Study designs for genetic studies of complex disease Flashcards
How identical are unrelated humans?
The sequences of unrelated humans are 99.9% identical.
What are the differences between unrelated humans mostly down to?
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
What are SNPs?
Single base changes, different alleles present at these positions.
What other variations cause differences between humans along with SNP?
Deletions
Inversions
Differences in number of repeats.
What kinds of differences in number of repeats are there?
CNV
STR
What are CNVs?
Copy number variants.
What are copy number variants?
Structural genetic variation that involves a gain or loss of DNA segments.
What are STRs?
Short Tandem Repeats
What are Short tandem repeats often referred to as?
Microsatellites
What are short tandem repeats?
Short repeated sequences of DNA (2–6 bp)
What is the function of short tandem repeats?
The number of repeat units is different in individuals, this allows indentification.
What is a locus?
Genetic position for 2 specific allels.
Why do individuals possess different alleles at certain loci?
Because each sequence is inherited from each parent.
What is the genotype at the locus?
Combination of the alleles they possess.
According to mendelian inheritance what is the probability that an allele is passed from a parent to an offsping?
0.5
What was incorrect about Mendel’s views on inheritance?
Alleles at different loci inherited independently of one another.
What does the inheritance of one gene with another depend on?
How close the loci of the genes is on the DNA strand.
What is a phenotype?
Characteristic or trait that results from having a specific genotype.
What is a disease loci?
Loci where there is a particular allele that increases
disease risk.
What is the correspondence between genotype and phenotype in Simple Mendelian or monogenic disorders?
Close correspondence.
What is penetrance?
Probability of being diseased, given genotype.
What is the genotype relative risk (GRR)?
The relative risk is the ratio of the disease risk for individuals with one specific genetic and environmental profile, to the disease risk for those at a reference level.
What is penetrance for Simple Mendelian or monogenic disorders?
Complete
What does complete penetrance mean for genotype relative risk?
The chances of getting the disease is 1 or 0 depending on the alleles inherited from parents.
What is the penetrance for complex diseases?
Incomplete penetrance
What does incomplete penetrance mean for genotype relative risk?
Probabilistic rather than deterministic relationship between genotype and phenotype, the GRR is not defined by 1 or 0.
During dominant Mendelian disorders, how is transmission shown from parent to child?
More than one generation is always affected, no skipping.
1 in 2 offspring affected on average
During recessive Mendelian disorders, how is transmission shown from parent to child?
Approximately 1 in 4 offspring affected
Often occur in consanguineous pedigrees.
What does consanguineous mean?
Relating to or denoting people descended from the same ancestor.
What is the definition of a complex disease?
A disease where one or more alleles acting alone or in concert increase or reduce the risk of developing a trait
What is the inheritance pattern for complex disease?
They don’t show a clear inheritance pattern for a disease gene since other genetic or environmental factors can be involved.
Results in reduced penetrance.
Mendelian diseases are often the result of what molecular change?
A mutation in the coding region of a gene, that results in a severe alteration of function when translated to protein.