GeneRegulator writes "The NY Times is running a story on communities that are forming around kids with rare genetic mutations. New technology that can scan chromosomes for small errors is being applied first to children with autism and other "unexplained developmental delays." It turns out that many of them have small deletions or duplications of DNA, and doctors creating a whole new taxonomy of syndromes with names like 16p11.2 and 7q11.23 that refer to the affected region of the genome. Meanwhile, hundreds of little groups are forming around the banner of their children's shared mutations.
As new research shows that many of us have small deletions and duplications of DNA that separate us from our parents, and that many of these "copy number variants" contribute to skills and senses the families described in the story may presage the formation of all sorts of "communities of the genetically rare" in the general population, not just amongst the developmentally delayed." Link to Original Source
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wow, mutants amoung us (Score:1)