Genetics Flashcards
Pleiotropy
more than one phenotype for a given genetic mutation (ie PKU)
Imprinting
Difference in phenotype depend on whether mutation is maternal or paternal origin; Prader Willi and Angelman’s syndromes
Dominant negative mutation
heterozygous mutation that exerts a dominant effect by producing a nonfunctional protein (ie. A nonfunctional transcription factor that still happens to bind DNA so acts to block wild type transcription factor) that prevents normal gene product from doing its job (another example is marfan’s fibrillin mutation disrupts normal fibrillin)
Linkage disequilibrium
When two alleles occur together more often than would be expected by chance alone.
Mosaicism
Loss of genetic information during mitosis; Lyonization, Mutation in the embryonic precursor of the bone marrow stem cell
Locus heterogeneity
One phenotype from produced by different loci mutations; Marfan’s syndrome, MEN 2B, albinism, homocystinuria
Heteroplasmy
Presence of normal and mutated mtDNA results in variable expression of mito inherited disease
Uniparental disome
Offspring receive 2 copies from one parent and none from the other.
Prader-Willi syndrome
Normally inactivated maternal allele is active. Paternal allele is either deleted or abnormally silenced or has uniparental disomy from mother. Chr 15; Mental retardation, hyperphagia, obesity, hypogonadism, hypotonia
Angelman’s syndrome
Normally inactivated paternal allele is active. Maternal allele is either deleted, inactivated, or uniparental disomy of father; Mental retardation, seizures, ataxia, inappropriate laughter
Patau syndrome
nondisjunction 47, XX, +13; arises during maternal meiosis I; Early defect in prechordal mesoderm development. Midface, eye, forebrain most affected: Cleft lip/palate, microphthalmia, microcephaly, holoprosencephaly, absent olfactory nerve, polydactyly, rocker-bottom feet, PDA, VSD, PCKD, Omphalocele or umbilical hernia
Causes of Down syndrome
Meitic nondisjunction of Chr 21 almost always of maternal origin; unbalanced robertsonian translocation where extra arm of chromosome 21 is attached to another chromosome; mosaicism where patients have a normal cell germ line and a trisomy germ line.
Hemophilia B/A Disorder’s Inheritance is
X-linked recessive
Huntington inheritance
autosomal dominant
Lesch-Nyhan inheritance
X-linked recessive
Leber hereditary optic neuropathy inheritance
mitochondrial
t(8;14)
Burkitt’s lymphoma; myc protooncogene is moved to 14 in front of immunoglobulin heavy chain.
t(9;22)
CML; bre-abl
t(11;14)
Mantle cell lymphoma; Activation of cyclin D gene
13q deletion
CLL association
t(15;17)
AML M3
3p deletion
Von Hippel-Lindau; autosomal dominant; medullary, cerebellar, and retinal hemangioblastomas; pheochromocytomas; pancreatic, hepatic, renal cysts; renal cell carcinoma
Fragile X gene
X-linked defect affecting methylation and expression of FMR1 gene. Trinucleotide repeat disorder of CGG resulting in hypermethylation of cytosine bases and gene inactivation
Cystic Fibrosis Mutation
Autosomal Recessive; Chromosome 7; deletion of Phe 508, mutation causes abnormal protein folding so it is degraded before even reaching the membrane. Normally the channel is activated by cAMP signaling and ATP gated
Cystic hygromas
seen mostly in Turner’s patients; tumor mostly located on neck and seen at birth. Swelling of the hands and feet is another manifestation. Swelling may decrease with age
Congenital Hypothyroidism
lethargic, poor feeding, prolonged jaundice, constipation, hypotonia, pale cool skin, myxedema; Umbilical Hernia, increased risk of heart defects. T4 is essential for myelination
Trisomy 21 genetic abnormalities
Nondisjunction due to a failure of homologous chromosomes to separate in meiosis I or sister chromatids to separate during meiosis II.
Pick bodies
eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusions in cortical neurons in Pick disease
Lewy Bodies
inclusions that contain neurofilaments seen in neurons of substantia nigra in Parkinson
Conditions associated with Downs
AML, ALL, Parkinson, Hirschsprungs and Duodenal atresia
Neurofibrillary tangles
beta-amyloid accumulation in brain tissue and vessel walls.
Inhibition of gene expression in Huntington disease occurs via
CAG repeats lead to abnormal hintingtin protein which decreases the expression of other genes by inhibiting their transcription via hypermethylation of histones.
Reassortment
changes in genomic composition that occur when host cells are co-infected with two segented viruses that exchange whole genome segments. Can cause sudden alterations in the surface antigens of viral progeny
Recombination
exchange of genes between two chromosomes (dsDNA) by crossing over within homologous regions.