By Trine Tsouderos |Tribune reporter

April 29, 2009

Researchers have found genetic variations that are significantly more common in people with autism — a discovery that may improve diagnosis and offers the promise of developing treatments for the frustratingly mysterious disorder.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, compared the genomes of thousands of autistic people to those of thousands of people without the disorder — a massive task that new technology only recently made possible. The genome is the complex system of DNA coding that builds and runs the human body.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-autism-genetics-29apr29,0,6754959.story