L46-47: Single Gene Disorders I-II Flashcards
What is triplet expansion and what is its effect on phenotype? How does this relate to anticipation?
- Higher the number of trinucleotide repeats of a gene, more severe the disease - Anticipation refers to the correlation between the number of TNRs and the severity increase of disease across generations
PKU. Inheritance, defect, frequency
- AR - IEM, Defect in Phe hydroxylase, Phe accumulates and damages the CNS. With many other IEM, screened for at birth - 1/2900
Sucrase-Isomaltase Deficiency
- AR - Sucrose/glucose polymer intolerance
Do you know how to determine mode of pedigree? Do you know how to draw and interpret a pedigree?
Well, find out
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
- AR and AD collagen disorder - Dominant forms of EDS are caused by mutations in the collage genes. Misfolded collagen molecules exert a dominant negative effect - Other forms of EDS are caused by mutations in enzymes required or the processing of collage molecules. As typical for enzyme defects, these mutations show a recessive mode of inheritance.
What is locus heterogeneity?
- Mutations in different genes cause the same phenotype
Explain the dominant inheritance of familial hypercholesterolemia
- FH is frequent 1/500 person disease, AD - Heterozygotes have 2-fold elevation in LDL levels as there are insufficient receptors to clear LDL from serum. Homozygotes have 4-fold evelated in LDL levels. This is an example of haploinsufficiency, allele heterogeneity - Symptoms: xanthomas
What is allele heterogeneity?
- Different mutations in the same gene cause different phenotypes. Mutations can be gain of function or loss of function
Define dominant negative effect
- Dominant negative effect: If the mutation produces an abnormal protein, the mutant protein may compete with the wildtype form. If the protein in question is part of a large complex, the presence of a few deformed mutant proteins may destabilize the structure. A dominant negative effect affects mostly structural proteins
Retinoblastoma
- Autosomal dominant inheritance, expression at cellular level is autosomal recessive - Defects in Rb protein, leads to predisposition and / or development of cancer - Two-hit model
What is pleiotropy?
- Mutation causes multiple phenotypes, not all carriers of the same mutation display the same set of phenotypes
Describe X chromosome inactivation
- In the first week of embryological development, inactivation of X c/s occurs in a random fashion. As a result, progeny cells arising will be mosaics.
Define gain of function.
- Gain of function: Mutated protein may have functions different from its wildtype variant. In this case, the few proteins with novel functions will have an effect no matter how many wildtype versions are present. This mechanism is frequently observed in signal transduction proteins.
Explain the impact of consanguinity on the risk for recessive disorders. How to calculate risk
- Consanguinity: relationships between two people who share a common ancestor - Since closely related individuals likely carry same mutant alleles inherited from a common ancestor, consanguinous matings will increase the risk for recessive genetic diseases - First cousins have 1/16 (0.0625%) chance of having an affected child
Neurofibromatosis type I. Inheritance, defect, frequency
- AD - Neurological defect in neurofibromin gene. Causes multiple benign tumors (neurofibromas) in skin, benign tumors on iris of eye called Lisch nodules, pigmented skin lesions (café-au-lait spots), tumors of CNS and mental retardation. New mutations, complete penetrance and variable expressivity - 1/3500
Describe Duschenne/Becker Muscular Dystrophies
- Both common x-linked recessive diseases - Affects 1/3000 - Defect in dystrophin leads to muscle damage. Gene is large target for new mutations. Large target - Pts are wheel-chair bound by age 12, death occurs before repro age
Characteristics of inheritance of mitochondrial disorders
- Does not follow Mendelian Rules - Mitochondria inherited from mother - Cells have many mitochondria with many copies of the chromosome, therefore leading to variable expression (heteroplasmy) - Mitochondrial DNA has mutation rate that is ~10X higher than nuclear DNA
Achondroplasia. Inheritance, defect, frequency
- AD - Caused by defect in FGFR3, gain of function mutation where receptor is constitutively active, exhibits dominant negative effect. Most frequent form of dwarfirsm. Initiation of bone growth leads to short stature. New mutations occur frequently in this disease. - Mutation hotspot
Discuss concept of reduced fitness and new mutations in context of autosomal dominant disorders
- In some autosomal dominant disease, an allele carriers has a reduced chance of reproduction, ie. reduced fitness - Therefore, reduced fitness of the carriers would lead to disappearance of the mutant alleles in populations - However, allele frequencies stay constant as new mutations appear constantly and compensate for the loss of mutant alleles - Low fitness of carriers means high percentage of new mutations - If parents are not affected by dominant disease, affected children could have inherited a new mutation - New mutations are seen in DMD, NF and achondroplasia. Genes implicated in these disorders are large, complex or contain mutation hotspots.
Perform a linkage analysis here to determine who is a carrier of this trait

- Affected individual is II-3 who carries A2,B3,C4 from father and A4,B2,C3 from mother. - II-2 carries A4,B2 and C3 from mother and is therefore a carrier - Carriers = parents and II-2 - Mutant allele lies on chromosomes carrying A2,B3,C4 and A4,B2,C3 - Individual alleles are not sufficient to diagnose/implicate an individual
Glycogen storage disorders
- AR - Hypoglycemia, accumulation of glycogen
Sickle Cell Anemia
- AR - Hemolysis
Characteristics of dominant and recessive inheritance patterns
1.) Recessive inheritance: one normal allele prevents disease, recessive inheritance is mostly observed in defects of enzymes/proteins involved in transport and storage, loss of one functional allele can be compromised 2.) Dominant inheritance: mostly observed in defects of structural proteins, proteins involved in growth, differentiation and development and receptor/signaling proteins
Li-Fraumeni
- XR - Defects in p53 causes brain tumors and leukemias - Two-hit model
