Benítez-Burraco Antonio
Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
Mol Syndromol. 2020 Jan;10(6):306-312. doi: 10.1159/000505116. Epub 2019 Dec 21.
Human self-domestication (i.e., the presence of traits in our species that are commonly found in domesticated animals) has been hypothesized to have contributed to the emergence of many human-specific features, including aspects of our cognition and behavior. Signs of self-domestication have been claimed to be attenuated in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this conceivably accounting for facets of their distinctive cognitive and behavioral profile, although this possibility needs to be properly tested. In this study, we have found that candidate genes for mammal domestication, but not for neural crest development and function, are significantly dysregulated in the blood of subjects with ASD. The set of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) is enriched in biological and molecular processes, as well as in pathological phenotypes, of relevance for the etiology of ASD, like lipid metabolism, cell apoptosis, the activity of the insulin-like growth factor, gene expression regulation, skin/hair anomalies, musculoskeletal abnormalities, and hearing impairment. Moreover, among the DEGs, there are known candidates for ASD and/or genes involved in biological processes known to be affected in ASD. Our findings give support to the view that one important aspect of the etiopathogenesis of ASD is the abnormal manifestation of features of human self-domestication.
人类自我驯化(即我们物种中存在的通常在驯化动物中发现的特征)被认为促成了许多人类特有的特征的出现,包括我们认知和行为的各个方面。有人声称,自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)个体的自我驯化迹象有所减弱,这可以解释他们独特的认知和行为特征的某些方面,尽管这种可能性需要得到适当验证。在这项研究中,我们发现,哺乳动物驯化的候选基因,而非神经嵴发育和功能的候选基因,在ASD患者的血液中显著失调。差异表达基因(DEG)集在与ASD病因相关的生物学和分子过程以及病理表型中富集,如脂质代谢、细胞凋亡、胰岛素样生长因子的活性、基因表达调控、皮肤/毛发异常、肌肉骨骼异常和听力障碍。此外,在这些DEG中,有已知的ASD候选基因和/或参与已知在ASD中受影响的生物学过程的基因。我们的研究结果支持了这样一种观点,即ASD病因发病机制的一个重要方面是人类自我驯化特征的异常表现。