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Inheritance Patterns
Autosomal Dominant Inheritance
Individuals affected in every generation
Some carriers may not manifest disease
Males and females have equal chance of passing on mutation
50% risk to children
Autosomal Recessive Inheritance
May be only one generation affected
Carriers typically do not have condition
Both parents must be carriers of the mutation
25% risk to children
X-linked Inheritance
No male-to-male transmission
Though rare, females can be affected if they inherited two mutations
Many female carriers (one mutation) will have no symptoms; those that do have milder symptoms than seen in males
Risk for inheriting an X-linked condition:
100% for daughters of affected fathers to be carriers
0% for sons of affected fathers to be affected
50% for daughters of carrier or affected mothers to be carriers
100% for sons of affected mothers to be affected
50% for sons of carrier mothers to be affected
Complex Inheritance
No clear Mendelian pattern of inheritance
Clustering of biologically related conditions in the family
Risk estimates based primarily on empiric data
The chance of developing a complex trait depends on several factors, which may include:
The number of relatives affected with a condition (or related conditions)
How closely one is related to the affected individual(s)
Similarity of the shared environment and lifestyle factors
Severity of the condition in the affected relative
The age at onset in the affected family member
The sex of the affected family member
Ethnicity
Reviewed June 2023
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