to autistic traits; in mice, namely less vocalization and socialization, more hyperactive and repetitive behaviors.

  so, we're talking about at a very zoomed out level, but the gene responsible is already "implicated" in human neurodevelopmental conditions in the cerebellum.

• by squigz on 9/17/24, 10:19 PM

  I'm going to post this as a top-level comment since there's too many people I want to respond to.

  There's a lot of important discussion when this sort of topic comes up. I agree that this might be a slippery slope if applied incorrectly, but that isn't a good reason not to conduct the research. I also don't ever see anyone applying that slippery slope argument to, say, blindness research.

  Anyway, what's more important to me is that there's always suggestions that autism isn't something that needs to be cured, because all we need is for society to be more accepting of us, and we'll be okay.

  That's really only part of the picture. Autism affects every moment of our lives, not just when we're interacting with society. How will society being more accepting stop my sensory overload issues? Or help my executive disfunction, so I can properly take care of myself? How will it help our difficulties connecting with people, even when those people are already accepting and patient with us?

  I have to wonder where people who suggest these things fall on the spectrum, to think that the problems living with autism are so limited.

• by rzmmm on 9/18/24, 7:30 AM

  In my opinion this kind of genetic research on autism strengthens the view that mild to moderate autistic traits are inherited features, not pathological diseases. The heritability estimates of autistic traits are very high, even higher than e.g. human height. I don't want to undermine the real symptoms of anyone with autism, I'm sure they can be a real pain. But I'm skeptical of e.g. treating autism with therapy, it reminds me of conversion therapies.

• by olliej on 9/18/24, 1:28 AM

  1) in mice

  2) autism like traits

  3) plenty of other cases of “knock out one gene” lead to everything from allergies to neurological problems, to missing limbs and organs. It should not be surprising that someone could find a gene that caused neurological issues, that look similar to autism when you lack all the methods for distinguishing autism from any other neurological disorder.

• by mass_and_energy on 9/17/24, 8:41 PM

  Does this open the door to genetic screening of the unborn child to test for autism? One of the main reasons that I as someone living with autism don't intend on having biological children is because I don't want them to grow up with it, but testing for it would really change that.

• by kulahan on 9/17/24, 7:40 PM

  A family member of mine has been working with research teams to try and understand this disorder. I truly think we're at the point where a cure might be feasible - years ago, I remember them talking about trying to detect autism in the womb!

• by BurningFrog on 9/17/24, 7:46 PM

  ...in mice!