Genetic screening of autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder: A review

Abstract

Neurodevelopmental disorders are conditions that arise from aberrant encephalon magnification and development, are perennial, crippling illness. Autism spectrum disorder (autism) is a common neurodevelopmental disability characterized by motor, social, cognitive function, stereotypies. This study aimed to investigate the genetic constitution of autism, an animal model named zebrafish serves as an indispensable tool for this purpose. Zebrafish is a highly gregarious species that acts as a suitable animal model system that affects convivial functions such as autism. Since transparent embryos are developed externally in zebrafish, it enables to conduct pharmacological screens for recognition of minute molecules along with genetic manipulation, facilitated through the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technologies, enabling the screening of the developing nervous system directly, large progenies, and substantial tractability. Mutational analysis of the genetic function has been used to suppress or express mutations in zebrafish homologs of human genes for the direct expression of human genes bearing mutations cognate to a neurodevelopmental disorder. Two areas of future research are addressed through the ease and relative speed of conducting experiments in zebrafish, which includes environmental factors contributing to disease onset, and screening for novel therapeutic compounds. This study found that zebrafish have become available for cell-based analysis and have been used for the prosperous modelling of autism. Continued innovations in zebrafish genetic implements will continue to make it a captivating neurological disease model.