Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22495306›Full record

ArticleNature2012

De novo mutations revealed by whole-exome sequencing are strongly associated with autism.

Stephan J Sanders, Michael T Murtha, Abha R Gupta, John D Murdoch, Melanie J Raubeson, A Jeremy Willsey, A Gulhan Ercan-Sencicek, Nicholas M DiLullo, Neelroop N Parikshak, Jason L Stein and 20 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1,236 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1,236citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1,236 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
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  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
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  15. Article
  16. Challenging the Developmental Substructure Model for Autism: A Perspective From Causal Statistics.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
    Article
  17. Article
  18. A Developmental Neuroimmune Cascade Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  19. Functional Genomics Studies of Psychiatric Disorders in Individuals of Latin American Populations: A Scoping Review.American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics · 2026
    Article
  20. Temporal and Cell-Specific Regulation of Synaptic Homeostasis by the Chromatin Remodeler Chd1.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Article

1,176 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

30 authors.

Stephan J SandersProgram on Neurogenetics, Child Study Center, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Michael T Murtha
Abha R Gupta
John D Murdoch
Melanie J Raubeson
A Jeremy Willsey
A Gulhan Ercan-Sencicek
Nicholas M DiLullo
Neelroop N Parikshak
Jason L Stein
Michael F Walker
Gordon T Ober
Nicole A Teran
Youeun Song
Paul El-Fishawy
Ryan C Murtha
Murim Choi
John D Overton
Robert D Bjornson
Nicholas J Carriero
Kyle A Meyer
Kaya Bilguvar
Shrikant M Mane
Nenad Sestan
Richard P Lifton
Murat Günel
Kathryn Roeder
Daniel H Geschwind
Bernie Devlin
Matthew W State

Funding

UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training ProgramT32GM008042 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI AJIJOLA, OLUJIMI A, DAWSON, DAVID WAYNE · 1985 to 2023
$29.9M
Development and Organization of the Human Frontal CortexU01MH081896 · NIMH · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI SESTAN, NENAD · 2009 to 2013
$5.7M
Research Training for Medical Students & Physician-Scientists in Child PsychiatryR25MH077823 · NIMH · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI ANDRES S MARTIN · 2006 to 2026
$4.0M
Identification of Candidate Genes at the Synapse in Autism Spectrum DisordersK08MH087639 · NIMH · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GUPTA, ABHA RANI · 2010 to 2013
$674k
Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM008042NIMH NIH HHS K08 MH087639NIMH NIH HHS R25 MH077823NIMH NIH HHS U01 MH081896
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Multiple studies have confirmed the contribution of rare de novo copy number variations to the risk for autism spectrum disorders. But whereas de novo single nucleotide variants have been identified in affected individuals, their contribution to risk has yet to be clarified. Specifically, the frequency and distribution of these mutations have not been well characterized in matched unaffected controls, and such data are vital to the interpretation of de novo coding mutations observed in probands. Here we show, using whole-exome sequencing of 928 individuals, including 200 phenotypically discordant sibling pairs, that highly disruptive (nonsense and splice-site) de novo mutations in brain-expressed genes are associated with autism spectrum disorders and carry large effects. On the basis of mutation rates in unaffected individuals, we demonstrate that multiple independent de novo single nucleotide variants in the same gene among unrelated probands reliably identifies risk alleles, providing a clear path forward for gene discovery. Among a total of 279 identified de novo coding mutations, there is a single instance in probands, and none in siblings, in which two independent nonsense variants disrupt the same gene, SCN2A (sodium channel, voltage-gated, type II, α subunit), a result that is highly unlikely by chance.

Indexed as

AllelesAutistic DisorderCodon, NonsenseExomeExonsGenetic HeterogeneityGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseHumansMutationNAV1.2 Voltage-Gated Sodium ChannelNerve Tissue ProteinsRNA Splice SitesSiblingsSodium ChannelsCodon, NonsenseNAV1.2 Voltage-Gated Sodium ChannelNerve Tissue ProteinsRNA Splice SitesSCN2A protein, humanSodium Channels

Identifiers

PMID22495306
PMCPMC3667984

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.