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Based on your decision, the sister has the following test run using her DNA, her father's DNA, and her brother who is affected with fragile X. Looking at her results, you can tell her:

a) If she is a carrier for fragile X
b) If her father is a carrier for fragile X
c) If she will develop fragile X
d) If her brother inherited fragile X from her

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Final answer:

A DNA test can determine if the sister is a carrier of Fragile X syndrome, which is an X-linked recessive disorder. The father cannot be a carrier, but he can pass the disease to his daughters if he is affected. The brother inherited Fragile X from their mother, not the sister.

Step-by-step explanation:

Fragile X syndrome is an X-linked recessive disorder, which means that males with one affected X chromosome (hemizygous) will express the disease while females need to have two affected chromosomes (homozygous) to be affected. Since females have two X chromosomes, they can either be unaffected carriers if they have one affected and one unaffected X chromosome, or they may be affected if both X chromosomes carry the mutation.

A DNA test can determine whether the student's sister is a carrier for Fragile X. If the sister has one mutated and one normal X chromosome, she is a carrier. If both are mutated or both are normal, she would either be affected by or unaffected by the disease, respectively. The father cannot be a carrier because males have one X and one Y chromosome and any mutation on the X chromosome results in the disease.

The sister cannot influence whether her brother inherits Fragile X, as her brother would have received his X chromosome from their mother. So, the brother inherited Fragile X from the mother, not from the sister. The father's role in the inheritance of X-linked disorders relates to his daughters; if he has the disease, all his daughters would be carriers since they would inherit his only X chromosome.

Therefore, based on the genetic testing results, we could determine if the sister is a carrier of Fragile X (a), but not if she will develop the disease (c), since women can be carriers without being affected. The father's status as a carrier is not applicable for X-linked disorders (b), and the brother cannot inherit the disease from his sister, but rather the mother (d).

User Adriano Rivolli
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