Question

A 24-year-old woman comes to the office after discovering a new mole on her right leg. She is worried that it might be skin cancer as she has used tanning beds several times s year since age 18. Physical examination shows s 5-mm brown, oval macule on her anterior thigh with a homogeneous coloration and discrete borders. The lesion appears darker than her other moles. A biopsy of the lesion shows normal-appearing news cells clustered in the epidermis, end she is diagnosed with a benign acquired melanocytic; nevus. During histologist analysis, her epithelial cells are each found to contain a condensed body composed of heavily methylated DNA at the periphery of the nucleus. This region is most likely associated with which of the following genetic findings?

A. DNA supercoil accumulation
B. Double-strand DNA break repair
C. History acetylation
D. Impaired mismatch repair
E. Low transcription activity

Answer 1

The condensed body of heavily methylated DNA found in the epithelial cells of the biopsy suggests low transcriptional activity, which is the correct answer to the genetic finding associated with such a region.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is addressing a histological feature observed in an epithelial cell during the analysis of a benign mole. The feature described is a condensed body composed of heavily methylated DNA located at the periphery of the nucleus. This description is indicative of low transcriptional activity, as densely methylated areas of the genome are typically transcriptionally inactive, owing to the fact that the heavy methylation of DNA suppresses gene expression. The correct association in relation to the genetic findings described by the region of condensed, heavily methylated DNA is E. Low transcription activity.

Other options provided like double-strand DNA break repair and impaired mismatch repair are processes involved with DNA damage response, which is not directly suggested by the presence of condensed, methylated DNA. Likewise, histone acetylation usually correlates with increased transcriptional activity, opposite to what is implied by heavy DNA methylation.