Investigating genes, environments, and their interactions in the service of informing individualized diagnosis and treatment in developmental disabilities

Abstract

Developmental outcomes are determined by the interactions between myriad factors operating at many different levels (Bronfenbrenner, 1992; Sameroff, 2009). Broadly speaking, these factors may be related to the genetic background of the individual (genotype) as well as from the external world (environment) with which the individual interacts. During development, the interaction between genotype and environment (Genotype × Environment or G × E) is paramount to the ontogeny of the specific phenotype, which is the set of observable characteristics of the individual. Indeed, one way to conceptualize the diverse array of resulting phenotypes is as the result of different genotypes responding to environmental variation in different ways.