Autism is a complex genetic neuropsychiatric condition characterized by deficits in social interaction and language and patterns of repetitive or stereotyped behaviors and restricted interests. Chromosome 15q11.2-q13 is a candidate region for autism susceptibility based on observations of chromosomal duplications in a small percentage of affected individuals and findings of linkage and association. We performed linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping across a 1-Mb interval containing a cluster of GABA(A) receptor subunit genes (GABRB3, GABRA5, and GABRG3) which are good positional and functional candidates. Intermarker LD was measured for 59 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers spanning this region, corresponding to an average marker spacing of 17.7 kb(-1). We identified haplotype blocks, and characterized these blocks for common (>5%) haplotypes present in the study population. At this marker resolution, haplotype blocks comprise <50% of the DNA in this region, consistent with a high local recombination rate. Identification of haplotype tag SNPs reduces the overall number of markers necessary to detect all common alleles by only 12%. Individual SNPs and multi-SNP haplotypes were examined for evidence of allelic association to autism, using a dataset of 123 multiplex autism families. Six markers individually, across GABRB3 and GABRA5, and several haplotypes inclusive of those markers, demonstrated nominally significant association. These results are positively correlated with the position of observed linkage. These studies support the existence of one or more autism risk alleles in the GABA(A) receptor subunit cluster on 15q12 and have implications for analysis of LD and association in regions with high local recombination.

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Autism [MIM 209850] is a neurodevelopmental disorder exhibiting a complex genetic etiology with clinical and locus heterogeneity. Chromosome 15q11-q13 has been proposed to harbor a gene for autism susceptibility based on (1) maternal-specific chromosomal duplications seen in autism and (2) positive evidence for linkage disequilibrium (LD) at 15q markers in chromosomally normal autism families. To investigate and localize a potential susceptibility variant, we developed a dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) map of the maternal expression domain in proximal 15q. We analyzed 29 SNPs spanning the two known imprinted, maternally expressed genes in the interval (UBE3A and ATP10C) and putative imprinting control regions. With a marker coverage of 1/10 kb in coding regions and 1/15 kb in large 5 0 introns, this map was employed to thoroughly dissect LD in autism families. Two SNPs within ATP10C demonstrated evidence for preferential allelic transmission to affected offspring. The signal detected at these SNPs was stronger in singleton families, and an adjacent SNP demonstrated transmission distortion in this subset. All SNPs showing allelic association lie within islands of sequence homology between human and mouse genomes that may be part of an ancestral haplotype containing a functional susceptibility allele. The region was further explored for recombination hot spots and haplotype blocks to evaluate haplotype transmission. Five haplotype blocks were defined within this region. One haplotype within ATP10C displayed suggestive evidence for preferential transmission. Interpretation of these data will require replication across data sets, evaluation of potential functional effects of associated alleles, and a thorough assessment of haplotype transmission within ATP10C and neighboring genes. Nevertheless, these findings are consistent with the presence of an autism susceptibility locus in 15q11-q13.

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The importance to in vivo translation of sequences immediately upstream of the Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) start codon was examined at two developmental stages. Mutations were introduced into the Adh gene in vitro, and the mutant gene was inserted into the genome via germ line transformation. An A-to-T substitution at the -3 position did not affect relative translation rates of the ADH protein at the second-instar larval stage but resulted in a 2.4-fold drop in translation of ADH at the adult stage. A second mutant gene, containing five mutations in the region -1 to -9, was designed to completely block translation initiation. However, transformant lines bearing these mutations still exhibit detectable ADH, albeit at substantially reduced levels. The average fold reduction at the second-instar larval stage was 5.9, while at the adult stage a 12.5-fold reduction was observed.