GENETIC DISEASES


During the process of meiosis, alot of errors in division can occur. When two sex chromosomes do not separate and join with the other sex gamete, a couple of things can occur:

Klinefelter's Disease will result in a super female that wil be infertile with congenital defects, or an infertile male with congenital defects and female characteristics.

Turner's Syndrome will result in a sterile female and either a genital defective male or lethality.

When nondisjunction of the female cells occur in the cat and then joins with a male Y-gamete, we can see the calico color in males. This is because in each cell, only one of the X-chromosomes in active, and the other is called a barr body. Since the color for cats is carried on the X-chromosome, we see a mixed pattern of color in females and rarely in males.

Another form of nondisjunction or partial disjunction is called Down's Syndrome. This occurs when autosomal chromosome 23 does not completely separate into two equal chromatids, and then joins up with a normal gamete cell. Down's Syndrome results in certain characteristics, such as a swollen tongue, short stature, and low to high degree of mental retardation.


 

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