Glossary

Autosomal dominant disorder

An autosomal dominant disorder is a single gene disorder that is inherited as a dominant allele on an autosome (non-sex chromosome). As a result, males and females can both inherit the condition, and there can be no carriers of the disease who aren't also afflicted. The figure below illustrates that if a carrier and non-carrier mate, on average 1/2 of their children will inherit the condition.

One example of an autosomal dominant disorder is Huntington's disease.

Dominant gene in autosome