Guest guest Posted April 8, 2004 Report Share Posted April 8, 2004 It depends upon the genetics involved in *your* kids' Mito! If it is Mitochondrial DNA that is the problem, then your daughters can pass it along to her sons and daughters, but your sons cannot .... this is because the tail of the sperm ( where the mitochondria are located so that spermie can do the swimming ) falls off and doesn't penetrate the egg ... so the male mitochondria don't imprint on the egg. This is called a "Maternal Inheritance" pattern. If it is Nuclear DNA that is your problem (the nucleus is the "boss" in the cell and if it has a problem, then it doesn't provide the mitochondria with the right materials to operate its factory properly) then both your sons and your daugters have the potential of passing along your brand of Mitochondrial Disease. Remember the Mendelian Inheritance in high school biology ... and the fruit flies? Well ... with Nuclear DNA inheritance you can have a number of combinations, depending upon whether your kind of Mito has a dominant genetic pattern or a recessive pattern. If you go to <http://umdf.org/> and then to "Information" and choose "For parents and families" you will be able to click on a page called "Genetics" .... and this page will explain it with diagrams, which I can't do on a post!!! Your question isn't weird or silly or anything negative!!!! It is the question of a concerned mom! It might be a very good idea for you to ask these questions of your Mito doc ... or ask for a referral to a geneticist. Since each Mito problem is specific to the patient .... it should be someone familiar with YOUR diagnosis who gives you the real answer! However ..... asking the question .... "Is my child's Mito caused by a problem with the Mitochondrial DNA or the Nuclear DNA?" is the place to start. Then ... if Nuclear ... ask whether the problem is "autosomal DOMINANT or RECESSIVE". Once you have those answers from the doctor .... go to the UMDF website (see above link explanation) and do some reading ... and then ask more questions if you need to! Jean mswims2007 wrote: This might seem like a weird question, but I have to ask it. If our kids have this disease and they grow up and get married and want to have children, will their children get this disease? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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