In sickle-cell disease, an allele produces red blood cells with an abnormal shape, which affects many other traits in the same individual. What genetic behavior does this describe?
A pleiotropy
B codominance
C dominance
D polygenic
Answers
Pleiotropy is the phenomenon in which a single gene is capable of affecting a lot of traits in the same body.
This is a genetic behaviour and can be adopted due to various diseases.
The sickle-cell disease is one such disease where a cell produces red blood cells with abnormal shapes and affects various other traits.
Your answer to the question is A) Pleiotropy.
The pleiotropic genes are those type of genes which influence and affect more than one trait or character this phenomenon is particularly hypothesized as or called as pleiotropism or pleiotropy.
One good example of pleiotropy is Sickle cell anaemia disease or sickle-cell disease which is caused by a gene HbS and the healthy or normal individuals for which the gene is HbA which is the dominant one.
In a particular homozygous condition the gene for sickle-cell anaemia is lethal (HbS and HbS) but it produces sickle cell trait in heterozygous condition (HbA and HbS) in this type the person or the individual is described as a carrier who will try to change or alter the probabilities if the next cell will suffer the same fate or not.
Thus the two different expressions are produced by one single gene called HbS and hence it show the phenomenon of pleiotropy.
In a person suffering from sickle cell anaemia he will suffer from abnormal shape of RBCs making it difficult to maintain a normally required surface area and hence becoming into a crescent or half-moon shaped or sickle shaped unlike normal RBCs being biconcave in their shape.