Study Traces Autism's Origin to the Rise of Human Intelligence
19 hours ago
- #autism
- #neurodiversity
- #schizophrenia
- A new study suggests that genes responsible for human intellect also increase the chances of having autistic or schizophrenic traits.
- Researchers compared RNA from over a million cells across six mammalian species and found rapid transformation in human neocortical neurons, linked to autism and schizophrenia.
- The neocortical brain region, involved in cognition and language, showed changes in genes associated with these neurodevelopmental conditions.
- The study supports the hypothesis that natural selection for human-specific traits may have increased the likelihood of certain disorders like autism.
- Autism prevalence in humans may be a direct result of natural selection for genes that conferred benefits to ancestors but made neurons more sensitive to perturbation.
- Autism and schizophrenia have high heritability, with up to 80% of autism cases linked to inherited gene mutations.
- The research was published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.