Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Many families are affected by disease every year. Most diseases appear more in one specific culture or race. An example of one of these diseases is Tay-Sachs. Tay-Sachs disease comes in three forms, infantile, juvenile (subacute), and late on-set. Infantile is the most common followed by late on-set. Tay-Sachs disease in general is a rare genetic disorder that has no cure. In all forms of Tay-Sachs disease the enzyme hexosaminidase A (hex A) is lacking or at a low amount. Hex A is necessary to break down normal fatty compounds in the body cells. Therefore these compounds accumulate gradually and damage the brain and nerve cells causing the cells to function improperly. Tay-Sachs is an autosomal recessive disease. Therefore in order to have this disease a person has to inherit a gene from both parents. A person with Tay-Sachs disease would have a genotype of tt,