Watching my children grow and develop their own personalities has been an incredible experience. They have defied my belief that what I do as a parent will have a lot of impact on the people they are. Sure I have made some genetic contributions and I hope that some of the things I try to teach them stick. But since they were born they have been finding their own way of thinking and doing things.

They each have their quirks and challenges and as with most parents I often find myself questioning whether they should be checked for one thing or another.

I recently had a discussion with a friend who has a son with autism and found myself fascinated by what might going on at a genetic and cellular level in his brain.

When I did a bit of research I found that there is an awful lot we don’t know or understand about autistic spectrum disorders. What causes them, what is happening in the brain and whether we may be able to better help people with autism. Studies have tried to identify a single gene that might cause autism but have failed and new research out this week makes this idea seem even less likely.

A group of scientists in Sweden looked at the occurrence of mutations in the genes of 3,000 children with autism compared to 3,000 children without autism.

Dr Joseph Buxbaum, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) explained that: “Genetic variation likely accounts for roughly 60 per cent of the liability for autism.”

The striking thing about this new research is that of that 60 per cent about 49 per cent of the genetic variation is made up of common mutations. These are mutations that you or I are very likely to have.

This evidence offers support for the idea that autism is caused by a collection of common mutations. It is not clear whether the collection of mutations is likely to be the same in every person with autism.

If other complex conditions such as cancer give us any clues it may be a bit like a lottery – that of all the possible mutations, you need a certain number, of any combination of mutations to get the condition.

This study also resurrected the national genetic database debate. It was only possible because of Sweden’s unique ability to access such huge quantities of genetic data via its national database.

It provides a compelling “pro” for national databases in a time when advances in medical research on complex diseases and disorders are only likely to come from comparison among huge quantities of genetic information.

I try to celebrate the uniqueness of my children, even when they are being difficult, and I hope that with some science behind us we, as a society will learn to celebrate difference among children.

This research supports the idea that, on a genetic level at least, we probably all share some of the mutations that autistic people have.

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