Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 4/17/2008

Question
Hi Dr-
I have a baby that was born with Leber's congenital amaurosis.  It was our understanding that this is an autosomal recessive condition.  After her blood work came back it was found that she only had one mutated gene.  I read something about a predominant mutation.  I have a background in biology so I have an understanding of dominant traits and recessive traits, but I don't recall anything about anything "predominant."  Is there any definition or explanation you can give me or can you direct me where to look to find more about this?  Thanks  Kris

Answer
Dear Kris,

This one has me stumped, too. But I've just passed it along to three of the other folks who teach Genetics here at UM, and if any of them knows the answer, I'll pass it along directly.

I know there are ways that recessive alleles can be expressed even if in heterozygous condition, but I've never heard the term "predominant gene."  So I hope one of my colleagues can help us out.

Thanks for your patience.

Dana