I understand your epigenetic hypothesis but don’t totally buy it.
developmental damage can occur to the child in the womb that was not an inherited factor.
Caused possibly by malnutrition of the mother.
Look at FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome).
Look at the role of folic acid in preventing spinal bifida, clearly a developmental dysfunction that was not inherited, but is genetically regulated.
developmental damage can occur to the child in the womb that was not an inherited factor.
Caused possibly by malnutrition of the mother.
Look at FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome).
Look at the role of folic acid in preventing spinal bifida, clearly a developmental dysfunction that was not inherited, but is genetically regulated.
I was speaking specifically of autism. Its behavior is that of a disease that is influenced by many genes and also has some environmental components. Twin studies have shown that both members of identical twin pairs are more likely than fraternal twin pairs to be autistic. That suggests to me that most of the epigenetic changes are already there at conception, and that maybe one or two additional changes in the right genes are enough to cause or prevent autism in someone who is right on the edge. The damage has to occur during development.
My hypothesis could be generalized to an extent to other genetic diseases that seem to have an environmental component, but would not apply to diseases like fetal alcohol syndrome or other diseases caused by malnutrition or exposure to toxins.