A genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes, especially a condition that is present from before birth. Most genetic disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions.
A genetic disorder may or may not be a heritable disorder. Some genetic disorders are passed down from the parents' genes, but others are always or almost always caused by new mutations or changes to the DNA. In other cases, the same disease, such as some forms of cancer, may be caused by an inherited genetic condition in some people, by new mutations in other people, and by nongenetic causes in still other people.
Some types of recessive gene disorders confer an advantage in certain environments when only one copy of the gene is present.
Read more about Genetic Disorder: Single Gene Disorder, Multifactorial and Polygenic (complex) Disorders, Prognosis and Treatment of Genetic Disorders
Famous quotes containing the words genetic and/or disorder:
“What strikes many twin researchers now is not how much identical twins are alike, but rather how different they are, given the same genetic makeup....Multiples don’t walk around in lockstep, talking in unison, thinking identical thoughts. The bond for normal twins, whether they are identical or fraternal, is based on how they, as individuals who are keenly aware of the differences between them, learn to relate to one another.”
—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
“I have come back
but disorder is not what it was.
I have lost the trick of it!
The innocence of it!”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)