Pathology

See Also

• Autosomal dominant
• Inheritance
• Epigenetics
• Mendelian inheritance
• Mitochondrial DNA
• Multifactorial
• Quantitative trait locus analysis

Description

A number of genetic disorders are due to the change of a single gene, resulting in an enzyme or other protein not being produced or having altered functionality, they are called monogenic disorders. The change can be trivial and relatively harmless in its effects, such as color blindness, or lethal such as Tay-Sachs. Other disorders, though harmful to those afflicted with them, appear to offer some advantage to carriers; as in carriers of sickle cell anemia and thalassemia appearing to have enhanced resistance to malaria. Several hereditary diseases are sex-linked, meaning that they afflict one sex much more common than the other because the mutation is located on the X (or, rarely, on the Y) chromosome.

Transmission of single gene disorders

Where genetic disorders are the result of a single mutated gene they can be passed on to subsequent generations in the following ways, however genomic imprinting and uniparental disomy may affect inheritance patterns. The divisions between recessive and dominant are not "hard and fast" although the divisions between autosomal and X-linked are (related to the position of the gene). For example, achondroplasia is typically considered a dominant disorder, but kids with two genes for achondroplasia have a severe skeletal disorder that achondroplasics could be viewed as carriers of. Sickle-cell anemia is also considered a recessive condition, but carriers of it have increased immunity to malaria in early childhood, which could be described as a dominant condition.

Autosomal dominant

Only one mutated copy of the gene is needed for a person to be affected by an autosomal dominant disorder. Each affected person usually has one affected parent. There is a 50% chance that a child will inherit the mutated gene. Many disease conditions that are autosomal dominant have low penetrance, which means that, although only one mutated copy is needed, a relatively small proportion of those who inherit that mutation go on to develop the disease, often later in life. Examples of this include mutations on BRCA1 and BRCA2, which increase the probability of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and several other cancers.

Autosomal recessive

Two copies of the gene must be mutated for a person to be affected by an autosomal recessive disorder. An affected person usually has unaffected parents who each carry a single copy of the mutated gene (and are referred to as carriers). Two unaffected people who each carry one copy of the mutated gene have a 25% chance with each pregnancy of having a child affected by the disorder.

X-linked dominant

X-linked dominant disorders are caused by mutations in genes on the X chromosome. Only a few disorders have this inheritance pattern. Females are more frequently affected than males, and the chance of passing on an X-linked dominant disorder differs between men and women. The sons of a man with an X-linked dominant disorder will not be affected, and his daughters will all inherit the condition. A woman with an X-linked dominant disorder has a 50% chance of having an affected daughter or son with each pregnancy. Some X-linked dominant conditions, such as Aicardi Syndrome, are fatal to boys, therefore only girls have them (and boys with Klinefelter Syndrome).

X-linked recessive

X-linked recessive disorders are also caused by mutations in genes on the X chromosome. Males are more frequently affected than females, and the chance of passing on the disorder differs between men and women. The sons of a man with an X-linked recessive disorder will not be affected, and his daughters will carry one copy of the mutated gene. With each pregnancy, a woman who carries an X-linked recessive disorder has a 50% chance of having sons who are affected and a 50% chance of having daughters who carry one copy of the mutated gene.

Y-linked

Y-linked disorders are caused by mutations on the Y chromosome. Only males can get them, and all of the sons of an affected father are affected. Since the Y chromosome is very small, Y-linked disorders only cause infertility, and may be circumvented with the help of some fertility treatments.

Mitochondrial

This type of inheritance, also known as maternal inheritance, applies to genes in mitochondrial DNA. Because only egg cells contribute mitochondria to the developing embryo, only females can pass on mitochondrial conditions to their children.

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Attribution

• This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Genetic disorder".