GCSE BIOLOGY:

B1- You and Your genes:

Cystic Fibrosis:

 Genetic disorder- can’t catch it

 Passed from parents to their children
 Causes problems for digestion and breathing
 Cells that make mucus don’t work properly
 The mucus is too thick so it blocks the lungs
 It also blocks tubes that take enzymes from the pancreas to the gut
 People get breathless
 Get a lot of chest infections
 The shortage of enzymes means their food isn’t digested properly
 Therefore a person can be short of nutrients
 Most people can’t have children
 The mucus affects their reproductive system
 So babies born with CF usually have healthy parents
 This is because of the genes that make mucus
 The first is dominant and tells the body to make normal mucus
 The second is faulty and recessive and this leads to CF
 Therefore a person with one dominant and one recessive genotype will not have CF
 They are a carrier of CF and their offspring may contract the illness
 Cystic Fibrosis is recessive
 It cannot be cured
 But physiotherapy can helps to clear the mucus from the lungs
 Sufferers take tablets with the missing enzymes
 Antibiotics are used to treat chest infections
 Enzyme spray can be used to thin mucus in the lungs
 It can be prevented
 If a couple knows that their offspring will have cystic fibrosis they can have an abortion

Foetus tests:

Amniocentesis test:

 0.5% miscarriage risk

 Very small risk of infection
 Results at 15-18 weeks
 Results not 100% reliable

Chorionic Villus test:

 2% miscarriage risk
 Almost no risk of infection
 Results at 10-12 weeks
 Results not 100% reliable