A mutation in one amino acid of one of the subunits making up hemoglobin.
SS,Ss
Malaria
The amino acid sequence of the sickle cell allele for hemoglobin varies from the normal allele for hemoglobin by one amino acid. The sickle cell allele for hemoglobin has valine instead of glutamic acid. When the oxygen level of the blood decreases, the hemoglobin molecules come out of solution, stick together, and form long chains that cause the red blood cells to become sickle shaped.
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The absence of the selection pressure malaria. Without selection, in the form of the malarial environment, the sickle cell allele will be lost in the overall US population. Even the heterozygous condition is somewhat deleterious and, statistically without malarial selection pressure the allele will be selected out.
The pro of sickle cell hemoglobin is that if you have only one allele for sickle cell hemoglobin and the other allele is normal, then you are immune to malaria.
codominant
codominant
codominant
Since people with the sickle cell allele trait are resistent to malaria, if malaria were eliminated there would be no change in the frequncy of sickle cell allele. This is because the presense of malaria does not have an affect on patients with the sickle cell allele trait.
SS,Ss
The sickle cell allele can be maintained in the central African population, above the frequency of gene mutation (balancing selection), because the heterozygous sickle cell individuals have an advantage in lifespan, in this malaria stricken region, over the homozygous alternatives. Homozygous sickle-sickle individuals die early from the sickle cell disease. Homozygous nonsickle-nonsickle die early from malaria. The heterozygous sickle-nonsickle have a higher survival against malaria and therefore the sickle cell allele is balanced selected.
*An allele is basically the different forms a particular gene can take (describes the various genotypes/phenotypes a gene can take).* For example there is an allele of a gene which codes for haemoglobin in red blood cells, which gives them their characteristic concave shape. But there can also be a mutation in that gene, which causes a different allele to be produced which gives it a sickle-cell shape, which leads to sickle-cell anaemia.
Around the mediterranean sea.
Around the Mediterranean Sea.
Around the Mediterranean Sea.
Individual homozygous for the sickle cell anemia allele