Concept explainers
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a rare, fatal neurodegenerative disease that is genetically complex. During the last several years, using GWAS analyses and other methods, 11 different genes have been identified that are thought to be connected with ALS. The most recently discovered of these genes, TBK1, was identified through analysis of the whole exome sequences of several thousand Cases and Controls. Recall from Chapter 11 that the exome is the approximately 1% of the human genome that corresponds to exons. Each person’s exome sequence was evaluated on a gene-by-gene basis as to whether or not a SNP variant likely to alter gene function was present. The TBK1 gene was not identified in previous GWAS analyses that genotyped similar numbers of individuals for common SNPs. Cite possible explanations for the different outcomes of these two experiments.
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Genetics: From Genes to Genomes
- The genetic alteration responsible for sickle-cell anemia in humans involves: a transition mutation from A to G, substituting glutamic acid for valine in a-globin a transversion mutation from T to A, substituting valine for glutamic acid in b-globin a transition mutation from T to C, substituting valine for glutamic acid in b-globin a transversion mutation from G to C, substituting glutamic acid for valine in a-globin a frameshift mutation of one ATC codon, removing glutamic acid from b-globinarrow_forwardPeople who carry a theoretical genetic disorder (called B-disease) can be identified from a 2kb DNA sequence. People who carry this genetic disorder have a single nucleotide polymorphism that results in a change of GTATTC to GGATTC, a site that only occurs once at nucleotide number 750 in this DNA sequence. Answer the following questions based on the information provided. a) How can you develop a simple molecular test to identify the genetic disorder?arrow_forwardLeber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) causes progressive vision loss due to defects in the gene that encodes RPE65 isomerase. Affected individuals are homozygous recessive for mutant alleles of the RPE65 gene. You are trying to determine the molecular nature of the mutations in three individuals with LCA. For ease of analysis, you may assume that each individual is homozygous for the same mutant allele (though the three individuals have different mutations than each other). You use the polymerase chain reaction to amplify DNA from each patient and you determine the sequence of the DNA and compare it to unaffected individuals. You identify the following differences. Note that the non-template strand of DNA is given and the changes are highlighted using red boldface. You can assume that the sequences are in the first reading frame (eg. the first three nucleotides of each sequence is a codon). The coding region of the gene is 1602 bp and the position of the sequences shown below is…arrow_forward
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- The accompanying photo shows a sequencing gel from the original study that first sequenced the cystic fibrosis gene (J. R. Riordan et al. 1989. Science 245:1066–1073). From the photo, determine the sequence of the normal copy of the gene and the sequence of the mutated copy of the gene. Identify the location of the mutation that causes cystic fibrosis. (Hint: The CF mutation is a 3-bp deletion.)arrow_forwardA 19 year old female patient is diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Karyotype analysis shows that the leukemic cells of this patient are heterozygous for a reciprocal translocation involving chromosomes 9 and 22. However, none of the normal, nonleukemic cells of this patient contain the translocation. a) Describe a molecular test to determine if chemotherapy given to the patient described would be completely succesful. (That is, devise a method to make sure that the patient's blood would be free of leukemic cells.) Be as specific as possible.arrow_forwardYou learned in Problem 21 in Chapter 7 that theneurodegenerative disease ALS can be caused by expansion of a hexanucleotide repeat region (5′-GGGGCC-3′)outside of the open reading frame (but within the firstintron) of the gene called C9ORF72. While a normalC9ORF72 allele has 2–23 copies of the hexanucleotiderepeat unit, dominant disease-causing alleles have hundreds or even thousands of copies. Researchers observed that the first intron of theC9ORF72 disease allele is transcribed not only fromthe normal template strand of DNA, but also from thenontemplate strand. Even more unusual, both types ofrepeat-region transcripts are translated in all six readingframes in an AUG-independent manner—a processcalled repeat-associated non-ATG translation, or RANtranslation. These discoveries led to the hypothesisthat the proteins made from the repeats mightcontribute to ALS.a. What polypeptides are made from the repeat-regiontranscripts?b. According to the RAN translation hypothesis, whyare…arrow_forward
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