Question

What is Mendelian disorder?

Hint:

Recall the definition tying single-gene mutation to Mendelian inheritance patterns.

Answer 1

Step 1: Definition:
A Mendelian disorder is a disease or disorder caused by an alteration or mutation in a single gene, so that the disorder is transmitted from parents to offspring following the classical Mendelian patterns of inheritance (dominant, recessive, X-linked, etc.).

Step 2: Examples:
Common examples include colour blindness, haemophilia, sickle-cell anaemia, thalassemia, and phenylketonuria; family pedigree analysis is commonly used to trace the inheritance pattern of such disorders across generations.