Both male and females can be carriers of the abnormal gene, which causes Tay Sachs and still live normal lives. The Tay Sachs disease is common among the Eastern European (Ashkenazi) if Jewish descent. The disease is also common among the French Canadians (non- Jewish) near the St. Lawerence River and the Cajun community in Louisiana. In the general population, 1 out of 250 people are carriers. If two carriers of the Tay Sachs gene decide to have a child, there is a twenty-five percent probability that their child with have Tay Sachs. The probability that their child will be a carrier of the gene and not the disease is fifty percent while there is a twenty-five percent chance that the child will not have the gene or the disease. Children born with Tay Sachs are born without an enzyme called hexosaminidase A (Hex A), which assists in breaking down GM2 ganglioside lipid. Hexosaminidase A deficiency is a direct result of a defect found in Chromosome 15 which controls the production of the hexosaminidase A enzyme. A healthy person is born with the hexosaminidase A enzyme, which prevents the build up GM2 ganglioside lipid. Without hexosaminidase A, the build up of the GM2 ganglioslide lipid in the brain eventually causes neurological
Both male and females can be carriers of the abnormal gene, which causes Tay Sachs and still live normal lives. The Tay Sachs disease is common among the Eastern European (Ashkenazi) if Jewish descent. The disease is also common among the French Canadians (non- Jewish) near the St. Lawerence River and the Cajun community in Louisiana. In the general population, 1 out of 250 people are carriers. If two carriers of the Tay Sachs gene decide to have a child, there is a twenty-five percent probability that their child with have Tay Sachs. The probability that their child will be a carrier of the gene and not the disease is fifty percent while there is a twenty-five percent chance that the child will not have the gene or the disease. Children born with Tay Sachs are born without an enzyme called hexosaminidase A (Hex A), which assists in breaking down GM2 ganglioside lipid. Hexosaminidase A deficiency is a direct result of a defect found in Chromosome 15 which controls the production of the hexosaminidase A enzyme. A healthy person is born with the hexosaminidase A enzyme, which prevents the build up GM2 ganglioside lipid. Without hexosaminidase A, the build up of the GM2 ganglioslide lipid in the brain eventually causes neurological