Vilidaite, Greta, Norcia, Anthony M, West, Ryan John Hatcher et al. (4 more authors) (2018) Autism sensory dysfunction in an evolutionarily conserved system. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 20182255. p. 20182255. ISSN 1471-2954
Abstract
There is increasing evidence for a strong genetic basis for autism, with many genetic models being developed in an attempt to replicate autistic symptoms in animals. However, current animal behaviour paradigms rarely match the social and cognitive behaviours exhibited by autistic individuals. Here we instead assay another functional domain – sensory processing – known to be affected in autism to test a novel genetic autism model in Drosophila melanogaster. We show similar visual response alterations and a similar development trajectory in Nhe3 mutant flies (total N=72) and in autistic human participants (total N=154). We report a dissociation between first- and second-order electrophysiological visual responses to steady-state stimulation in adult mutant fruit flies that is strikingly similar to the response pattern in human adults with ASD as well as that of a large sample of neurotypical individuals with high numbers of autistic traits. We explain this as a genetically driven, selective signalling alteration in transient visual dynamics. In contrast to adults, autistic children show a decrease in the first-order response that is matched by the fruit fly model, suggesting that a compensatory change in processing occurs during development. Our results provide the first animal model of autism comprising a differential developmental phenotype in visual processing.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Keywords: | autism,animal model,Drosophila,sensory processing,visual system |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Biology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 23 Nov 2018 10:00 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 15:14 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2255 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rspb.2018.2255 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:139107 |
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