Y haplogroup and autism

[Expredel]

I was looking at a 2002 study and noticed something unusual.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1899172/

Out of 75 French autistic subjects 25% belonged to haplogroup I1, in the control group of 40 subjects (which is entirely too small) 25% belonged to haplogroup I1.

Based on other studies we know that I1 rarely rises above 10% in France, so it appears there is something unusual going on here?

 

[Maciamo]

I wouldn't draw any conclusion on such a small sample size. There is a high likelihood that this is just sampling bias and nothing more. If at least they tested the Y-DNA of 1000 autistic people (in a country with a high haplogroup diversity like France, not in a place like Finland), then we could start wondering about a potential link with Y-DNA.

 

[Aberdeen]

I was looking at a 2002 study and noticed something unusual.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1899172/

Out of 75 French autistic subjects 25% belonged to haplogroup I1, in the control group of 40 subjects (which is entirely too small) 25% belonged to haplogroup I1.

Based on other studies we know that I1 rarely rises above 10% in France, so it appears there is something unusual going on here?

The paper states that the samples are from subjects from France, Norway and Sweden and that "within the population of subjects affected by autism, males shared less similitude among them than they did when compared with their own relevant control group", so the specific subclade didn't appear to matter much. The paper also states that their theory is that it's the non-recombining nature of polymorphisms in Y DNA that increases likelihood of autism. That wouldn't be specific to a particular haplogroup.

 

[Melancon]

I read an article somewhere that hinted that people with more Neanderthal DNA had a more likely chance to score positive on Autism tests.

Unfortunately, I can't be bothered to go and dig it up right now.

 

[RobertColumbia]

I wouldn't draw any conclusion on such a small sample size. There is a high likelihood that this is just sampling bias and nothing more. If at least they tested the Y-DNA of 1000 autistic people (in a country with a high haplogroup diversity like France, not in a place like Finland), then we could start wondering about a potential link with Y-DNA.

Did you read the article? It says "Overall, there is no significant difference in haplogroup distribution between the autistic subjects and the relevant general population. An analysis was performed on samples divided by geographic region using Fisher exact test. This indicated no significant differences between autistic and control males in any of the two populations (French, P = 0.54 ± 0.003; Scandinavian, P = 0.27 ± 0.003). Moreover, French and Scandinavian autistic populations were significantly different (P < 0.0005), as were their control populations (P < 0.0005), indicating that, within the population of subjects affected with autism, males shared less similitude among them than they did when compared with their own relevant control populations." (S. Jamain et al., 2002)

The article is telling us that y-haplotypes don't seem to be related to autism. French people with autism have the same haplogroup distribution as French people without autism. French people with autism don't have the same haplogroup distribution as Scandinavians with autism, and of course those Scandinavians with autism look like their non-autistic neighbors in terms of haplogroup distribution.

 

[Twilight]

I'm autistic myself with Ydna R1B-U152 and MTDNA J1c7a with 2.9% Neanderthal Dna if that helps

 

[nr9]

I don't think it is related to haplogroups.

 

[RobertColumbia]

I don't think it is related to haplogroups.

I don't think it is primarily related to haplogroups. It could possibly have a small, nearing trivial impact, but I think that autosomal DNA and childhood upbringing are going to have a much greater effect, the same way that they do with many other developmental conditions and mental disorders. If haplogroups were a primary cause, presumably we would be seeing significant ethnic differences in autism rates, something I don't see any evidence of. There's also the problem of how to explain autism in girls, who don't (usually) have a copy of their father's yDNA.