Over a period of two years, a man in his early 20s received a series of intermittent chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments for Hodgkin disease. During this therapy, he and his wife were unable to initiate a pregnancy. The man had a series of his semen samples examined at a fertility clinic. The findings revealed that shortly after each treatment very few mature sperm were present, and abnormal chromosome numbers were often observed in developing spermatocytes. However, such chromosome abnormalities disappeared about 40 days after treatment, and normal sperm reappeared about 74 days post-treatment. Prior to treatment, should the physician(s) involved have been ethically obligated to recommend genetic counseling? What advice regarding fertility might have been suggested?
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Concepts of Genetics (12th Edition)
- Chorionic villus sampling is a procedure to determine if there are any abnormalities in chromosome number in the fetus. Why can the chorionic villi be used to determine abnormalities in the fetus?arrow_forwardStructurally, meiotic cohesins have different components than mitotic cohesins. This leads to what function differences?arrow_forwarda)What is the synaptonemal complex? b)Why are the X and Y chromosomes not considered homologous even though they recombine at the PAR region? c)What is unique about the Y chromosome?arrow_forward
- Why is aneuploidy of the sex chromosomes less debilitating than aneuploidy of even the smallest autosomes? (Note: multiple responses are correct, please choose the best answer(s)) Select one or more: Only one X chromosome is required at any given time. Additional X chromosomes (as in females) are inactivated in most cells except for gametes Dosage compensation requires that all excess chromosomes (i.e. 2 or more) are activated at all times during the cell cycle The Y chromosome carries a number of critical genes involved in spermatogenesis and sex development. Therefore, having two copies of the Y chromosome results in the overproduction of sperm and increased fertility The Y chromosome carries a number of critical genes required for spermatogenesis and sex development, but very few other genes. Therefore, having two copies of the Y chromosome has minimal impact on the balance of gene expressionarrow_forwardOn rare occasions, people are born with a condition known as uniparental disomy. It happens when an individual inherits both copies of achromosome from one parent and no copies from the other parent. Thisoccurs when two abnormal gametes happen to complement each otherto produce a diploid zygote. For example, an abnormal sperm thatlacks chromosome 15 could fertilize an egg that contains two copies ofchromosome 15. In this situation, the individual has maternal uniparental disomy 15 because both copies of chromosome 15 were inheritedfrom the mother. Alternatively, an abnormal sperm with two copies ofchromosome 15 could fertilize an egg with no copies. This is known aspaternal uniparental disomy 15. If a female is born with paternal uniparental disomy 15, would you expect her to be phenotypically normal,have Angelman syndrome (AS), or have Prader-Willi syndrome(PWS)? Explain. Would you expect her to produce normal offspring oroffspring affected with AS or PWS?arrow_forwardIncluding the sex chromosomes, the chromosome number of a normal human cell is and the chromosome number of this Hela cell is - (Hint: Chromosome number is different from total chromosome count.) It appears that this Hela cell has extra copies of chromosome 16. Henrietta Lacks was female, so, naturally, all the cells from her derived cancerous cell line have chromosomes. This HeLa cell, interestingly, has copies of its sex chromosomes. What sex is the normal human karyotype displayed here? O Male O Femalearrow_forward
- Describe the molecular process of X-chromosome inactivation.This description should include the three phases of inactivationand the role of the Xic. Explain what happens to the X chromosomes during embryogenesis, in adult somatic cells, and duringoogenesis.arrow_forwardWhy is X chromosome inactivation important in female cells? (300 word limit)arrow_forwardMutations in genes that affect meiosis have been identified in many different model organisms. Most of these mutations result in aneuploidy of more than a single chromosome and are nearly sterile. Explain why this is the case.arrow_forward
- X chromosome inactivation in a diploid XX female is not completely inactivated, explain?arrow_forwardFor part c, do they consider the total sex chromosomes to be 2 or 3?arrow_forwardb) The body cells of chickens have 78 chromosomes in their nuclei.(i) State the number of chromosomes found in each sex cell of a chicken.arrow_forward
- Human Biology (MindTap Course List)BiologyISBN:9781305112100Author:Cecie Starr, Beverly McMillanPublisher:Cengage Learning