a normal gene that if mutated can lead to cancer is called a(n) oncogene.
a normal gene that if mutated can lead to cancer is called a(n) oncogene.
1. a normal gene that if mutated can lead to cancer is called a(n)?
oncogene
in 1979, j. michael bishop and harold e. varmus discovered that normal chickens possess a gene that is structurally closely related to "v-src". the normal cellular gene was called "c-src" (cellular-src). this discovery changed the current thinking about cancer from a model wherein cancer is caused by a foreign substance (a viral gene) to one where a gene that is normally present in the cell can cause cancer. it is believed that at one point an ancestral virus mistakenly incorporated the "c-src" gene of its cellular host. eventually this normal gene mutated into an abnormally functioning oncogene within the rous sarcoma virus. once the oncogene is transfected back into a chicken, it can lead to cancer.
proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase src
male fetuses with the disorder rarely survive to term. because the disease-causing gene is located on the x chromosome, a female born with an mecp2 mutation on her x chromosome has another x chromosome with an ostensibly normal copy of the same gene, while a male with the mutation on his x chromosome has no other x chromosome, only a y chromosome; thus, he has no normal gene. without a normal gene to provide normal proteins in addition to the abnormal proteins caused by a mecp2 mutation, the xy karyotype male fetus is unable to slow the development of the disease, hence the failure of many male fetuses with a mecp2 mutation to survive to term.
rett syndrome