Fragile X syndrome, or Martin-Bell syndrome, is a genetic syndrome which results in a spectrum of characteristic physical, intellectual, emotional and behavioural features which range from severe to mild in manifestation.
The syndrome is associated with the expansion of a single trinucleotide gene sequence (CGG) on the X chromosome, and results in a failure to express the FMR1 protein which is required for normal neural development. There are fou...
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Fragile X syndrome, or Martin-Bell syndrome, is a genetic syndrome which results in a spectrum of characteristic physical, intellectual, emotional and behavioural features which range from severe to mild in manifestation.
The syndrome is associated with the expansion of a single trinucleotide gene sequence (CGG) on the X chromosome, and results in a failure to express the FMR1 protein which is required for normal neural development. There are four generally accepted states of the chromosome region involved in Fragile X syndrome which relate to the length of the repeated CGG sequence; Normal (29-31 CGG repeats) (not affected by the syndrome), Premutation (55-200 CGG repeats)(not affected by the syndrome), Full Mutation (more than 200 CGG repeats)(affected), and Intermediate or Gray Zone Alleles (40 - 60 repeats).
Martin and Bell in 1943, described a pedigree of X-linked mental disability, without considering the macroorchidism (larger testicles). In 1969 Chris and Weesam first sighted...
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