In: Biology
Blue Diaper Syndrome:
Gloria adores her nephews Will and Charlie, who have an unusual inherited condition. Because of abnormal transport of the amino acid tryptophan across the small intestinal lining, bacteria act on urine precursors to produce a compound that turns indigo blue upon contact with the air. Will's wet diapers turn blue! By the time the couple had Charlie, they were accustomed to the blue urine.
The family doctor assured Gloria and her nephews' parents, Gloria's sister Edith and her husband Archie, that other relatives needn't worry about recurrence. She explained that it is autosomal recessive and affected Will and Charlie because Edith and Archie are carriers. The condition hadn't appeared in previous generations, and likely wouldn't again, unless Edith and Archie had more children, each of whom faced a 25 percent chance of inheriting the trait. So Gloria and her husband Michael are quite surprised when their fraternal twins Marshall and Joey each produced blue diapers!
Part 1: What error did the physician make?
Part 2: Draw a pedigree for this extended family, indicating their unusual disorder.
Part 3: Gloria and Edith wonder if their grandsons will inherit blue diaper syndrome. Will they? Why or why not?
Part 4: The blue diaper phenotype is likely to be darker after the baby eats food containing a lot of______.
1.
The doctor made an error because he told that no one in the family would get the syndrome. But it was found that the twins born to Gloria also had the same condition. Gloria is Edith's sister.
2.
Here Edith and Archie are carriers of this syndrome. Gloria might be a carrier or had the syndrome. Similarly, her husband Michael has the same situation.
3.
Their grandchildren can get affected depending upon the partners of Marshal, Joe, Will, and Charlie. All of them are affected. So if they marry an affected individual or a carrier individual then their children will get affected. However, if they marry an unaffected individual then the children would be carriers.
4.
Tryptophan. Because it triggers the precursors of urine to produce more blue color. This syndrome is mainly caused by the abnormal transport of amino acid tryptophan.