Inheriting Hemochromatosis
Types 1-3 of hemochromatosis follow an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. This is the type of inheritance described below. Type 4 hemochromatosis has a dominant pattern, but because of its rarity, it will not be explored on this site. Punnett squares can be used to determine the odds and outcome of when 2 parents create offspring. In the diagrams below, genotype refers to the actual genetics a person has and phenotype refers to how the gene is present to an outside viewer. Homozygote refers to an individual that has both a pair of dominant or pair of recessive genes. Heterozygote refers to an individual with one dominant and one recessive gene. When someone is a heterozygote, the dominant gene will come through over the recessive one and will be the one present in the individual. Below, the H will represent a dominant gene, a normal, not mutated gene that will not cause hemochromatosis. The h will represent a recessive, mutated gene, that will cause hemochromatosis. As seen in the charts below, both parents must carry the gene for their child to have any chance of having hemochromatosis.
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