Saturday 20 October 2012

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

Much as sentences are composed of long strings of words, each made of letters; genes can be thought of as long strings of chemical words, each made of chemical letters, called nucleotides. Just as a sentence can be changed by rearranging its letters, genes can be mutated, or changed, by changes in the sequence of their nucleotide letters. The gene defects in CF are called point mutations, meaning that the gene is mutated only at one small spot along its length. In other words, the delta-F508 mutation is a loss of one "letter" out of thousands within the CFTR gene. As a result, the CFTR protein made from its blueprint is made incorrectly and cannot perform its function properly.The CFTR protein helps to produce mucus. Mucus is a complex mixture of salts, water, sugars, and proteins that cleanses, lubricates, and protects many passageways in the body, including those in the lungs and pancreas. The role of the CFTR protein is to allow chloride ions to exit the mucus-producing cells. When the chloride ions leave these cells, water follows, thinning the mucus. In this way, the CFTR protein helps to keep mucus from becoming thick and sluggish, thus allowing the mucus to be moved steadily along the passageways to aid in cleansing.

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

An Individual Heterozygous For Cystic Fibrosis

 

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