Here we go....week 2 of PA school! This week is all about genetics. Yesterday morning was our primer, where we reviewed many of the genetic concepts that we learned in undergrad science classes. By the afternoon we were moving ahead into uncharted territory. We drew out some pedigrees (diagrams of relatives and their associated illnesses) from true case studies. My favorite was the pedigree for the blue people from Kentucky. It becomes a bit awkward when you have to connect a consanguineous relationship (hooking up with a close relative) between different generations. The people really were blue... The case demonstrated inheritance of a recessive gene. Example (just to clarify - the details are somewhat made up for simplification, but you will get the general idea): you are blue and you marry someone who is not blue. You then have some kids, lets say 7, and 4 are blue. Now, some of your blue kids marry some non-blue relatives and they have non-blue kids, but the kids are carriers of the gene that causes blueness (technically they are carriers of the allele - a different version of the gene - that causes a variation in a particular enzyme that affects the blue trait to be expressed, blah, blah, blah). Your non-blue grandkid marries a non-blue other person (who is probably related somehow, but maybe not) and whabam!! Your great-grandkid turns out to be blue. See how fun this is?
More genetics - The zorse! and no, this is not from the Oregon ZOO...
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