Exome-wide analysis identify multiple variations in olfactory receptor genes ( and ) associated with autism spectrum disorder in Saudi females.

BACKGROUND

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a multifactorial, neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by deficits in communication, restricted and repetitive behaviors. ASD is highly heritable in Saudi Arabia; indecencies of affected individuals are increasing.

OBJECTIVES

To identify the most significant genes and SNPs associated with the increased risk of ASD in Saudi females to give an insight for early diagnosis.

METHODS

Pilot case-control study mostly emphasized on the significant SNPs and haplotypes contributing to Saudi females with ASD patients ( = 22) compared to controls ( = 51) without ASD. With the use of allelic association analysis tools, 243,345 SNPs were studied systematically and classified according to their significant association. The significant SNPs and their genes were selected for further investigation for mapping of ASD candidate causal variants and functional impact.

RESULTS

In females, five risk SNPs at ≤ 2.32 × 10 was identified in association with autism. The most significant exonic variants at chromosome 6p22.1 with olfactory receptor genes ( and ) clustered with high linkage disequilibrium through haplotyping analysis. Comparison between highly associated genes (56 genes) of male and female autistic patients with female autistic samples revealed that 39 genes are unique biomarkers for Saudi females with ASD.

CONCLUSION

Multiple variations in olfactory receptor genes ( and ) and single variations on and genes are contributing to ASD in females of Arab origin. Accumulation of these multiple predisposed coding SNPs can increase the possibility of developing ASD in Saudi females.