Concept explainers
A form of dwarfism known as Ellis–van Creveld syndrome was first discovered in the late 1930s, when Richard Ellis and Simon van Creveld shared a train compartment on the way to a pediatrics meeting. In the course of conversation, they discovered that they each had a patient with this syndrome. They published a description of the syndrome in 1940. Affected individuals have a short-limbed form of dwarfism and often have defects of the lips and teeth, and polydactyly (extra fingers). The largest pedigree for the condition was reported in an Old Order Amish population in eastern Pennsylvania by Victor McKusick and his colleagues (1964). In that community, about 5 per 1000 births are affected, and in the population of 8000, the observed frequency is 2 per 1000. All affected individuals have unaffected parents, and all affected cases can trace their ancestry to Samuel King and his wife, who arrived in the area in 1774. It is known that neither King nor his wife was affected with the disorder. There are no cases of the disorder in other Amish communities, such as those in Ohio or Indiana.
(a) From the information provided, derive the most likely mode of inheritance of this disorder. Using the Hardy–Weinberg law, calculate the frequency of the mutant allele in the population and the frequency of heterozygotes, assuming Hardy–Weinberg conditions.
(b) What is the most likely explanation for the high frequency of the disorder in the Pennsylvania Amish community and its absence in other Amish communities?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 22 Solutions
Essentials of Genetics (9th Edition) - Standalone book
- Describe the most common molecular mechanism for recessively inherited human genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosisarrow_forwarda. What type of plot is this? What do the little dots above the dotted line represent? b. The labels above the peaks represent human gene names involved in ALS. Based on the data shown here, which would be the first gene you'd like to investigate further and why?arrow_forwardIn man, muscular dystrophy is a condition in which the muscles waste away during early life and may result in a shorter life expectancy. It is due to a sex-linked, recessive gene. A certain couple has five children – three boys (ages 1yr, 3yrs, and 10yrs old) and two girls (ages 5yrs and 7yrs old). The oldest boy shows the symptoms of this disease. You are their family physician and they come to you for advice. What would you tell them about the chances of their other children developing the disease?arrow_forward
- Which of the Pedigree Diagrams below is most likely to show a family with Becker muscular dystrophy?arrow_forwardJunctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) is a severe skin disorder that results in blisters over the entire body. The disorder is caused by autosomal recessive mutations at any one of three loci that help to encode laminin 5, a major component in the dermal–epidermal basement membrane. Leena Pulkkinen and colleagues described a male newborn who was born with JEB and died at 2 months of age (L. Pulkkinen et al. 1997. American Journal of Human Genetics 61:611–619); the child had healthy, unrelated parents. Chromosome analysis revealed that the infant had 46 normal-appearing chromosomes. Analysis of DNA showed that his mother was heterozygous for a JEB-causing allele at the LAMB3 locus, which is on chromosome 1. The father had two normal alleles at this locus. DNA fingerprinting demonstrated that the male assumed to be the father had, in fact, conceived the child. Q. Assuming that no new mutations occurred in this family, explain the presence of an autosomal recessive disease in the child…arrow_forwardJunctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) is a severe skin disorder that results in blisters over the entire body. The disorder is caused by autosomal recessive mutations at any one of three loci that help to encode laminin 5, a major component in the dermal–epidermal basement membrane. Leena Pulkkinen and colleagues described a male newborn who was born with JEB and died at 2 months of age (L. Pulkkinen et al. 1997. American Journal of Human Genetics 61:611–619); the child had healthy, unrelated parents. Chromosome analysis revealed that the infant had 46 normal-appearing chromosomes. Analysis of DNA showed that his mother was heterozygous for a JEB-causing allele at the LAMB3 locus, which is on chromosome 1. The father had two normal alleles at this locus. DNA fingerprinting demonstrated that the male assumed to be the father had, in fact, conceived the child. Q. How might you go about proving your explanation? Assume that a number of genetic markers are available for each chromosome.arrow_forward
- Pls answer the very last question. “ suppose that lll-2 and lll-5 were to have a child. What is the probability that their first child will be have the disorder?”arrow_forwardEhler-Danlos syndrome is a rare disorder caused by a mutation ina gene that encodes a protein called collagen (type 3 A1). Collagenis found in the extracellular matrix that plays an important role inthe formation of skin, joints, and other connective tissues. Peoplewith Ehler-Danlos syndrome have extraordinarily flexible skin and very loose joints. The pedigree below contains several individualsaffected with this syndrome, shown with black symbols. Based onthis pedigree, does the syndrome appear to follow autosomalrecessive, autosomal dominant, X-linked recessive, or X-linkeddominant inheritance? Explain your reasoning.arrow_forwardConsider a Droscophilia fly with a genotype of Nn XqYY. The dominant allele of the sex-linked gene specifies a black body and the recessive a white body. The recessive autosomal allele specifies hairy bristles while the dominant allele specifies smooth bristles. i)What is the ploidy of this fly? ii) What would the sex of this fly be? iii)What would the phenotype of this fly be with respect to these two loci?arrow_forward
- Explain the NIMBY syndrome and its impact.arrow_forwardIn individuals affected by cystic fibrosis, salt crystals may appear afterperspiration dries up. In addition, the disease causes respiratory disorderswhich can be both debilitating and lethal. It occurs in individuals homozygousfor the recessive gene. Two normal parents had a daughter with thesymptoms of this disease, and a normal son who marries a normal womanwith an afflicted A test (salt concentration in perspiration of heterozygotes ishigher than normal) disclosed that both are indeed carriers of the gene. If thefirst child born to the mating in (b) was defective, what is the probability thatthe 2nd child would also be defective?Express answer in fraction formarrow_forwardFigure 3 shows the karyotypes of two individuals suffering from a genetic disorder. a) Name the genetic disorder for individuals A and B. b) Give three characteristics of individual B. c) What is the gender of individual A?arrow_forward
- Human Anatomy & Physiology (11th Edition)BiologyISBN:9780134580999Author:Elaine N. Marieb, Katja N. HoehnPublisher:PEARSONBiology 2eBiologyISBN:9781947172517Author:Matthew Douglas, Jung Choi, Mary Ann ClarkPublisher:OpenStaxAnatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781259398629Author:McKinley, Michael P., O'loughlin, Valerie Dean, Bidle, Theresa StouterPublisher:Mcgraw Hill Education,
- Molecular Biology of the Cell (Sixth Edition)BiologyISBN:9780815344322Author:Bruce Alberts, Alexander D. Johnson, Julian Lewis, David Morgan, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter WalterPublisher:W. W. Norton & CompanyLaboratory Manual For Human Anatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781260159363Author:Martin, Terry R., Prentice-craver, CynthiaPublisher:McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.Inquiry Into Life (16th Edition)BiologyISBN:9781260231700Author:Sylvia S. Mader, Michael WindelspechtPublisher:McGraw Hill Education