G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
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The identification of rare inherited and de novo copy number variations (CNVs) in human subjects has proven a productive approach to highlight risk genes for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A variety of microarrays are available to detect CNVs, including single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) arrays. Here, we examine a cohort of 696 unrelated ASD cases using a high-resolution one-million feature CGH microarray, the majority of which were previously genotyped with SNP arrays. ⋯ Several of the CGH-specific CNVs are rare in population frequency and impact previously reported ASD genes (e.g., NRXN1, GRM8, DPYD), as well as novel ASD candidate genes (e.g., CIB2, DAPP1, SAE1), and all were inherited except for a de novo CNV in the GPHN gene. A functional enrichment test of gene-sets in ASD cases over controls revealed nucleotide metabolism as a potential novel pathway involved in ASD, which includes several candidate genes for follow-up (e.g., DPYD, UPB1, UPP1, TYMP). Finally, this extensively phenotyped and genotyped ASD clinical cohort serves as an invaluable resource for the next step of genome sequencing for complete genetic variation detection.