Autism: Random? Or mom?

So does autism occur randomly? Or can it be traced genetically to mom? Two publications report two different views of an autism study from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Scientific American reports the scientists came up with a new genetic model for autism that divides families into two groups: those with a low likelihood of children with autism, and those with a higher likelihood.

"The team determined that most cases of autism arise from novel, spontaneous mutations passed down from one or both parents, resulting in large gaps in a person's genome often encompassing several genes, which are then disrupted or inactivated."

[Why those spontaneous mutations might be occurring at an estimated rate of one in every 150 children was not discussed.]

Newsday pointed instead at mom's role in conveying autism.

"What Wigler and his team found is a previously unrecognized pattern: Mothers, they say, acquire genetic mutations spontaneously that are specific to autism, which can be passed to their children. The mothers do not themselves exhibit traits of the disorder, but they have a 50 percent chance of transmitting the trait."

Once again, those refrigerator moms can't win.