Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis is a condition that causes mucus to build up, especially in the lungs. It
is caused by a faulty gene, which cannot control the salt and water travelling between
the cells properly. This makes your sweat very salty, so you can lose a lot of salt,
which upsets the balance of minerals. This causes health problems such as eat stroke,
dehydration and decreased blood pressure. It normally develops in early childhood.
0.014% have the disease, but as many as 4% carry the disease. How is this possible?

It is a genetic disease, and is recessive. This means that for it to occur in a child, both
parents must pass along the allele. However, this does not mean that both parents
must have the disease. If only one allele carries it, the other dominant one will stop it.
If and only if both have at least one of these recessive genes then there is a chance for
the baby to receive the trait. Though if one parent has two dominant genes against
this then the disease will definitely not be present in the baby.

Each parent has two alleles for cystic fibrosis. One is passed down from each. These
can be c (carries the disease-recessive) or C (doesnt carry it-dominant). If one parent
is cc and the other CC, the only possible outcome is Cc (not diseased). cc and cc will
without question give the baby the disease (cc). Cc and Cc will cause the child to
have it 1 out of 4 times. Cc and cc will present a 50/50 chance.

The fact that the allele is recessive means that it can be carried in a person who
doesnt express it. Therefore, the disease can become present in a person even if no
one in the family has had it for many generations.







Huntingtons disease


This is a disease, which affects the central nervous system, and causes faulty muscle
co-ordination, which leads to muscle spasms. It usually occurs in mid-age. Other
symptoms include memory loss, mood swings and clumsiness. Death can
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c Cc cc
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C c
C CC Cc
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C C
C CC CC
c Cc Cc
occasionally occur, but usually, from secondary cases. Pretty much the same number
of people, approximately 0.13% of people in the Britain have it, but unlike Cystic
Fibrosis, everyone who carries the allele expresses the gene as a phenotype, though
not necessarily all the time, as the symptoms develop later. So what makes it so
different?

The key is that it is a dominant genetic disease, which means only one of these alleles
needs to pass through to a baby, for it to develop. If either parent has the dominant
diseased allele (is diseased), then there is a chance of disease, whereas with Cystic
Fibrosis, both need to have the faulty one. Its only if both parents are healthy in this
sense (have two recessive alleles) that the baby will definitely stay clear of the
disease. If there is one Huntingtons allele, there is a 50% chance of passing it down.
With one in each each parent their is a 75% chance and with two in a parent, 100%
chance. It is much more likely to pass down Huntingtons disease, but the actual
faulty allele is much less common.




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