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Achondroplasia is a skeletal system disorder caused by a recessive allele that can still result in a live birth in the homozygous state. [8] One mutant allele for achondroplasia can be tolerated, but having two results in death. In the case of homozygous achondroplasia, death almost invariably occurs before birth or in the perinatal period.
In humans, eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents. [1] Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome is called its genotype. [2]
Some disorders are caused by a mutation on the X chromosome and have X-linked inheritance. Very few disorders are inherited on the Y chromosome or mitochondrial DNA (due to their size). [3] There are well over 6,000 known genetic disorders, [4] and new genetic disorders are constantly being described in medical literature. [5]
Autosomal traits are associated with a single gene on an autosome (non-sex chromosome)—they are called "dominant" because a single copy—inherited from either parent—is enough to cause this trait to appear. This often means that one of the parents must also have the same trait, unless it has arisen due to an unlikely new mutation.
Mendelian traits behave according to the model of monogenic or simple gene inheritance in which one gene corresponds to one trait. Discrete traits (as opposed to continuously varying traits such as height) with simple Mendelian inheritance patterns are relatively rare in nature, and many of the clearest examples in humans cause disorders.
Over time, with isolation, such as a population bottleneck caused by purposeful (assortative) breeding or natural environmental factors, the deleterious inherited traits are culled. [6] [7] [32] Island species are often very inbred, as their isolation from the larger group on a mainland allows natural selection to work on their population.
It is caused by mutations in the LMNA (lamin A protein) gene on chromosome 1; the mutated form of lamin A is commonly known as progerin. One of the authors, Leslie Gordon, was a physician who did not know anything about progeria until her own son, Sam , was diagnosed at 22 months.
X chromosome. The factor IX gene is located on the X chromosome (Xq27.1-q27.2). It is an X-linked recessive trait, which explains why males are affected in greater numbers. [9] [10] A change in the F9 gene, which makes blood clotting factor IX (9), causes haemophilia B. [11]