Molecular Biology Techniques – practice question

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a lethal neurodegenerative disorder that is inherited as an

autosomal dominant condition. Patients with HD may unknowingly pass on the mutant HD
allele to their children.

A radioactive probe, G, revealed two RFLP alleles that are tightly linked to the HD gene.
Both RFLP alleles are shown in Fig. 1.1. Arrows represent HindIII cutting sites and the size
of each resulting fragment (in kb) is indicated.

Fig. 1.1

Fig. 1.2 shows the pedigree chart of a family as well as the RFLP autoradiography results of
the third generation individuals.

Fig. 1.2

a) Indicate on Fig. 1.1 the position that probe G will bind. [1]

b) Explain how probe G can lead to the visualization of bands in Fig. 1.2 [2]
Answers:

a)

Comments:
• Take note that the condition is autosomal dominant.
• In Fig. 1.2 it can be observed that affected individuals had both the 3.7kb
band and 4.9kb band. While unaffected (homozygous recessive)
individuals have only the 4.9kb band.
• From here we can infer that Allele 1 (which has the 4.9kb fragment) is the
normal allele and Allele 2 (which has the additional restriction site which
cuts the 4.9kb fragment into a 3.7kb and a 1.2kb fragment) is the disease
causing allele.
• Because probe G can detect both the 4.9kb and 3.7kb fragment, the
position must coincide with both.

b)
1. Probe G is a single-stranded DNA and binds to complementary sequences at
the RFLP locus by complementary base pairing/forming hydrogen bonds
2. The probe is radioactive and bound probes can be detected by
autoradiography.