At Elmhurst hospital in Queens, a couple originally from the South Indian city of Bengaluru bring their daughter to their pediatrician for a routine checkup. The doctor is scanning through various lab tests and casually mentions that their child is blood type O. The father is immediately upset: “Type O? That’s not possible. I am blood type AB and I know from my genetics class that I cannot father a child that has...” He grows silent and then looks at his wife with a look that is an equal mixture of hurt and anger, suspecting that he is not the biological father of their daughter. The mother, having also taken genetics classes, quickly responds, “I am also blood type AB! There has to be a mistake here, or else... could they have switched babies at the hospital where she was born?” As tears begin to well up in both of their eyes, the doctor calmly responds, “Please let’s all take a deep breath. There is no reason for alarm. There are several possibilities here, including a simple laboratory mistake or a bookkeeping error. Hmmm... what city did you say you are originally from? There is another possibility that may explain this. I’m going to order some simple genetic tests on all three of you. That should give us some answers. Until the results come back, there is absolutely no reason to suspect anything is wrong. There are several possible explanations that are much more likely than where your minds are going right now.” What possibility is the doctor referring to? Assuming this turns out to be the case, give the full genotypes (for both genes involved) for the parents and the possible genotypes of their daughter.
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At Elmhurst hospital in Queens, a couple originally from the South Indian city of Bengaluru bring their daughter to their pediatrician for a routine checkup. The doctor is scanning through various lab tests and casually mentions that their child is blood type O. The father is immediately upset: “Type O? That’s not possible. I am blood type AB and I know from my genetics class that I cannot father a child that has...” He grows silent and then looks at his wife with a look that is an equal mixture of hurt and anger, suspecting that he is not the biological father of their daughter. The mother, having also taken genetics classes, quickly responds, “I am also blood type AB! There has to be a mistake here, or else... could they have switched babies at the hospital where she was born?” As tears begin to well up in both of their eyes, the doctor calmly responds, “Please let’s all take a deep breath. There is no reason for alarm. There are several possibilities here, including a simple laboratory mistake or a bookkeeping error. Hmmm... what city did you say you are originally from? There is another possibility that may explain this. I’m going to order some simple genetic tests on all three of you. That should give us some answers. Until the results come back, there is absolutely no reason to suspect anything is wrong. There are several possible explanations that are much more likely than where your minds are going right now.”
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What possibility is the doctor referring to?
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Assuming this turns out to be the case, give the full genotypes (for both genes involved) for the parents and the possible genotypes of their daughter.
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