Inheritance - polydactyly

Question 1

what do people with polydactyly have?

Answer 1

extra fingers or toes

Question 2

what is polydactyly caused by?

Answer 2

dominant allele. this means a person with one copy of the polydactyly allele and one copy of the normal allele will have polydactyly

Question 3

you can’t be a _______ of the polydactyly allele

Answer 3

carrier

Question 4

Father = polydactyly (Pp) heterozygous
Mother = unaffected (pp) homozygous

Answer 4

P p
p Pp pp
p Pp pp

2/4 = unaffected
2/4 = polydactyly

these are just possibilities, all off offspring could have disease or all unaffected

Question 5

solution to inherited diseases? explain?

Answer 5

embryo screening - embryos are tested to see if they have the alleles for inherited disorders. embryos which don’t have the defective alleles are implanted into the woman which can develop into healthy offspring

Question 6

issues for embryo screening?

Answer 6

• expensive. some people think money should be spent elsewhere in the Health Service
• often large number of embryos are created but only a small number are implanted. that means some healthy embryos are destroyed and some people think that it’s unethical
• in the future, may be able to screen embryos to produce offspring with desirable features. people find this unethical

Question 7

what do scientists believe they can do in the future to treat inherited disorders?

Answer 7

correct faulty alleles - called gene therapy but still experimental right now

Question 8

what do scientists believe they can do in the future to treat inherited disorders?

Answer 8

correct faulty alleles - called gene therapy but still experimental right now