Problem:
If one of my parents had Huntington's disease, I'd want to get tested. It definitely wouldn't be easy because there's no cure, and finding out you have it would probably change your whole life. But for me, I'd rather know than spend years wondering if I'm going to get it. Since there's a 50% chance of inheriting it if one of your parents has it, I'd want to know so I could plan ahead and make the best decisions I can instead of always thinking about the what ifs.
I'd also want to know my prognosis, even if it wasn't good news. I'd rather hear the truth than have it hit me out of nowhere later in life. It would also make me think a lot about having kids. I don't know if I could live with myself knowing there was a chance I'd pass something like that on to them. I'd probably sit down with a genetic counselor first and go over all my options before making a decision. After reading this week's material, it made more sense how dominant genes work and how Punnett squares can show the chances of passing certain traits on. It really shows why diseases like Huntington's can keep getting passed down through families. Need Assignment Help?
Question: Respond to at least one classmate who would choose NOT to be tested for Huntington's disease. Try to convince them that they should get tasted
Required Readings:
Fowler, S., Roush, R., & Wise, J. (2013). Chapter 8: Patterns of inheritance. In Concepts of biology. Openstax.
Fowler, S., Roush, R., & Wise, J. (2013). Chapter 9: Molecular biology. In Concepts of biology. Openstax.
Zaborowska, L. (2021, July 1). Punnett Square calculator. [Interactive tool].
Note: You will use this calculator to gain a better understanding of Mendelian genetics as you determine the probabilities of children's genotypes based on their parents' genotypes.