Understanding the Triple-X Syndrome in Females

867 Words2 Pages

Triple-X Syndrome (Trisomy X)
Introduction
Genetic disorders impact thousands of people every year. Triple-X Syndrome (Trisomy X) is a genetic disorder in females that have three X chromosomes instead of the regular two X chromosomes. Trisomy X was discovered by Patricia A. Jacobs back in 1959, and is named after the mutation of an extra third X chromosome. Trisomy X’s symptoms are diagnosed by taking certain tests. Trisomy X is not inherited by the parents. Treatment will vary depending on the level of symptoms you have and their degree of change to the body and mind. Trisomy X is only found in females.
Origin of Discovery
Trisomy X has a very interesting origin of discovery. In a female there are two X chromosomes. In males they …show more content…

Some of those symptoms are tall stature, small head, vertical skin folds, speech and language learning disabilities, weak muscle tone, abnormal bending of the pinkie towards the ring finger, and wide spaced eyes. Lots of the symptoms are not noticed on the outside except through the way the child learns. If they learn at a normal rate then it is very unlikely they have this disease. Speech and language learning disabilities is a result of the damage to the motors in your brain from this disease. One very big inside symptom would be the absence of a kidney or even a deformed kidney. This kind of abnormality can cause urinary tract infections and other problems. Something like flat feet could be caused by the tall stature. Having to support all that extra body weight could cause your feet to have to adapt and that is where you would get your flat feet from. Also the body has to pump a lot more blood and so that can cause heart abnormalities. A lot of the symptoms of this disease are caused by the mutations or changes to the body to supply a bigger demand. By the bigger demand I mean the taller stature. The body has to compensate some how and these mutations to the body are just some of the ways the body compensates. All the other symptoms are just more of a problem then a way to compensate. Like the kidney abnormalities. That is a really bad symptom to get and that can cause a whole lot of pain and even more problems …show more content…

Trisomy X is not inherited from the parents so that can’t be a cause. To really get a grasp on what causes Trisomy X you have to know what it is first. So trisomy X is the addition of one extra X chromosome. X and Y chromosomes are the sex chromosomes that you get from your parents. The mother will always pass X chromosome, but the dad can pass either a X or Y chromosome. If the father passes an X chromosome then it will be a girl, and if the father passes a Y chromosome then it will be a girl. Now that we know what Trisomy X is we can get into what causes the disease. In a lot of cases where a female has Trisomy X the parents are usually older like the parent of the first case who were both in their forties. The reason this could be a factor is that age can cause the eggs to be deformed. Those deformities can cause a problem in cell division called nondisjunction. Since the cells don’t split right there could be a X chromosome accidentally put in the wrong cell which would cause all the other cells to have the extra X chromosome also. The disease is a genetic mutation which means that it does happen on purpose. It can happen to anyone even if the parents aren’t older. There is more of a risk for your child to develop this disease if you wait till later in life to

More about Understanding the Triple-X Syndrome in Females

Open Document