Understanding your genotypes by ENE ABAH

even
wrap
their
heads around it. I am not a medical personnel
but I will try to explain what I can, I will also
provide links where I found useful information so
you can do some research on the subject. Please
correct me where I may write something that
does not add up
I remember being taught in Biology in Senior
Secondary School about the composition of
genotypes, that stayed with me and this may be a
little Biology lesson but it is worth reading.
First of all, genotypes are genetic make ups of
cells. Some of the genotypes that exist to my
knowledge around the part of the world where I
am from are: AA, AS and SS…I have heard of the
C hemoglobin but it is not very popular. Anyway,
with the C, there are AC and SC (not sure how it
works).
Now if we have two individuals with the following
genotypes who choose to have children, the
genotype composition of the children could turn
out to be as follows but these things work in no
particular order.
This is simply a high probability of likely
genotypes. Charts would have been ideal for this
illustration but in order not to cause any
confusion, basically, take the alphabets one by
one from each genotype and match alongside
both of the other.
1) AA and AS
AA, AS, AA, AS
2) AA and SS
AS, AS, AS, AS
3) AS and SS
AS, SS, SS, SS
4) AS and AS
AA, AS, AS and SS
That’s the order, you could match others following
this example.
However, I know of a family where both parents
have the AS genotype and all their children except
one out of five have SS as their genotypes. Only
one happens to have the AS.
Another family with both parents as AS started
with SS then the other two turned out to be AS
and AA.
In all of this, the major thing to note is the Sickle
Cell anaemia.
According to the U.S National Library of Medicine,
“Sickle cell anemia is caused by an abnormal type
of hemoglobin called hemoglobin S. Hemoglobin
is a protein inside red blood cells that carries
oxygen. The fragile, sickle-shaped cells deliver
less oxygen to the body’s tissues. They can also
get stuck more easily in small blood vessels, as
well as break into pieces that can interrupt
healthy blood flow. These problems decrease the
amount of oxygen flowing to body tissues even
more.”
The diagram below from the U.S National Health
Institute website shows normal red blood cells
and sickled red blood cells.

Now people who have the sickled red blood cells
are those with the SS genotype while the AA
genotype has normal red blood cells.
The AS genotype happens to have the sickle cell
trait but the individual hardly suffers the effects
from sickle cell anemia. If at all, very mild.
“Sickle cell disease is much more common in
people of African and Mediterranean descent. It is
also seen in people from South and Central
America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East” –
U.S National Library of Medicine. I recently learnt
from a French friend that people in North of
France and in Italy also have sickle cell anemia
and he went on to give me some statistics.
I know of people who died of sickle cell anemia
and I have watched a few of my friends in pain
from it. I lost one last year. It was painful; very
painful, because we all thought she had passed
the age (there is a belief that when you go past a
certain age, you are unlikely to die from the sickle
cell anemia).
I lost another friend on Saturday, 07.11.2015.
We have more access to information today so it’s
advisable for people to check. Adults are advised
to find out what their genotypes are and that of
whoever they may be dating, so that they do not
have to suffer having to call off a relationship
when it would have got to an advanced stage
where both people may want to get married.
I heard of a couple who chose not to have
children as both parties have AS as their
genotype. They willingly chose to adopt but how
many people can be as courageous? Beyond love,
reason also has to come in. Not many people
handle having a sickle celled child very well +
bringing a child into the world to know so much
pain when it can be avoided, is that very
considerate?
I hope you, reading this, have checked?