Birth Defects and Pedigree

Jane Marlow is pregnant with her first baby. Along with explaining about genetic disorders, also explain to Marlow about certain habits of the mother that affect the growth of the fetus. Use the following questions as guidelines:

• What are the adverse effects of using teratogens during pregnancy?

• If a woman drinks or uses drugs during her pregnancy and it harms her growing fetus, do you think she should be held legally responsible for her actions? Why or why not?

Additionally, complete the following discussions:

• Select a disease that exhibits pleiotropy or incomplete penetrance. How does the disease exhibit these characteristics? Can the severity of the disease be affected by families having these traits? If so, how? If not, why not?

• Using Mendel's laws, describe the phenotypic and genotypic ratios for the F2 generation if pea plants with restricted yellow pods are crossed with true-breeding inflated green pods in the original cross and then the F1 generation is crossed.