Autosomal dominant inheritance characteristics
Examples of autosomal dominant disorders
Autosomal recessive characterisitics
Autosomal recessive example and what it affects
cystic fibrosis
affects the lungs, pancreas, sweat glands and sometimes other organs
What is the mutation in cystic fibrosis and what does it do?
CF gene is on chromosome 7 which encodes a transmembrane protein that transports chloride ions. The mutation disrupts normal chloride transport.
Treatment for cystic fibrosis
X-linked recessive inheritance characteristics
X-linked dominant inheritance characteristics
Y-linked inheritance
What is translocation?
A segment of DNA on one chromosome breaks and moves onto another chromosome. This forms a larger abnormal chromosome. There are still 46 chromosomes. Usually, part of chromosome 21 moves onto chromosome 14
What are satellite regions?
bits of DNA that stick up above the chromosome
What is a hydatidiform mole?
When all chromosomes are of paternal origin
Give 2 example of a loss of function mutations
a-thalassaemia - deletion of a-globin gene
ATM - ataxia telangiectasia mutated
Give 2 examples of gain of function mutations
FGFR3 mutation in achondroplasia
Down syndrome - increases production of normal protein
What happens in the FGFR3 mutation?
causes independent activation of the tyrosine kinase domain
causes innapropriate inhibition of chondrocyte proliferation
leads to shortening of bones - achondroplasia
What is the mutation in sickle cell anaemia?
Single base change that changes the amino acid from glutamine to valine
It decreases the solubility of deoxygenated Hb
forms stiff fibrous polymers that distort RBC giving it a sickle shape
What is a multigenic trait and give two examples
multiple genes involved
digenic disorder
retinitis pigmentosum
What is ataxia tenlangiectasia?
Autosomal recessive disorder
progressive cerebellar degeneration
immunodeficinecy
unusual sensitivity to ionising radiation
It is a recessive disorder so individuals are either homozygous for the ATM mutation of heterozygous with two different mutations
How could you test for AT?
X-ray induced chromosome damage due to exposure to radiation - AT patients are extra sensitive to ionising radiation
Increased radiation sensitivity means there will be increased DNA double strand breaks
Would a carrier of the ATM gene be expected to show heightened sensitivity to radiation?
No
What can be used to detect the ATM protein and what will it tell you?
Western blot
Will show the presence/absense of protein but won’t give an indication of how ,much protein is present
Even if protein is present, Western blot will not give information about whether it is functional
What does an absense of the ATM protein show?
It is a feature of AT caused by a nonsense mutation
What could the presence of the ATM protein show?
Analysis in patients with no ATM function
expectation would be to find two null mutations
Two nonsense mutations leading to truncated proteins leads to total loss of protein