Alexandria Andrean AlbinismBIO 240 Section 02 Spring 2014Prof. Dr AM Jimenez Albinism is a genetically linked condition and presents at birth; it is characterized by a lack of a pigment called melanin that normally gives color to a person's skin, hair and eyes. This results in milky white hair and skin and blue-gray eyes. Melanin is synthesized from an amino acid called tyrosine, which comes from the enzyme tyrosinase. Albinism affects all races and both sexes; people with this disease have inherited a recessive, nonfunctional tyrosinase allele from both parents (Saladin 189). The inheritance of albinism is encoded in the gene alleles of the parents. Alleles are two different versions of the same gene or trait and are found in the same location on a chromosome. One allele is coded for the production of melanin which will produce normal skin, hair and eye color and another allele which represents the lack of melanin which will produce abnormal skin, hair and eyes. There are two types of albinism: the first type is called (OCA), which is the most common type. People with this albinism have light blue-gray eyes, very light skin and hair. The second type of albinism is ocular albinism (OA), which is less common because it is less visible. People with osteoarthritis have slightly lighter eyes and skin and resemble their family members, such as the color of their skin and hair. People with oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) have a recessive autonomous chromosome which is a disorder that has two copies of the abnormal gene and is shown in middle of paper......m can have a very long life expectancy . If one wanted to know the risk of carrying or having the disease, the creation of a square of tray could help to determine it. A normal person without albinism or without the presence of the melanin allele can be represented by a capital "A" and another allele that represents the lack of melanin will be represented by a lowercase "a". Since albinism is a recessive standalone disease, this means that a person carrying a homozygous recessive gene will have the disease. Both parents must be dominant heterozygotes and carry the allele; they will have a 25% chance of having a child with albinism and a 70% chance of having a child carrying the disease. If one parent is heterozygous and still carries the defective gene and the other parent is homozygous dominant, there will be a 50% chance that their child will carry the disease but will not have a child with albinism..