Yale study - Autism has always been part of evolution

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Kraichgauer
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07 Mar 2017, 12:49 am

Lintar wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Lintar wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Lintar wrote:
"However, multiple forms of evidence support that autism and high intelligence quotient share a diverse set of correlates, such as large brain size, fast brain growth, increased sensory and visual-spatial abilities, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attentional focus, high socioeconomic status, more deliberative decision-making, and high levels of positive assortative mating."

'Multiple forms of evidence' - No, there is NO evidence for the claims made in the quote above. The belief that 'autism' and high intelligence go together is a myth just like the belief that those who are 'on the spectrum' also lack empathy. 'Large brain size'??? Seriously? 'High socioeconomic status' - okay, this is a joke. It has to be. How can this particular claim possibly be true when, according to some, about 70 to 85 percent of us are either unemployed or underemployed?


Do you mind if I ask if you yourself are on the spectrum?


You can ask, but obviously you have doubts for some reason that I actually am. Do I sound like an N.T.? Maybe, after all these years, I'm starting to change and become more like the people I associate with.


No, I don't doubt that you're an Aspie. I just wondered why you should have a negative attitude against your brother and sister Aspies.


Maybe it's just the way I write, the words I use, because this isn't the first time I've been called negative. I try to be neither a pessimist nor an optimist, but rather a realist. Maybe it's not working (oops, I'm being negative again). It is also true that I really, REALLY do not like being "an Aspie", for reasons too long, boring and personal to go into here. Maybe the bitterness is showing.


Bitter or not, there's much to be said about making peace with yourself.


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Chronos
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07 Mar 2017, 2:13 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Widespread signatures of positive selection in common risk alleles associated to autism spectrum disorder

Quote:
our knowledge, the current findings provide the first genome-wide evidence for the strong presence of natural-selection signatures in the systems genetics of ASD. Although many authors hypothesized a strong involvement of evolutionary mechanisms in ASD and several studies investigated candidate genes. no evidence of widespread positive selection on ASD-associated SNPs was previously reported. Using genome-wide data, we observed that common alleles associated with increased risk for ASD present a signature of positive selection in European populations. This strongly suggests that these variants have undergone positive selection during the course of human evolutionary history. Genetic correlation results support this hypothesis: ASD genetics (i.e., the set of risk variants that collectively–on a population level–influences ASD risk) strongly correlates with years of schooling, college completion, childhood intelligence, and openness to experience (S5 Table, data available at http://ldsc.broadinstitute.org/). Although these are robust genetic correlation results, further studies are needed to confirm the role of cognitive abilities in the evolutionary mechanisms involved in ASD genetics. However, multiple forms of evidence support that autism and high intelligence quotient share a diverse set of correlates, such as large brain size, fast brain growth, increased sensory and visual-spatial abilities, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attentional focus, high socioeconomic status, more deliberative decision-making, and high levels of positive assortative mating. Accordingly, the genomic signatures observed in ASD risk alleles could be due to their positive associations with cognitive ability. In 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported an ASD prevalence of 1.47% in the US population (1 in 68 children; data available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html). These epidemiological data can be interpreted in relation to the recent studies regarding the genetics of ASD where common genetic variation explains 49% of the ASD heritability and inherited rare and de novo mutations account for only 6% . Considering rare variation, the strongest contribution seems to be played by de novo single nucleotide variants (SNV) and copy number variants (CNV) with a reduced (but still significant) contribution from rare inherited variants. In particular, rare variation associated with ASD is enrichened for disruptive truncating alleles. Accordingly, two different evolutionary mechanisms are likely to be present in relation to ASD genetics. Rare disruptive variants predisposing to ASD are under strong purifying selection (selective removal of deleterious alleles), as already observed in certain ASD genes. Conversely, genetic predisposition to ASD due to common variants is highly polygenic and, taken together on a population level, these alleles present beneficial effects with respect to cognitive ability. This positive selection for ASD risk alleles increased their occurrence in human populations, and this provides a possible explanation for the disease prevalence observed by epidemiological studies. A trait related to rare alleles under strong purifying selection should present much lower prevalence. Furthermore, we observed that common ASD risk alleles with evidence of positive selection are enriched for many biological processes related to developmental mechanisms and, in particular, to mechanisms related to nervous system development. This agrees with the strong evidence indicating that the processes related to human brain development are more responsible for distinctive human traits. Accordingly, ASD risk alleles could positively affect these mechanisms, causing better cognitive ability in carriers as a consequence. However, an excessive burden of these risk variants is correlated with the onset of the developmental disorders included in the autism spectrum as the evolutionary cost.


If this is cooberated the widely derided Autism is the next step in human evolution people got it half right.


How can something that severely minimizes a person's chance at reproduction be the next step in evolution?

Did you reproduce? Did your offspring reproduce? That's all nature is concerned with with respect to evolution.



naturalplastic
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07 Mar 2017, 5:08 am

Lintar wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
Its an extremely complex read it looks like.


Admittedly it does.

naturalplastic wrote:
But it sounds like they are saying what I have sometimes wondered about-that autism is a by product of other trends in evolution. Trends driven by positive natural selection (like increased intelligence, or increases in certain kinds of intelligence).


You could have something there, because it seems to be the case that brute force, for example, which used to be so important to our chances of success in the past, are these days of peripheral importance. The 'jobs of the future' will involve a familiarity with complex technology, and so something like being able to find flaws in a programme, for example, which is something that 'Aspies' tend to be better than most at, will be favoured. Is this basically what you meant?



Sort of.

Am thinking more of in the sweep the last several thousand years.

For most of our history we (the human race) were nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived within nature.

Once we invented the plow (shortly after the Ice Age) we settled down into communities with large numbers of sedentary people. Became obsessed with property and status. Had to deal with symbols. Folks who could read, and count beyond three had leg up in survival (most hunter gatherer tribes of today only have four numbers: one, two, three, and "many"), and rose in status.

And then in the last 300 years in the west folks became more mobile with the westward movement, and with the invention of railroads and steamships. Instead of marrying within your village you found mates where you went to college. Which is good for genetic health. But as the effect of folks with same IQ finding others from gene pools thousands of miles away with the same IQ as mates. This would result in the subsequent generations have more booksmart geniuses. But might also cause there to be more autistics than before (just a thought).



ASPartOfMe
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07 Mar 2017, 5:15 am

Chronos wrote:
ASPartOfMe wrote:
Widespread signatures of positive selection in common risk alleles associated to autism spectrum disorder

Quote:
our knowledge, the current findings provide the first genome-wide evidence for the strong presence of natural-selection signatures in the systems genetics of ASD. Although many authors hypothesized a strong involvement of evolutionary mechanisms in ASD and several studies investigated candidate genes. no evidence of widespread positive selection on ASD-associated SNPs was previously reported. Using genome-wide data, we observed that common alleles associated with increased risk for ASD present a signature of positive selection in European populations. This strongly suggests that these variants have undergone positive selection during the course of human evolutionary history. Genetic correlation results support this hypothesis: ASD genetics (i.e., the set of risk variants that collectively–on a population level–influences ASD risk) strongly correlates with years of schooling, college completion, childhood intelligence, and openness to experience (S5 Table, data available at http://ldsc.broadinstitute.org/). Although these are robust genetic correlation results, further studies are needed to confirm the role of cognitive abilities in the evolutionary mechanisms involved in ASD genetics. However, multiple forms of evidence support that autism and high intelligence quotient share a diverse set of correlates, such as large brain size, fast brain growth, increased sensory and visual-spatial abilities, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attentional focus, high socioeconomic status, more deliberative decision-making, and high levels of positive assortative mating. Accordingly, the genomic signatures observed in ASD risk alleles could be due to their positive associations with cognitive ability. In 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported an ASD prevalence of 1.47% in the US population (1 in 68 children; data available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html). These epidemiological data can be interpreted in relation to the recent studies regarding the genetics of ASD where common genetic variation explains 49% of the ASD heritability and inherited rare and de novo mutations account for only 6% . Considering rare variation, the strongest contribution seems to be played by de novo single nucleotide variants (SNV) and copy number variants (CNV) with a reduced (but still significant) contribution from rare inherited variants. In particular, rare variation associated with ASD is enrichened for disruptive truncating alleles. Accordingly, two different evolutionary mechanisms are likely to be present in relation to ASD genetics. Rare disruptive variants predisposing to ASD are under strong purifying selection (selective removal of deleterious alleles), as already observed in certain ASD genes. Conversely, genetic predisposition to ASD due to common variants is highly polygenic and, taken together on a population level, these alleles present beneficial effects with respect to cognitive ability. This positive selection for ASD risk alleles increased their occurrence in human populations, and this provides a possible explanation for the disease prevalence observed by epidemiological studies. A trait related to rare alleles under strong purifying selection should present much lower prevalence. Furthermore, we observed that common ASD risk alleles with evidence of positive selection are enriched for many biological processes related to developmental mechanisms and, in particular, to mechanisms related to nervous system development. This agrees with the strong evidence indicating that the processes related to human brain development are more responsible for distinctive human traits. Accordingly, ASD risk alleles could positively affect these mechanisms, causing better cognitive ability in carriers as a consequence. However, an excessive burden of these risk variants is correlated with the onset of the developmental disorders included in the autism spectrum as the evolutionary cost.


If this is cooberated the widely derided Autism is the next step in human evolution people got it half right.


How can something that severely minimizes a person's chance at reproduction be the next step in evolution?

Did you reproduce? Did your offspring reproduce? That's all nature is concerned with with respect to evolution.


If this is cooberated it is the "next" part they got wrong.

It might have been less difficult for autistics to reproduce back in the days of arraigned marriages, women were expected to be subserviant to men, most jobs required minimal skills social and otherwise, and most people lived in sparsely populated areas.


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07 Mar 2017, 3:25 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Chronos wrote:
ASPartOfMe wrote:
Widespread signatures of positive selection in common risk alleles associated to autism spectrum disorder

Quote:
our knowledge, the current findings provide the first genome-wide evidence for the strong presence of natural-selection signatures in the systems genetics of ASD. Although many authors hypothesized a strong involvement of evolutionary mechanisms in ASD and several studies investigated candidate genes. no evidence of widespread positive selection on ASD-associated SNPs was previously reported. Using genome-wide data, we observed that common alleles associated with increased risk for ASD present a signature of positive selection in European populations. This strongly suggests that these variants have undergone positive selection during the course of human evolutionary history. Genetic correlation results support this hypothesis: ASD genetics (i.e., the set of risk variants that collectively–on a population level–influences ASD risk) strongly correlates with years of schooling, college completion, childhood intelligence, and openness to experience (S5 Table, data available at http://ldsc.broadinstitute.org/). Although these are robust genetic correlation results, further studies are needed to confirm the role of cognitive abilities in the evolutionary mechanisms involved in ASD genetics. However, multiple forms of evidence support that autism and high intelligence quotient share a diverse set of correlates, such as large brain size, fast brain growth, increased sensory and visual-spatial abilities, enhanced synaptic functions, increased attentional focus, high socioeconomic status, more deliberative decision-making, and high levels of positive assortative mating. Accordingly, the genomic signatures observed in ASD risk alleles could be due to their positive associations with cognitive ability. In 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported an ASD prevalence of 1.47% in the US population (1 in 68 children; data available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html). These epidemiological data can be interpreted in relation to the recent studies regarding the genetics of ASD where common genetic variation explains 49% of the ASD heritability and inherited rare and de novo mutations account for only 6% . Considering rare variation, the strongest contribution seems to be played by de novo single nucleotide variants (SNV) and copy number variants (CNV) with a reduced (but still significant) contribution from rare inherited variants. In particular, rare variation associated with ASD is enrichened for disruptive truncating alleles. Accordingly, two different evolutionary mechanisms are likely to be present in relation to ASD genetics. Rare disruptive variants predisposing to ASD are under strong purifying selection (selective removal of deleterious alleles), as already observed in certain ASD genes. Conversely, genetic predisposition to ASD due to common variants is highly polygenic and, taken together on a population level, these alleles present beneficial effects with respect to cognitive ability. This positive selection for ASD risk alleles increased their occurrence in human populations, and this provides a possible explanation for the disease prevalence observed by epidemiological studies. A trait related to rare alleles under strong purifying selection should present much lower prevalence. Furthermore, we observed that common ASD risk alleles with evidence of positive selection are enriched for many biological processes related to developmental mechanisms and, in particular, to mechanisms related to nervous system development. This agrees with the strong evidence indicating that the processes related to human brain development are more responsible for distinctive human traits. Accordingly, ASD risk alleles could positively affect these mechanisms, causing better cognitive ability in carriers as a consequence. However, an excessive burden of these risk variants is correlated with the onset of the developmental disorders included in the autism spectrum as the evolutionary cost.


If this is cooberated the widely derided Autism is the next step in human evolution people got it half right.


How can something that severely minimizes a person's chance at reproduction be the next step in evolution?

Did you reproduce? Did your offspring reproduce? That's all nature is concerned with with respect to evolution.


If this is cooberated it is the "next" part they got wrong.

It might have been less difficult for autistics to reproduce back in the days of arraigned marriages, women were expected to be subserviant to men, most jobs required minimal skills social and otherwise, and most people lived in sparsely populated areas.


I would say today Autism is still a disadvantage in reproduction.



ASPartOfMe
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07 Mar 2017, 6:46 pm

For the reasons, I listed above I think it is more of a disadvantage today in reproduction and other areas also.


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jrjones9933
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07 Mar 2017, 7:19 pm

I spread memes, not my seed. This idea that the only real success is reproductive success can suck it.


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07 Mar 2017, 7:25 pm

jrjones9933 wrote:
I spread memes, not my seed. This idea that the only real success is reproductive success can suck it.

From an evolutionary eye an organisms fitness is based on how well the organism can reproduce, but since we are people we can think more and add our own opinions on what makes a great life.



naturalplastic
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08 Mar 2017, 11:24 pm

jrjones9933 wrote:
I spread memes, not my seed. This idea that the only real success is reproductive success can suck it.


We are not talking about how you define "success" in your personal life.

Were talking about evolution through natural selection.

If trait X were indeed "the next stage in evolution" then presumably that would be so because trait X would aid and abet members of the species who have the trait to reproduce and leave more progeny in each generation- thereby making said trait more common in each generation- and so on.