The effect of the genetic liability to autism spectrum disorder on emotion recognition in young unaffected probands from a population-based cohort

We investigated how ASD genetic risk relates to neurodevelopmental features (491 traits tested) via polygenic risk scoring (PRS) in 4,309 young non-ASD probands from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. ASD PRS most strongly associated with the ability to correctly identify angry facial emotions in youths aged 11-17 years (R 2 =1.06%, p=1.38×10 −7 ) and replicated similarly in older probands (>18 years) (R 2 =0.55%, p=0.036). The association in 11- to-17-year-old probands was independent of other psychiatric disorders, brain imaging phenotypes, and educational attainment. ASD PRS also associated with proband-reported emotionality and connectedness with others. The proband-reported irritability trait was highly correlated with angry facial emotion recognition (r 2 =0.159, p=2.74×10 −5 ) but was independently associated with ASD PRS (R 2 =1.20%, p=1.18×10 −4 ). Several informant-reported (i.e., typically mother-reported) traits were predicted by the proband’s ASD PRS, including duration of fear (R 2 =0.156%, p=0.001). These data indicate how genetic liability to ASD may influence neurodevelopment in the general population, especially the development of emotional intelligence.