Is it true that spontaneous germ line mutations are because of the mother's age?

Does this headline make sense?   Study: Autism linked to genetic mutations, mother's age"Almost all cases [of spontaneous mutations] happen in the mother and are transmitted by the mother," he said, adding that the trait for Down is transmitted at the moment of conception. The trait is not hereditary in the same sense a "disease gene" is transmitted from one generation to the next.  `Michael Wigler

Malaspina-
"The causal mechanism underlying the well-established relation between advancing paternal age and schizophrenia is hypothesized to involve mutational errors during spermatogenesis that occur with increasing frequency as males age. Point mutations are well known to increase with advancing paternal age while other errors such as altered copy number in repeat DNA and chromosome breakage have in some cases also been associated with advancing paternal age. Dysregulation of epigenetic processes may also be an important mechanism underlying the association between paternal age."
Other names for spontaneous mutations  are de novo or non-familial mutations or germ line mutations. Spontaneous mutations could be a misleading term.
In some syndrome associated with the paternal age effect the testis actually selected for the sperm with the mutation.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12900791&dopt=MEDLINE
Perrin MC, Brown AS, Malaspina D.
2Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY.

The causal mechanism underlying the well-established relation between advancing paternal age and schizophrenia is hypothesized to involve mutational errors during spermatogenesis that occur with increasing frequency as males age. Point mutations are well known to increase with advancing paternal age while other errors such as altered copy number in repeat DNA and chromosome breakage have in some cases also been associated with advancing paternal age. Dysregulation of epigenetic processes may also be an important mechanism underlying the association between paternal age and schizophrenia. Evidence suggests that advancing age as well as environmental exposures alter epigenetic regulation. Errors in epigenetic processes, such as parental imprinting can have serious effects on the offspring both pre- and postnatally and into adulthood. ........
In biology, if you research spontaneous mutations you will see that in plants, animals and human spontaneous mutations occur with a far greater frequency in the paternal germ line.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/94/16/8380


EvolutionMale-biased transmission of deleterious mutations to the progeny in Arabidopsis thaliana Carrie-Ann Whittle* and Mark O. Johnston
Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J1
Edited by Ronald R. Sederoff, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, and approved February 3, 2003 (received for review January 29, 2003
THE AGE OF THE FATHER AND THE
HEALTH OF FUTURE GENERATIONS?
Leslie B. Raschka M.D., Associate Professor (retired),
Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Address: 27 Edgecombe ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5N 2Xl, Tel. (416) 783-6938
2
Abstract
Purpose: To assess the role of paternal age in the origin of genetic illness in future generations.
Data Sources: All reference data originated in English language international scientific literature and findings of original research conducted by myself.
Study Selection: Original articles published between 1938 and 1998 were selected according to the stated purpose. One article was written by myself.
Data Extraction: The present paper deals with 4 subtopics: andrology, genetics, pathology, and psychiatry.
Results: Nine articles reporting on 1399 patients described the deterioration of the quality of semen related to ageing. Five articles reported an increased mutation rate in the male germ cells as compared to the female...