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Re:Autism and Evolution by nerdponx on Monday September 26, 2016 @02:09PM (#12584152)
When are we going to finally ditch the idea that heritable==genetic?
Re:Autism and Evolution by dsacco on Monday September 26, 2016 @02:20PM (#12584256)
>>When are we going to finally ditch the idea that heritable==genetic?

Well, considering the fact that "heritability" is a measure of how much of a given phenotype's expression is due to genetic variation, probably not soon. "Heritable" is not a word used to refer to environmental factors such as parental care and upbringing. In studies on heritability of specific traits, these environmental factors are used as classifications for broader observations of genetic variations (for example, in twin studies, was twin pair A raised in the same household like pair B?).

Going back to autism specifically, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative identified a single genetic mutation that accounted for 25% of diagnoses in their Simplex Collection[1], while the other 75% were impacted by 200-400 different genes. This data is available online as of 2016[2], though some analyses may be paywalled.

[1]: https://sfari.org/resources/autism-cohorts/simons-simplex-co...

[2]: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/features/foundation-news/si...

Re:Autism and Evolution by ricksplat on Tuesday September 27, 2016 @11:00AM (#12590066)
Which of these categories does "epigenetic" factors fall into? It seems to straddle both ...
Re:Autism and Evolution by wpietri on Monday September 26, 2016 @05:37PM (#12585809)
Thanks, dsacco. Exactly what I meant, but even better put.
Re:Autism and Evolution by nerdponx on Monday September 26, 2016 @06:40PM (#12586226)
Thanks for clarifying. In that case, let me rephrase: when are we going to stop assuming that everything that runs in families and is genetic?
Re:Autism and Evolution by jerf on Monday September 26, 2016 @08:24PM (#12586733)
Well, it would have to come after we start. I think you're boxing strawmen in your head. In the rest of the world the debate between nature and nuture has been vigorously raging for decades and there isn't a "winner".