What is meant by autosomal dominant?
What are characteristics of autosomal inheritance patterns?
What is the definition of PENETRANCE?
The percentage of individuals expressing the disorder to any degree (sever or mild) - many dominant disorders show age dependent penetrance
What is EXPRESSIVITY?
Variation in the severity if a disorder tween individuals with the same mutation
What is the new mutation rate?
‘De novo’ mutation rate varies considerably between different AD conditions
What is reproductive fitness?
In some AD disorders mutations carriers do not reproduce - the disorder is maintained in the population by new mutations
What is somatic mosaicism?
A new mutation arising at an early state in embryogenesis - present only in some tissues/cells
What is germ-line mosaicism?
(Gonadal mosaicism) a new mutation arises during oogenesis or spermatogenesis - the mutation is present in a variable proportion of the gametes and can be transmitted to the offspring
What is paternal age effect?
The chance of a new mutation increases with advancing paternal age
What is ANTICIPATION?
Worsening of disease severity in successive generations - characteristically occurs in triplet repeat disorders
What is AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE inheritance?
What are characteristic patterns of autosomal excessive inheritance?
About x-linked inheritance…
Women have 2 X chromosomes –> two copies of x-linked genes
Men have 1 X and 1 Y –> only a single copy of x-linked genes
Can be…
RECESSIVE: women are carriers, no make to make transmission
DOMINANT: women are affected, males more severely affected/lethal
What are patterns of x-linked inheritance?
What is skewed x-inactivation?
Normally the majority of genes on one of a woman’s x-chromosomes are inactivated. This is generally random but ~10% of women have uneven or skewed x-inactivation >80:20%
What are manifestation carriers?
Some women do have symptoms in x-linked recessive conditions eg cardiomyopathy in DMD - unfavourable skewing of x-inactivation may help to explain this
About mitochondrial inheritance…
Threshold effect: normal mitochondrial function below a proportion of abnormal mtDNA but abnormal above it
What is heteropasmy?
The presence of more than one type of organelles genome (mtDNA) within a cell of individual. It is an important factor in considering the severity of mitochondrial diseases.
What is the basics if mitosis and meiosis?
Daughter cells created after mitosis are generally identical to parent cells.
Meiosis is the type of cell division by which eggs and sperm are produced. Meiosis involves a reduction in the amount of genetic material
How do we look at chromosomes?
What are methods of chromosome identification?
What is FISH?
Fluorescence in situ hybridisation
Specific DNA probe used to identify a region if interest (gene, locus, centromere, etc)
cultured cells, metaphase spread
microscopic (5-10 Mb)
What is aneuploidy?
HAPLOID: one set of chromosomes (n=23) as in a normal gene
DIPLOID: cell contains two sets of chromosomes (normal in human)
POLYPLOID: multiple of the haploid number
ANEUPLOID: chromosome number which is not an exact multiple if the haploid number - due to extra or missing chromosome(s)
Changes can be in the germline or be as a result of mosaicism
What is mosaicism?
The presence of two or more genetically different cell lines derived for a single zygote