Genes, Brain and Behavior (2003) 2: 303–320 Copyright # Blackwell Munksgaard 2003 Bioinformatic analysis of autism positional candidate genes using biological databases and computational gene network prediction A. L. Yonan†,‡, A. A. Palmer†, K. C. Smith†, inform studies of autism, and to illustrate and explore I. Feldman†,††, H. K. Lee†, J. M. Yonan§, the increasing potential of bioinformatic approaches as † †,†† *,†,‡, S. G. Fischer , P. Pavlidis and T. C. Gilliam { a compliment to linkage analysis. Keywords: 17q, AGRE sample, autism, association studies, †Columbia Genome Center, Columbia University, New York, bioinformatics, candidate genes ‡ Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, Received 30 June 2003, revised 20 August 2003, accepted New York, for publication 21 August 2003 ¶Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, §Division of Molecular Genetics, Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Columbia University, New York, Autism is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that ††Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, severely impairs development of normal social and emotional New York, USA interactions and related forms of communication. Disease *Corresponding author: T. C. Gilliam, Columbia Genome Center, symptoms characteristically include unusually restricted and 1150 St. Nicholas Avenue, Room 508, New York, NY 10032, USA. E-mail:
[email protected] stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. Autism describes the most severe manifestation