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autosomal dominant disease

autosomal dominant disease

6.5
A genetic disease from a changed gene on a non-sex chromosome where one bad copy causes illness
  • noun
  • /ˌɔːtəˈsoʊməl ˈdɒmɪnənt dɪˈziːz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : enfermedad autosómica dominante
  • Familial hypercholesterolemia is classified as an autosomal dominant disease due to a genetic mutation inherited from a parent.

Examples

  • Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant disease that affects individuals with just one copy of the mutated gene.

  • Familial hypercholesterolemia is an autosomal dominant disease in which there is a decreased number of LDL receptors.

    Blog text (20)
  • The neurofibromatoses are autosomal dominant diseases that have widespread effects on ectodermal and mesodermal tissue.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The neurofibromatoses, which are a group of conditions, are examples of an autosomal dominant disease characterized by tumor development.

Synonyms

autosomal dominant disorder
vsautosomal dominant disease
  • Specialized
1 6.5

A disease that happens when one copy of a gene on a non-sex chromosome changes

is the same concept but uses a different label word

Surface Forms

Morphology

autosomal + dominant + disease

The phrase is fully compositional: 'autosomal' (relating to non-sex chromosomes) + 'dominant' (expressed when a single copy is present) + 'disease' (a medical condition) together directly describe a genetic disorder caused by a dominant gene on an autosome. This adjective-adjective-noun combination follows standard formation patterns and has close parallels in other languages, so a learner who knows the constituent terms can infer the full meaning.

Etymology

Autosomal dominant disease comes from the words autosome, meaning a 'non-sex chromosome', and dominant, meaning 'one faulty gene is enough' to cause the problem. Think of genes as pairs: if one of the two copies is wrong, that single bad copy can cause the disease, so a child of one affected parent has about a 50% chance of inheriting it.