Question

 

• what are the major groups of genes that when mutated can cause cancer, and include the types of mutations that can change their protein structure.
• your assigned gene (C-KIT). Focus on the group of cancer-causing genes that this gene belongs to, its normal function, and why the mutation can lead to the cell cycle becoming out of control.
• Is your mutated gene inherited, or does it become mutated throughout a person’s lifetime?
• If you could develop a drug that treats cancer caused by your mutated gene, how would the drug work? Would the drug damage non-cancerous cells as well? Explain

Answer 1

Genes that cause cancer when they get mutated:
Tumor suppressor genes keep regulating the cell cycle in most of the cells. when these tumor suppressor genes get mutated, they are not able to regulate or control the cell cycle. So, they cause cancer when they get mutated.
When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated, it results in a loss or reduction in its function; in combination with other genetic mutations this could allow the cell to grow abnormally, which results in Cancer.
Tumor suppressor genes can be grouped into the following categories caretaker genes, gatekeeper genes, and more recently landscaper genes.

Point mutations can cause serious changes to an organism if they change the way a protein works.

Proto-oncogene c-KIT is the gene encoding the receptor tyrosine kinase protein known as tyrosine-protein kinase KIT, CD117 or mast/stem cell growth factor receptor.
Activating mutations in this gene are associated with gastrointestinal stromal tumors, testicular seminoma, mast cell disease, melanoma, acute myeloid leukemia.
The genetic changes involved in acute myeloid leukemia and seminomas lead to a KIT protein that is constitutively activated.
The exact cause of leukemia is not known, but it is thought to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors.