Kaplan University
General Biology SC235
Professor Kincaid
Unit 7 Assignment
January 6, 2015
Everyone in life is faced with genetic diseases that they may have the chance of inheriting at some point in time in their life. After taking a look into my family tree and what my family member’s health problems were I realized that one serious disease that I have a chance of developing at some point in my life is Cystic fibrosis. Many people are familiar with cystic fibrosis or have heard about it at some point in time in their life. According to an article that I read Cystic fibrosis is a buildup of thick, sticky mucus that can damage many of the body’s organs (“Genetic Home Reference”, 2012).
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease, and it is inherited by autosomal recessive, which means that there must be two copies of an abnormal gene and it has to be present in order for the disease or trait to develop. While I was learning about autosomal recessive, I learned that gene’s come in pairs and both pairs must be defective to cause a disease. As I looked deeper into Cystic fibrosis I learned that it affects the respiratory system and also the digestive system. This disease is a defect in the chromosome 7, chromosome 7 is also known as CFTR or cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator. Like most diseases these days the way it affects someone or shows in someone depends on the severity of the disease. For instance, the way cystic fibrosis shows in a child may be completely different compared to someone in there later ages. For the most part the symptoms are always the same for both the respiratory and the digestive system. When it comes to the respiratory system the symptoms that you need to look for is a constant cough that produces a lot of mucus, Wheezing or feeling breathlessness. Always having a stuffy nose and not being able to exercise the way you may want too is also a symptoms due to the respiratory system. As you can tell from the