On the Heritability of Asperger's

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I know a number of aspies out in meatspace. I've heard it said that the aspie gene is on the Y chromosome so does that mean I should assume my father and all their fathers are aspie?

I hope people don't say that too much---often seems to me the researchers don't, most of them, want to accept girls and women can have.

I didn't mean to suggest women can't be aspie. I know several aspie women in meatspace. It's just that even they seem to have gotten it from their fathers because they seem to have NT mothers.

Some women have aspergers. And its likely that more women have it than have been heretofore recognized as having it. The sex ratio is still probably lopsidely male though. But the fact that some women have it disproves that its on the Y chromosome because girls dont have the Y chromosome.

I had this idea that although women can be aspie they're unlikely to pass it on to their kids where as men could pass it on to their sons and daughters. I guess if women were effected but didn't pass it on that would still prevent it from being something that exists on the Y chromosome. I just didn't have a better way of describing it. I'm no geneticist.

So are their less female aspies or are they just harder to diagnose due to having milder symptoms?

Anyway, should I assume that all aspies have at least one aspie parent? Is it possible for an aspie to have two NT parents?
In other words could they be muggleborn?

There is no "Aspie gene".

Hundreds of candidate genes have been identified that correlate to some statistically significant degree with having Asperger's, but they are spread all over the genome, on every chromosome, including the X chromosome.

There are some single genes that can cause ASD, but "Fragile X" - the most common single gene that can cause autism - only accounts for about 5% of all cases of autism.

ASD is usually "mutlifactorial" - the result of a combination of various genetic and non-genetic factors.

Even if it's heritable, it's certainly not a single gene.

Let's say I didn't mean the aspie gene literally. Think of it as a colloqualism to descrive the complex set of genes that leads to autism. So gene could be a collqualism for genes, sort of like how X chromosome could be a colloquium for all 23 X chromosomes.

Anyway, it was not my intention to start a battle of the sexes. Is it possible for an aspie to have two NT parents?

If I did get my AS from someone it would be my mother. She's not diagnosed but she exhibits the symptoms of having HFA. My father is not AS at all and is quite NT.

Obviously, there is no "aspie gene." The heritability of autism spectrum disorders is more subtle.

There's a familial relationship, but definitely not a classic Hegelian one. It's very common for identical twins to have an ASD--but the "severity" between the twins varies. For example, one might have classic autism, and the other Asperger's. It's much less common for both fraternal twins to have an ASD.

It's quite possible that whatever genetic material is involved in ASD's induces a "predisposition" towards acquiring an ASD, rather than guaranteeing the acquisition of an ASD.

So have the geneticists figured it out yet?

It might indicate that the MALE is the one most likely to pass it on?

It could indicate that the male is most likely to pass it on or it could indicate that the male is most likely to be diagnosed.

Heritability does not mean a guarantee of something.

Consider height, an indisputably heritable trait. People in the 17th century were markedly shorter than people today. How can it be that a strongly heritable trait CHANGED?

The answer is that heritability does not imply an absence of environmental effect. Diets improved from the 17th to the 21st centuries and people got taller. Same genes. Different environment. DIfferent outcome.

Add to this the certainty that the genetic factors behind the heritability of Autism are polygenic. There is no single nucleotide polymorphism or mutation at work here. Polygenic traits are, in general, strongly influenced by environment. So the recent news that environment played a significant role in the expression of autism was no surprise to genetic researchers and in no way contradicts the heritability of autism.

It is possible for an aspie to have two NT parents. It is likely that autism has a different impact on males and females
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 125236.htm

In the past decade the very interesting field of epigenetics has really expanded scientific inquiry. It's been gradually realised that genetic influence is not as simple as inheriting this gene or that - as used to be thought; now the focus is on what turns certain genes on and off. Some genes are inherited and for some people "expressed", others inherit the same gene and it does not have any effect, because it never "switches on".

So the realisation is growing that the old deterministic way of looking at genetic determinants was a seriously flawed theory. It was a theory that was disseminated as fact, and is still entrenched in popular consciousness, though gradually this will change as more and more information is found and published about what switches any gene on or off.

What is known at this stage is that genes are influenced by the environment - including the prenatal environment - far more than was previously thought. So - for example - an NT could have all the suspected ASD genes and be completely NT in their life all their life.