Dad's DNA could hold clues to Autism warning signs (Photo : REUTERS/ALI JAREKJI)
Researchers in a new study have discovered that DNA extracted from sperm of fathers' whose children showed warning signs of autism, displayed patterns that could contribute to the condition.
It is reported that autism is usually passed on through inheritance, as the complex behavioural disorder is said to be present in families.
A study conducted by researchers at the John Hopkins University were out to determine the cause of the condition and if there was a link in epigenetic tags, which is the gene that controls the signals received by a cell.
Andrew Feinberg director of the Center for Epigenetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the Science Daily that it was his curiosity to discover what happened to individuals before they contracted the conditions that led to the study.
A detailed brief of the finding of the study were published recently in the International Journal Of Epidemiology.
Autism also known as the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is reported to affect 1 in sixty eight children in the United States.
While previous studies have narrowed down some possible genes responsible for the condition, it still remains largely unexplained.
Professor Daniele Fallin, a lead researcher on the team doing the study told the Science Daily that if changes in epigenetic tags were taking place it would most probably be detectable in sperm.
While sperm is easier to sample than a female's eggs, he told Science Daily it was more prone to environmental changes, which in turn would alter the DNA on their epigenetic tags.
Families who took part in the study included those who had at least one child with the condition and where the mother was expecting another.
Forty four sperm samples were taken by researchers from fathers and a year after the birth of the babies in the family, the toddlers were tested for warning signs that could indicate ASD.
Researchers used the ASD Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI), which looks at behaviour of babies and gives a score rating from 0-18.
A high score would indicate the child is at a higher potential of developing ASD.
In conclusion researchers claimed that changes in epigenetic tags in a father's DNA seemed to increase the instance of his child developing the condition.
Especially, if the family has a child who is already linked to the condition.
As the study was a small one researches plan to confirm the finding through further research using more families and look at environmental conditions and occupations of fathers involved.
