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Currently, there is great interest in identifying genetic variants that contribute to the risk of developing autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), due in part to recent increases in the frequency of diagnosis of these disorders worldwide. While there is nearly universal agreement that ASDs are complex diseases, with multiple genetic and environmental contributing factors, there is less agreement concerning the relative importance of common vs rare genetic variants in ASD liability. Recent observations that rare mutations and copy number variants (CNVs) are frequently associated with ASDs, combined with reduced fecundity of individuals with these disorders, has led to the hypothesis that ASDs are caused primarily by de novo or rare genetic mutations. Based on this model, large-scale whole-genome DNA sequencing has been proposed as the most appropriate method for discovering ASD liability genes. While this approach will undoubtedly identify many novel candidate genes and produce important new insights concerning the genetic causes of these disorders, a full accounting of the genetics of ASDs will be incomplete absent an understanding of the contributions of common regulatory variants, which are likely to influence ASD liability by modifying the effects of rare variants or, by assuming unfavorable combinations, directly produce these disorders. Because it is not yet possible to identify regulatory genetic variants by examination of DNA sequences alone, their identification will require experimentation. In this essay, I discuss these issues and describe the advantages of measurements of allelic expression imbalance (AEI) of mRNA expression for identifying cis-acting regulatory variants that contribute to ASDs.

The genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and the potential importance of common regulatory genetic variants