Genomic Variation, Evolvability, and the Paradox of Mental Illness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15528016 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Camillo Thomas Gualtieri (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Pages | 593233-593233 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.593233 |
| PMID | 33551865 |
| OpenAlex | W3122223443 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 370 |
Twentieth-century genetics was hard put to explain the irregular behavior of neuropsychiatric disorders. Autism and schizophrenia defy a principle of natural selection; they are highly heritable but associated with low reproductive success. Nevertheless, they persist. The genetic origins of such conditions are confounded by the problem of variable expression, that is, when a given genetic aberration can lead to any one of several distinct disorders. Also, autism and schizophrenia occur on a spectrum of severity, from mild and subclinical cases to the overt and disabling. Such irregularities reflect the problem of missing heritability; although hundreds of genes may be associated with autism or schizophrenia, together they account for only a small proportion of cases. Techniques for higher resolution, genomewide analysis have begun to illuminate the irregular and unpredictable behavior of the human genome. Thus, the origins of neuropsychiatric disorders in particular and complex disease in general have been illuminated. The human genome is characterized by a high degree of structural and behavioral variability: DNA content variation, epistasis, stochasticity in gene expression, and epigenetic changes. These elements have grown more complex as evolution scaled the phylogenetic tree. They are especially pertinent to brain development and function. Genomic variability is a window on the origins of complex disease, neuropsychiatric disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders in particular. Genomic variability, as it happens, is also the fuel of evolvability. The genomic events that presided over the evolution of the primate and hominid lineages are over-represented in patients with autism and schizophrenia, as well as intellectual disability and epilepsy. That the special qualities of the human genome that drove evolution might, in some way, contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders is a matter of no little interest
Autism · Biology · Copy-number variation · Evolutionary biology · Evolvability · Gene · Genome · Genomics · Psychiatry · Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming · Genetic Associations and Epidemiology · Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities · Genomics and Rare Diseases · Psychology · Genetics
Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems
Finding the missing heritability of complex diseases
Canalization of Development and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters
Great ape genetic diversity and population history
Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance
The International HapMap Project
The Sequence of the Human Genome
An Expanded View of Complex Traits
Rethinking schizophrenia
Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome
Nothing in Biology Makes Sense except in the Light of Evolution
DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types
Understanding the Complexity of Economic, Ecological, and Social Systems
Chaos, self-organization, and psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |