Albinism
For my research project I have chosen the genetic disease albinism. There are a few reasons why I chose albinism as my topic. First and foremost, in kindergarten I had a friend who was an albino, and although I have not seen him in over 10 years I am still curious as to what the causes of albinism are. Back then, my mother explained it to me by saying, "that's just the way his skin is" which is a fine way to explain it to a five year old, but now I find myself wanting to know more. Another reason I am curious about albinism actually extends from my first reason. I often wondered if there was any chance that my kids could possibly be born with it. I know now that it sounds a little bit ridiculous but I would sometimes worry that I wouldn't be able to take my children to the beach (I knew this because my friend from kindergarten could never come with us when we went in the summer). I also used to wonder whether or not my friend could see the same way I could, since his eyes looked so different from mine. As a result of all of this, I could not turn down the opportunity to research a disease that has held my curiosity for such a long time.
Because albinism is not carried on the sex chromosomes, it is expressed equally in both males and females, and either parent can transmit the disorder. Albinism also affects people of all races equally. Approximately 1 in 17,000 people has one of the types of albinism, which amounts to roughly 18,000 people in the United States (1). Now that my study of albinism has come to an end, I feel what I can only describe as a sense of closure on a subject that has been (at least in some small part) in my thoughts for the past fifteen years. My knowledge of this disorder has come a long way since my curiosity about my kindergarten friend. Obviously my fear that I would catch the disease from him is long gone, but I wish I could say the same for some other more realistic fears. The cDNA sequence for the OCA1 gene is 1607 bases long; 325 Adenine, 466 Cytosine, 439 Guanine, and 377 Thymine. Albinism results from mutations in genes involving the biosynthesis of melanin pigment. The OCA1 gene is not the only gene with which albinism is associated, however (4).
Some common words found in the essay are:
OCA TYR, PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISTICS, INHERITANCE Albinism, , OCA1 OCA1, OCA2 OCA3, Thymine Albinism, MOLECULAR ORIGINS, ORIGINS Albinism, oca1 gene, people albinism, mutations cause albinism, gene function, lack color, oca tyr, tyr genes, albinism affects, friend kindergarten, cause albinism, mutations cause, oca tyr genes,
Approximate Word count = 1371
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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