This is an especially important connection as mutations and deletions in L1CAM, a structural ortholog of SAX-7, have already been implicated in dendritic arborization (Patzke et al. 2016), mutations in L1CAM-associated pathway components have already been implicated in autism spectrum disorder (An et al. 2014) and the C. elegans orthologs of ANK2 and L1CAM (unc-44 and sax-7, respectively) directly and functionally interact in other aspects of neuronal development (Zhou et al. 2008). This evidence concerns the gene L1CAM and autism spectrum disorder.