Mutation Story- Alzheimer’s disease

Mutation story, part 1, The Story: Hello there, I am AD, which is short for Alzheimer’s disease, I am a Alzheimer’s disease-affected gene, I am a gene that has caused a genetic disease that causes serious and basically incurable symptoms for my host. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of Dementia. While It’s not specifically known how I affect my host’s genes, as there are different ways for the two types of Alzheimer’s, I can tell you what you humans have learned about it so far. First off, let’s talk about the two types of Alzheimer’s; Early-onset Alzheimer’s symptoms first appear in a person when they’re in between the age of 30 and 60, with late-onset Alzheimer’s on the other hand, the symptoms only appear when they are in their mid-60’s. Early-onset Alzheimer’s is caused by genes, late-onset Alzheimer’s is believed to be caused by a mix of genes, environment, and lifestyle.

Anyways, know that we got some background information, let’s start with my story. So I was born when my host was born, which I have no idea when that was because, I don’t know much about my host, but I do know his family suffers from early-onset Alzheimer’s. Anyways, I am chromosome 21 in the cell I belong to, and we chromosomes 21 are known to create a protein called APP, but the APP in my host became corrupted, causing the APP to go through a process that creates a substance, that is normally good for people, but since the APP was corrupted, the substance also became corrupted, thus causing Alzheimer’s in my host. You humans have no idea whether Alzheimer’s is a point mutation or a chromosomal aberration, but in my opinion, Alzheimer’s is a chromosomal aberration due to the fact that it’s caused by a chromosome. It can’t be a point mutation because nothing is substituted, deleted, or inserted.

I unfortunately caused my host to suffer from every Alzheimer’s symptoms, including difficulty remembering recent information, learning new information, struggle to continue a conversation, lose in visuospatial skills, problems concentrating, problems planning, problems organizing, mood problems, delusions, hallucinations, difficulty doing everyday things, death of neurons and synapses, and other minor symptoms. My host’s life has been affected greatly, with him being unable to do everyday things he used to be able to do. My host is now unable to take care of his parents, who also suffer from Alzheimer’s, all because one of his ancestors was very unlucky, and got the corrupted APP that causes Alzheimer’s, passing it on to his children, who then passed it on to their children, repeating the cycle up until we reach my host, thus causing problems for my host and future generations to come. Alzheimer’s has not only affected my host’s life, but also his family for many generations, and more generations to come. Alzheimer’s affects many people, and their families.

The picture above shows difference between a normal brain and an Alzheimer’s affected brain.

Mutation story, Part 2, The making of the mutation story: The questions I had to research/asked were: How do genes cause Alzheimer’s? What kind of mutation is Alzheimer’s? What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s? Is Alzheimer’s related to Dementia? What is APP? Are there different types of Alzheimer’s? The digital tools I used were Google and websites, the websites include Alzheimer’s foundation websites, Wikipedia, a protein data base, a us government website, and a clinic website. The process I used was that I used some of the recommended questions as an outline, then added information in different places as I went along. I verified information based on the domain name, I stayed away from using websites with domain names like .com, opting to only use domain names like .gov or .org. I cited my information using EasyBib. I think the process went well, but I had a bit of difficulty finding the necessary information, but I continued looking and found the information I needed. I think I could have included more media content to improve understanding of reader, and done more research.

Bibliography:

Search engine used: Google

Various. “Alzheimer’s Disease.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Oct. 2001. Web. 09 Dec. 2016.

“Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Fact Sheet.” National Institutes of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 20 Oct. 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

“Help End Alzheimer’s.” Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s Association, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Society, Alzheimer’s. “What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?” Natasha Judd. Alzheimer’s Society, July 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Goodsell, David. “PDB-101: Amyloid-beta Precursor Protein.” PDB-101: Amyloid-beta Precursor Protein. National Science Foundation (DBI-1338415), the National Institutes of Health, and the US Department of Energy., July 2006. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Mayo Clinic Staff Print. “Alzheimer’s Disease.” Symptoms and Causes – Alzheimer’s Disease – Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 22 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.

Various. “Amyloid Precursor Protein.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 May 2005. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.