Included titles and symbols : Autism, susceptibility to, 14a; AUTS14A;
Description : Recurrent microdeletions and microduplications of approximately 555 kb at chromosome
16p11.2 confer susceptibility to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in up to 1% of ASD
patients (summary by Fernandez et al., 2010). The 16p11.2 deletion frequently cosegregates
with severe early-onset obesity (Bochukova et al., 2010; Walters et al., 2010). For
a discussion of the clinical features and cytogenetics of the reciprocal 16p11.2 duplication,
see 614671. There are several phenotypes associated with variation in pericentric
region of chromosome 16: see the 16p12.2-p11.2 deletion syndrome (613604); see 136570
for discussion of a recurrent 520-kb deletion at 16p12.1 associated with developmental
delay and craniofacial dysmorphism; and see 613444 for a 220-kb deletion at 16p11.2
associated with isolated severe early-onset obesity and obesity with developmental
delay. Battaglia et al. (2009) emphasized that the region at 16p11.2 that confers
susceptibility to autism is located more centromeric to and is distinct from 16p12.2-p11.2
region involved in the multiple congenital anomalies and intellectual disabilities
phenotype (613604).;