Modeling the quantitative nature of neurodevelopmental disorders using Collaborative Cross mice.

All mice were male, so the study does not address how female mice would behave in this model. The study tested mice, not humans, and it did not test any therapy, so it cannot tell a therapist whether to change assessment or treatment. The set of mouse lines was not enough to resolve the genetic regions down to single genes. Each line had only 5 to 6 mice on average, and some traits were not continuously distributed or had low genetic influence, so several behaviors did not yield genetic regions. The X-chromosome region for digging was very broad, so the exact causal gene was not identified.

Funding was provided by a ZonMW Vidi Grant, the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, and the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Do not read these mouse genetic associations as evidence that a gene causes autism in people or that a treatment should change. The study tested male mice in a laboratory, not patients, and it did not evaluate any clinical intervention.