complex diseases Flashcards
monogenic diseases
those where there is a direct relationship between the disease gene and the disease status
Genotype and phenotype closely correlate (high penetrance) Variants CAUSE the disease (1 disease, 1 gene)
The traits presented so far are qualitative
= white eyed or red eyed flies
= cystic fibrosis or no cystic fibrosis
Quantitative traits
Traits with variation showing a
continuous range of phenotypes
e.g. human height, weight, colour, metabolic rate, behaviour
polygenic
Varying phenotypes result from input of many genes
Multifactorial or complex traits
result of a combination of several genes and environmental factors
Complex (polygenic) diseases often show genetic predisposition, but individual genes only marginally affect disease status
Genotype and phenotype poorly correlate (low penetrance)
Variants PREDISPOSE to the disease (1 disease, many genes)
example of multifactorial inheritance
skin colour additive effect complex trait - many genes - environment
single gene vs multifactorial
single gene
- risk remains the same regardless if no. affected
- if parent is carrier there is 1/2 risk
- 1 child had disease the risk of another child is still 1/2
multifactorial
- recurrent risk increases because the couple are high risk
- if 1 child is affected, the recurrent risk is 1 in 25
- if 2 children are affected, the recurrent risk is now 1 in 12
Multifactorial disorders display familial clustering with no recognised pattern of Mendelian inheritance
- Most common cause of congenital malformations 2. Cause of many common acquired diseases
- More prevalent than single gene disorders
- Harder to find the genetic factors / causes
not all polygenic traits show continuous variation
in large sample the data will reflect normal distribution
instead of using interval (so groups like age on x axis) we use number of predisposing alleles in genotype
there will be a certain point (threshold) where there is a higher frequency of disease. thus moving away from normal distribution
3 types of polygenic traits
continuous traits
meristic traits
- phenotype can be recorded by counting integers
threshold traits
- polygenic and often multifactorial
- small number of discrete phenotypic classes
- increasing number of diseases show this pattern
most common multifactorial diseases with a threshold
cleft lip neural tube defect congenital heart defect asthma diabetes autism
multi-gene hypothesis
- A quantitative trait has continuous variation that can be quantified (measured)
- Two or more loci scattered in the genome account for the hereditary influence on the trait in an additive way
- Each gene locus is occupied by either an additive allele or a non- additive allele
- The contribution of each additive allele is approximately equal
- Together, the additive alleles contributing to a single quantitative character produce substantial phenotypic variation
calculating number of polygenes
Number of polygenes (n) contributing to quantitative trait is estimated based on ratio of F2 individuals resembling either of two extreme P phenotypes
- 1/4n = ratio of F2 individuals expressing either extreme phenotype
- For low number of polygenes: (2n + 1) = number of distinct phenotypic categories observed
i.e. 1 gene = 3 classes (1/4, 1/2, 1/4)
2 genes = 5 classes (1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16)
Heritability (H2)
the proportion of the total phenotypic
variance (VP) within a certain population that is due to genetic variance (VG) H2 = VG/VP
Different in different environments
A mean heritability estimate of 0.65 for human height does not mean that your height is 65% due to your genes, but rather that in the population sampled, on average, 65% of the overall variation in height could be explained by genotypic differences among individuals in that population.
Familial
a trait shared by a family; they may not share the same genotype e.g. an adopted child speaks the same language as the rest of the family. This
is not heritable, because it is not genetic.
Heritable
a trait shared by people with the same genotype
If an environmental change affects all individuals in a population equally
the mean changes but the variance (heritability) stays the same
if the variance changes, the heritability changes
Gene-environment (G x E) interactions
interaction between genes and environment can play an important role in quantitative traits
broad-sense heritability H2
Measures the proportion of the variance in a population within a single
generation that is due to genetic factors
Gives an estimate of 0 to 1
Low heritability = variation is due mainly to environmental effects
High heritability = variation is due mainly to genotypic effects
Ignores genotype-by-environment interactions
Includes genetic values due to dominance and epistasis
additive gene action vs dominat gene action
for additive the homozygotes would be the two extremes and the heterozygote the intermediate
for dominant the homozygote are the two extremes and the heterozygote is the same as the dominant homozygote
Narrow-sense heritability h2
only takes into account the fully additive genetic variants = all plant or animals wth desired trait are homozygote dominant
in dominant genetic variants the heterozygote is also desired so it would take longer for selective breeding
H2 = Va/ Vp Va = additive variants Vp = total phenotypic variants
How to quantify and interpret heritability
A common way to assess if a trait is heritable is to look for a correlation between the parents and the offspring.
Narrow-sense heritability (h2) = a measure of how heritable a trait is, using family data
This measurement is used in animal and plant breeding to determine if a population can be changed by selective breeding.
Estimate narrow heritability by comparing the offspring value against the averaged value for the two parents (midparent value).
How do we determine if a family
has a higher risk of disease?
- Family members share a greater number of identical genetic variants than unrelated individuals
- The degree of family clustering of a disease can be expressed by the relative risk ratio (λR)
- Risk considers relative(s) (R) of an affected proband compared with the risk in the general population
relative risk ratio = disease prevalence in relatives R of probands / disease prevalence in population
Relative risk ratio interpretation
Higher λR values indicate greater proportion of risk in family compared to the population
Usually it increases with
• Increasing genetic contribution
• Decreasing population prevalence
Familial clustering: the role of environment
Familial clustering confounded by shared environment
If familial aggregation is detected, it does not always and only mean genetics is the explanation
Twin studies
DZ (fraternal non identical, same as siblings)
MZ= identical twins
if a trait is genetic, it should always be the sam in MZ twins
twin studies - concordance and discordance
Concordant twins*
Both affected (+ / +) or unaffected ( - / - )
Discordant twins
1 affected, 1 unaffected (+ / -)
concordance ratio (r) = concordance in MZ/ concordance in DZ r> 1 genetics play a role
High concordance does not prove that a trait has a genetic component
Limitations of twin studies: DZ twins can be of different sex, MZ twins may share more environmental factors, there are also epigenetics factors along life, X-chromosome inactivation, post-zygotic somatic mutations, etc
Adoption studies
Two approaches:
• Find adopted people who suffer from a particular disease known to run in families and ask whether it runs in their biological or adoptive family
• Find affected parents whose children have been adopted away from the family and ask whether being adopted saved the children from the family disease
Main obstacles: lack of information about the biological family, when adoption happened, intrauterine factors, and selective placement
linkage
property of loci
to identify biological mechanism for transmission of a trait
requires family pedigree
use polymorphic markers