Normal and abnormal development: genetic, congenital and acquired disease Flashcards
When do genetic diseases materialise
Early in childhood
Other than environmental and genetic causes of a disease, what else results in a disease
- Other diseases predisposing you to causative factors
How do other disease pre-dispose you to others
- Pre-neoplastic conditions (diseases pre-disposing to tumours)
- Permissive effect
What is a permissive effect
Environmental agents that are not normally pathogenic will cause a disease.
What two ways other than genetic abnormalities can increase disease risk in a baby
- Nutritional deprivation
2. Transplacental transmission of environmental agents
What four reasons are there for an increase in disease incidence with age
- Probability of contact with an environmental cause increases with duration of exposure risk
- Disease may depend on cumulative effects of one or more environmental agents
- Impaired immunity with ageing increases susceptibility of some infections
- Latent interval between exposure causes appearance of symptoms to take decades
what are two outcomes of polymorphic variations
- Changes in characteristics (brown hair vs blond)
2. No visible effects at all (e.g. blood types)
Name three polymorphic variations that give the greatest disease susceptibility to an individual
- HLA Types
- Blood groups
- Cytokine genes
What are HLA genes normally referred to as
antigens
What are class I antigens
- Expressed on the surface of all nucleated cells (recognised by immune system)
What are class II antigens
- Expressed on the surface of cells that interact with T lymphocytes by physical contact - initiate immune response
Two ways diseases may be associated with HLA types
- Infective microbes may have similar antigens to host cells
- Gene predisposing to a disease is closely linked to HLA gene
What HLA group is found on organs/cells that are subjected to autoimmune attacks
- Express class II types
What two diseases are closely related to blood groups
- Duodenal ulceration - group O
2. Gastric carcinoma - group A
How many gene tend to be involved in most inherited abnormalities
A single gene - these conditions are monogenic
How many base pairs are found in each of the 23 pairs of chromosomes
10^7 base pairs
Describe the structure of DNA
- Wrapped as a double-helix around histone proteins - nucleosomes
- DNA strands then coiled to form a chromatin fibre
How many pairs of chromosomes are called autosomes
22
What proportion of nuclear DNA encodes for functional genes
10%
What is the role of ‘satellite’ DNA
Maintains chromosome structure
Where are telomeres located
Found on the ends of each chromosome
Role of telomeres
Needed for chromosomal replication
What happens to the DNA when there is a lack of telomerase
The telomeres shorten with each mitotic division until the cell is incapable for further replication
define a centrimorgan
the distance between two gene loci
How does the process of gene linkage and recombination show
allows defective genes to be identified by tracking inheritance of neighbouring DNA in affected individuals and families
How many base pairs are found in the homeobox genes
183 base-pairs